Ngahere is a locality in the Grey District

Grey District

Grey District Council in the West Coast region of New Zealand is a municipality that covers Greymouth, Runanga, Blackball, Cobden and settlements along the Grey River. It has a land area of 3,516.48 km²...

 of the West Coast

West Coast, New Zealand

The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

. The 2006 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings

New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings

The New Zealand government department Statistics New Zealand conducts a census of population and dwellings every five years. The census scheduled for 2011 was cancelled due to circumstances surrounding the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, however, and legislation introduced to hold the next...

 gave the population of Ngahere and its surrounding area as 345, an increase of 9.5% or 30 people since the 2001 census.

Ngahere is located on the south bank of the Grey River, and State Highway 7

New Zealand State Highway network

The New Zealand State Highway network is the major national highway network in New Zealand. Just under 100 roads in both the North and South Islands are State Highways...

 and the Stillwater - Westport Line

Stillwater - Westport Line

The Stillwater Ngakawau Line , formerly the Stillwater - Westport Line and the Ngakawau Branch, is a secondary main line, part of New Zealand's national rail network. It runs between Stillwater and Ngakawau via Westport on the West Coast of the South Island...

 (SWL) railway pass through the village. The railway reached Ngahere when an extension was built from Brunner

Brunner, New Zealand

Brunner is a town in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. Together with Taylorville and Dobson to the south-west, it had a population of 672 at the 2006 census. It is 12 kilometres to the east of Greymouth, on the south bank of the Grey River. It is on the Midland Line railway near its...

 on 1 August 1889, and it was the line's terminus until a further section to Ahaura

Ahaura

Ahaura is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, sited where the Ahaura River flows into the Grey River. State Highway 7 and the Stillwater - Westport railway line pass through the town...

 was opened on 14 February 1890. On 1 August 1910, Ngahere became a railway junction when the Blackball Branch

Blackball Branch

The Blackball Branch was a branch line railway of New Zealand's national rail network on the West Coast of the South Island and worked from the 1900s to 1966. It included the Roa Branch, also known as the Roa Incline...

 was opened, and this branch line

Branch line

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...

operated until a flood in 1966 destroyed its bridge across the Grey River. The branch was formally closed on 21 February 1966. The next year, passenger trains through Ngahere on the SWL were cancelled; since this time, freight trains of coal have been the predominant traffic through Ngahere.