The Āwhitu Peninsula is a long peninsula in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

of New Zealand, extending north from the mouth of the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

to the entrance to

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...

. The Peninsula is bounded in the west by rugged cliffs over the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

, but it slopes gently to the west, with low-lying pastoral and swamp land along the edge of the

Waiuku River The Waiuku River is southwest of the city of Auckland in New Zealand. Despite its name, the "river" is in fact an estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour. It joins the harbour at the south west and extends south for , having its head close to the ...

and Manukau Harbour. At the northern tip, the

Manukau Heads The Manukau Heads is the name given to the two promontories that form the entrance to the Manukau Harbour – one of the two harbours of Auckland in New Zealand. The southern head, at the northern tip of Āwhitu Peninsula, is simply termed "The ...

rises to a prominence above the entrance to the similarly named harbour. The nearby historic Manukau Heads Lighthouse is one of the few in the country open to the public. The peninsula is relatively sparsely populated, despite its proximity to the centre of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

city (which lies to the northeast). The largest settlement on or near the peninsula is

Waiuku Waiuku is a rural town in the Auckland Region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour, and lies on the isthmus of the Āwhitu Peninsula, which ...

, which lies at the peninsula's isthmus.

Geology

The Āwhitu Peninsula was formed geologically recently, from black volcanic sand from eruptions of

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is the second highest point in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. The mountain has a secon ...

mixed with white quartz and pumice sand, carried from the

. Prior to this, the Manukau Harbour was an extensive bay.

History

The northern shore of the Āwhitu Peninsula around the

is one of the earliest archaeological sites in the Auckland region. On 20 March 1840, a signing of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

organised for Manukau and Waikato chiefs was held at Orua Bay. During the event,

Apihai Te Kawau Apihai Te Kawau (died November 1869) was a paramount chief of the Ngāti Whātua Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of Auckland (), New Zealand in the 19th century. Te Kawau's father was Tarahawaiki and his grandfather was Tūperiri, the principal leader o ...

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te ...

signed, but several

Waikato Tainui Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand o ...

chiefs refused. Since the arrival of European settlers, the peninsula has been converted from native New Zealand bush to farmland.

Demographics

Āwhitu had a population of 2,919 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 408 people (16.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 381 people (15.0%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 1,107 households. There were 1,467 males and 1,452 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.01 males per female. The median age was 47.4 years, with 525 people (18.0%) aged under 15 years, 387 (13.3%) aged 15 to 29, 1,512 (51.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 492 (16.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 89.6% European/Pākehā, 12.8% Māori, 2.8% Pacific peoples, 3.8% Asian, and 1.7% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 17.0%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 60.7% had no religion, 26.5% were Christian, and 3.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 312 (13.0%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 522 (21.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $34,700. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,236 (51.6%) people were employed full-time, 354 (14.8%) were part-time, and 75 (3.1%) were unemployed.

Education

The former Awhitu Central School Awhitu District School and Waipipi School are coeducational full primary schools (years 1-8) with rolls of and students respectively as of

Biodiversity

The Peninsula has a high sympatric diversity of native New Zealand land snails. Communities of >70 native species in a 4 ha patch of bush can be found here, whereas in other parts of the world, 15 sympatric land snail species would be considered high. Grazing and other habitat disturbances can negatively impact this diversity.

References

{{reflist Peninsulas of the Auckland Region Populated places in the Auckland Region Populated places around the Manukau Harbour