Buller Anniversary Day in New Zealand
Buller Anniversary Day in New Zealand is held on February 2. Celebrated on the first Monday of February. This event in the first decade of the month February is annual. 
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The first European discovery of the West Coast in 1642 sparked an era of exploration, sealing and the search for land and minerals. The first recorded ship to ever enter the Buller river was a sealing schooner the Three Brothers, which sounded the bar and sailed up the river in 1844. According to tradition, the Maori canoe Tahiriangi, brought the legendary chief Ngahue to the West Coast of the South Island around 950 AD.
It is thought that the Buller Kawatiri River was named (by either Heaphy or Fox) after Charles Buller, a director of the New Zealand Company. Gold was discovered in the Buller River in the late 1850's and the confirmation of the existence of gold signaled the start of the gold rush and the establishment of Westport.
Though the economic focus of the district remains on extractive industry, the focus has shifted to include agriculture, horticulture and tourism.
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