Greymouth (/ˈɡreɪmaʊθ/) (Māori: Māwhera) is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council.

The town is located at the mouth of the Grey River, on a narrow coastal plain close to the foot of the Southern Alps.

[4] The mean annual rainfall Greymouth receives is high by New Zealand standards and is distributed relatively evenly throughout the year.

As a result, it creates a rain shadow effect that sees east coast locations having far sunnier and warmer summers.

This extreme marine influence also shelters the Greymouth area from hot summer days and cold winter nights.

The tornado was one of the largest reported in recent history in the West Coast region, caused millions of dollars in damage, and injured several people.

[17] Located off Turumaha Street next to Anzac Park, this short loop walk takes you through the Kōwhai Forrest, half of which is bounded by the mudflats of Blaketown Lagoon.

[19] Archaeological evidence shows Māori settlements on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island dating back to 1300–1400 AD.

These early people were subsumed by later Māori tribes (iwi) who came to the West Coast as population grew and settlement spread.

Under Tūhuru Kōkare, a great warrior, they defeated the Ngāti Wairangi in a series of battles for the greenstone (pounamu) coast.

Brunner and Heaphy were detailed by the Nelson Land Company to investigate the country south of the Buller and to report on its resources and potential as a field for further settlement.

They set out from Nelson on 17 March 1846 accompanied by a Māori named Kehu, who had previously visited the West Coast and who had agreed to act as their guide.

[23] As numbers of colonists continued to increase in Nelson and Canterbury, interest grew in settling the West Coast, but the land was still owned by Māori – Poutini Ngāi Tahu.

This was signed in Māwhera by leading chiefs on 21 May 1860: it sold the entire West Coast to the Crown for just £300 (equivalent to NZ$38,060 in 2021), apart from a scattering of reserves totalling 4,000 ha (40 km2).

On 16 September 1868, the new borough council held its first meeting and unanimously elected Edward Masters as the first mayor of Greymouth.

Members of Parliament were not happy with having to spend their time on local legislation, and in 1873 the government elevated the county to full provincial status as Westland Province.

[33] The first shipwreck happened on 13 September 1863 when the schooner Gipsy carrying mostly gold diggers from Sydney, was caught in a northeasterly gale.

[34][35] The Lauderdale is one of three wrecks which remain on the Greymouth coastline in the twenty-first century and in April 2016 a local Blaketown family unveiled a commemorative plaque on the West Coast Cycle Trail, telling its story.

[47] Greymouth was founded during the West Coast gold rush of the 1860s, but for 150 years after this its economy was based on coal mining and native timber forestry.

[30] Fishing has long been important to the town, despite the fact that the entrance to the Grey River has two notoriously dangerous sandbars; an inner and outer bar.

The planned opening of the Pike River Mine in early 2008 spurred new investments in upgrading port facilities at the town.

[51] The opening of the new mine, as well as the planned Spring Creek mine, was called the biggest investment happening in the area for a hundred years; coal barges travelling to and from reshipment facilities in Taranaki would have carried containerised cargo to the town and saved the port from closure.

[54] Pike River Coal went into receivership in the wake of the disaster and was purchased by Solid Energy, which closed the Spring Creek Mine in 2012 with the loss of 220 jobs and went into voluntary administration in August 2015.

After the decline in coal mining and forestry, the West Coast economy has become increasingly dependent on ecotourism.

[48] During Greymouth's boom years, much of the centre of town was built up in brick Art Deco building on leased land in the Mawhera Reserve.

[48] After regulations were tightened following the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, many of Greymouth's heritage buildings were found to be unsafe, and the combination of earthquake-strengthening costs and being on lease land makes many of them uneconomic to restore and occupy.

It is operated by the West Coast Society of the Arts and exhibits the works of artists from Karamea to Haast and holds the National Pounamu Collection.

The 2009 Art in the Park was held at Shantytown, and remained there for a couple of years before locating to the Greymouth High School gymnasium.

[citation needed] In 1944 the Greymouth Operatic Society was formalised, following a number of successful patriotic reviews and concerts during the war years.

[56] In 2021 the Greymouth Operatic Society is a thriving operation, providing the opportunity for local performers, musician and stage crews to learn all things theatre.