Haast is a small town in the Westland District on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

Although the prospector Charles Cameron is said to be the first European to ‘discover’ the pass, Haast was recognised by having the town named after him.

[5] The main Māori settlement in the area was the pā Ōkahu at the mouth of the Arawhata River.

In 1836, the Ngāti Tama chief Te Pūoho led a 100-person war party, armed with muskets, down the West Coast and over the Haast Pass.

His raid ended in Southland where he was killed and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Tūhawaiki.

The remoteness of the area initially limited access to seagoing vessels, with some rough tracks from the north and east.

[citation needed] Early European explorers searched for the Māori routes to cross from the eastern to the western sides of the South Island and back again, having learnt of the pass when Huruhuru drew a map for the explorer Edward Shortland in 1844.

The first European ascent was from the Wānaka side in March 1861, when the exploring surveyor John Holland Baker, seeking new sheep country, looked down from the saddle towards the West Coast.

[10] Gold prospector Charles Cameron claimed to have made the first crossing to the coast in 1863; however he was widely believed to have only got to the upper reaches of the Haast River / Awarua.

The honour of first official crossing was claimed by Julius von Haast, Canterbury's provincial geologist, who led a five-man expedition in January 1863.

He named the Haast River after himself, "directed, so he said, by his provincial superindendent", and returned to Lake Wānaka "nearly shoeless" after six weeks.

On 23 January they reached the open, boggy summit of the pass, which was surrounded by beech forest.

[13] In 1990 the Haast area was included as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving international recognition to a region of significant natural value, named as Te Wahipounamu – The South West New Zealand World Heritage Area.

[16] Haast town is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement, covering 0.57 km2 (0.22 sq mi).

The nearest is Mount Aspiring College, 140 kilometres (85 mi) away over the Haast Pass in Wānaka, too far away to be practical.