The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

in early colonial New Zealand. The river flows roughly along the course of an active

geologic fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

, which continues to the south to become the main instrument responsible for the uplift of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

's Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. For this reason, the land rises abruptly to the west of the river; to the east two floodplains have developed. The higher of these is between from the mouth of the river. Beyond this, the river is briefly confined by a steep-sided gorge near

Taita Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...

, before the land opens up into a long triangular plain close to the outflow into Wellington Harbour. The lower valley contains the city of

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, administered by

Hutt City Council The Hutt City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Lower Hutt. Lower Hutt is the country's seventh largest city. The city borders Porirua to the north, Upper Hutt to the northeast, South Wairarapa Distric ...

, while the adjacent, larger but less populous city of

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city cent ...

has its centre on the smaller plain above the

Taita Gorge Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...

. The valley forms a major dormitory suburban area for

, and is a location for manufacturing and

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

, educational and recreational facilities, and the region's motor camps.

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

, on the Wellington Harbour shoreline, was proposed as the initial site for the settlement of Wellington by the New Zealand Company. However, as the chosen site was soon seen to be prone to river flooding, early settlement was relocated to Wellington. A small settlement remained at the Petone site as the whole valley was believed to be well suited as farm land. In 1846 there was fighting between

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 ...

tribes and the Government, known as the Hutt Valley Campaign. Almost the whole valley was clearfelled and converted to pasture or

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...

s before the urbanisation of the 20th century. A small remnant of the early

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pr ...

forest is preserved in

Barton's Bush Barton's Bush, in Trentham Memorial Park, is the largest remaining area of lowland mixed podocarp/broadleaf forest in the Hutt Valley of New Zealand. Named after Richard Barton who settled in the area in 1841, it was his desire that this section ...

in Upper Hutt.

External links

Hutt City Council (Lower Hutt area)

Upper Hutt City Council (Upper Hutt area)

HuttValleyNZ.com (tourism information)
* {{coord, -41.1657, 174.973, region:NZ-WGN_type:landmark_scale:100000, display=title Valleys of the Wellington Region *