Whitford is a rural town, to the south-east of
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
,
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 ...
. There are multiple versions of how the town was named.
It may be named after Richard Whitford, a man who operated a
flax mill
Flax mills are mills which process flax. The earliest mills were developed for spinning yarn for the linen industry.
John Kendrew (an optician) and Thomas Porthouse (a clockmaker), both of Darlington developed the process from Richard Ar ...
on the
Waikopua near Housons Creek
and was the
postman
A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...
.
Others think Whitford referred to the White-ford over the Turanga Creek at the end of Sandstone Road, where the salt dries when the tide is out.
Another possibility is that it is named after
Whitefoord Park part of a vast property belonging to
L.D. Nathan was initially listed as ‘Whitefoord Park’ in
Wises Post Office Directory for 1875–1876, but by the time it went on sale for subdivision in 1903 it was known as Whitford Park.
Historical facts
* Whitford is traditionally home to the Māori of
Ngāi Tai
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...
descendants of the Tainui waka which moored at the Turanga river. Ngāi Tai also had the Pā sites Mangemangeroa, Moananui and Awakarihi (above Whitford quarry).
* Whitford's first European settlers, George and William Trice, started a popular and productive farm on Clifton Road near the village settlement in 1843. Most of the following settlers arrived in the mid-1850s.
* The Nathans' “Whitford Park” estate provided feathers from its ostriches for use in the fashion trade from 1869 until the 1920s.
Racehorses were also trained there; this practice still occurs today.
* The town's Granger's brickworks operated from the 1878 until 1920.
The Trices goldmine was converted to a landfill. Today, metal is quarried from there.
* Transport usually occurred via water until the 1920s, when roads and motor transport were improved.
* Today, Whitford has a
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
agent, accountant, dentist, service station, restaurant, gift shop, a hair salon and a furniture restoration establishment.
Lifestyle blocks for city workers now occupy some farms. Beef, sheep, dairy, and timber are the chief economic activities.
*
Ayrlies Garden, one of New Zealand's best-known gardens, is located in Whitford. In the areas surrounding the gardens is a lifestyle estate subdivision expected to be completed in the year 2022.
* Due to modern advancements in infrastructure in the surrounding areas such as
Beachlands and
Ormiston
Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about .
The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 1735 ...
, the Whitford village area has seen a substantial increase in traffic flow. This is expected to further increase in the future.
Demographics
Whitford is in an SA1 statistical area which covers .
The SA1 area is part of the larger Turanga statistical area.
The SA1 statistical area had a population of 147 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 ...
, a decrease of 18 people (−10.9%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 15 people (11.4%) 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 45 households, comprising 78 males and 69 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.13 males per female. The median age was 46.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 27 people (18.4%) aged under 15 years, 27 (18.4%) aged 15 to 29, 75 (51.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 18 (12.2%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 87.8% 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 ...
, 12.2%
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 ...
, and 6.1%
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 ...
. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 44.9% had no religion, 40.8% were
Christian and 2.0% were
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
.
Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (25.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 15 (12.5%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $45,400, compared with $31,800 nationally. 36 people (30.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 66 (55.0%) people were employed full-time, 21 (17.5%) were part-time, and 3 (2.5%) were unemployed.
Turanga statistical area
Turanga statistical area, which also includes
Brookby, covers
and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km
2.
Turanga had a population of 3,015 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 213 people (7.6%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 504 people (20.1%) 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 972 households, comprising 1,506 males and 1,509 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 44.0 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 552 people (18.3%) aged under 15 years, 582 (19.3%) aged 15 to 29, 1,449 (48.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 429 (14.2%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 83.5% 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 ...
, 7.5%
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 ...
, 2.0%
Pacific peoples, 13.4%
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 2.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 28.2, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.6% had no religion, 37.7% were
Christian, 0.1% had
Māori religious beliefs, 0.3% were
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 0.8% were
Muslim, 1.3% were
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 1.8% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 663 (26.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 273 (11.1%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $45,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 744 people (30.2%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,272 (51.6%) people were employed full-time, 468 (19.0%) were part-time, and 66 (2.7%) were unemployed.
References
{{Franklin Local Board Area
Populated places in the Auckland Region
Populated places around the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana