Koriniti is a settlement upriver from Whanganui, New Zealand, home to the Ngāti Pāmoana hapū of the iwi Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi.[1]
The Māori settlement of Operiki was one of the larger on the Whanganui River, with a population of about 200. In 1848 the village was abandoned and a new one built in better agricultural land nearby at Otukopiri,[2] renamed Koriniti by the missionary Richard Taylor, a Māori transliteration of Corinth.[3]
Across the river from Koriniti, and reachable only by boat or cable car, is the Flying Fox lodge.[4]
The local marae (Māori meeting place) is known as Koriniti Marae or Otukopiri Marae. It has three wharenui (meeting houses):[5] Hikurangi Wharerata; the original whare Te Waiherehere, restored by Hõri Pukehika in 1921;[6] and Poutama, moved across the river from Karatia (Galatia) in 1967.
Ōperika pā, the original home of Ngāti Pamoana, is nearby.
In the 19th century Māori at Koriniti raised £400 to build a flour mill, which was completed in 1854, the same year as the Kawana flour mill near Matahiwi.[7]
In October 2020, the Government committed $287,183 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade the marae, creating 19 jobs.[8]