Cooks Beach (Pukaki) is a town on a three-kilometre white-sand beach on the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the ...

of New Zealand. To its north is Cooks Bay, and beyond that is

Mercury Bay Mercury Bay is a large V-shaped bay on the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand. It was named by the English navigator Captain James Cook during his exploratory expeditions. It was first named ''Te-Whangan ...

. To the east is the locality of

Hahei Hahei is a small settlement in Mercury Bay on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand. It is near Cathedral Cove, between the settlements of Cooks Beach and Hot Water Beach. It is approximately 11 km south east of Whi ...

and the tourist attraction of Cathedral Cove. Roads to the south connect to . On the northwest, Shakespeare Cliff is a scenic reserve with a lookout point.

History

The harbour is one of the earliest places settled by Māori, with

Kupe Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is g ...

landing on the shore in the fourteenth century.

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Ngāti Hei Ngāti Hei is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Ngāti Hei is generally recognised as the dominant tribe of the Mercury Bay area. There has always been much speculation as to the origins of Māori people. Historians agree that Māori arrived in Aot ...

. The bay was called Whanganui-o-hei, the great bay of Hei. James Cook visited the area in November 1769, and chose the eastern end of Cooks Beach to set up his instruments to observe the

transit of Mercury frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet. During a transit, Mercury appears as a tiny black dot moving across the Sun as the planet obs ...

. He named the bay

. A granite monument later set up to honour him was washed into the sea by a storm and erosion in 2018, but replaced in time for the 250th anniversary the following year. In 1837, Ranulph Dacre and Gordon Browne purchased almost all the land of Cooks Beach, which became known as Dacre's Grant. A timber mill and a flax mill were established, and up to 30 families settled to farm, collect

kauri gum Kauri gum is resin from kauri trees (''Agathis australis''), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, bef ...

, and fish. Plans to subdivide the land in the 1920s were postponed due to the Great Depression until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Farming moved into the hills, which had previously been unsuitable due to low phosphate levels, but

aerial topdressing Aerial topdressing is the aerial application of fertilisers over farmland using agricultural aircraft. It was developed in New Zealand in the 1940s and rapidly adopted elsewhere in the 1950s. Origins Previous aerial applications The first k ...

made the land economic.

Ferry Landing

About 2.5 km northwest of the centre of Cooks Beach is Ferry Landing, a smaller settlement on Whakapenui Point between Maramaratotara Bay and Whitianga Harbour. This was the site of a

Ngāti Hei Ngāti Hei is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Ngāti Hei is generally recognised as the dominant tribe of the Mercury Bay area. There has always been much speculation as to the origins of Māori people. Historians agree that Māori arrived in Aot ...

pā, which was sacked by

Ngāi Te Rangi Ngāi Te Rangi or Ngāiterangi is a Māori people, Māori iwi, based in Tauranga, New Zealand. Its rohe (tribal area) extends to Mayor Island / Tuhua and Waihi Beach, Bowentown in the north, to the Kaimai Range in the west, south of Te Puke and to ...

in the mid 18th century. Cook was impressed by the ruins when visited on 11 November 1769. A passenger ferry runs on a ten-minute schedule between Ferry Landing and

Whitianga Whitianga is a town on the Coromandel Peninsula, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located on Mercury Bay, on the northeastern coast of the peninsula. The town has a permanent population of as of making it the ...

during the day. The ferry has operated since 1895.

Demographics

Cooks Beach-Ferry Landing statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Whitianga Ferry

Cooks Beach-Ferry Landing had a population of 459 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 111 people (31.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 144 people (45.7%) 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 189 households, comprising 219 males and 240 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female. The median age was 59.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 54 people (11.8%) aged under 15 years, 45 (9.8%) aged 15 to 29, 198 (43.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 168 (36.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 95.4% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

, 5.9%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 2.6% Pacific peoples, 1.3%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 2.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 17.6, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 56.2% had no religion, 33.3% were Christian and 3.9% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 81 (20.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 69 (17.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $27,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 45 people (11.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 123 (30.4%) people were employed full-time, 81 (20.0%) were part-time, and 6 (1.5%) were unemployed.

References

{{Thames-Coromandel District Thames-Coromandel District