Tomahawk, New Zealand
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Ocean Grove, also known as Tomahawk, is a suburb in the southeast of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. A semi-rural residential suburb on the Pacific coast at the southwestern end of the Otago Peninsula, Ocean Grove is located southeast of Dunedin city centre. The suburb is isolated from much of the city by the bluff of
Lawyers Head Lawyers Head (often punctuated as the more grammatically correct Lawyer's Head) is a prominent landmark on the coast of Otago, New Zealand. Located within the city of Dunedin, this rocky headland juts into the Pacific Ocean at the eastern end of th ...
, which rises immediately to the west of the suburb and the
Andersons Bay Cemetery Andersons Bay Cemetery is a major cemetery in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the southeast of the city centre, on a rocky outcrop which forms the inland part of Lawyers Head, a promontory which juts into the Pacific Ocean. The ...
, and as such has the feel of a separate community. The suburb lies close to the banks of the
Tomahawk Lagoon Tomahawk Lagoon is a twin-lobed lagoon, located at the western end of the Otago Peninsula within the city limits of Dunedin, New Zealand. It lies close to the southeastern edge of the city's main urban area, near the suburb of Ocean Grove, which ...
, a twin-lobed lagoon noted for its bird life. The inner lobe is a wildlife reserve.Herd, J. and Griffiths, G.J. (1980) ''Discovering Dunedin.'' Dunedin: John McIndoe. . Tomahawk Lagoon is separated from the sea at low tide by Tomahawk Beach, which runs east from the Lagoon's mouth for about . A smaller beach, Smaills Beach, lies further to the east, beyond which is the outcrop of Maori Head, from the lagoon's mouth. A rocky reef and the small Bird island lie close to the headland. The suburb was known as Tomahawk until the 1930s, The name "Tomahawk", documented in the ''Otago Witness'' from 1852, is unlikely to be a reference to the weapon. It is more likely an anglicized form of the
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 ...
words ''toma haka'', often interpreted as "dance by a gravesite". ''Toma'' means a place of bones, or shrine for bones; ''haka'' is here taken to mean the Māori dance of challenge, but may rather be the Southern Māori form of the word ''hanga'', to build or create. The suburb became part of Dunedin City in 1968. The suburb has one main road, Tomahawk Road, which runs roughly parallel with the coast and links with the suburbs of
Andersons Bay Andersons Bay (sometimes spelt in the grammatically correct former form Anderson's Bay, and often known locally simply as "Andy Bay") is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the southeast of the city's urban area, sout ...
and Tainui in the west. In the east, it becomes the rural Centre Road, which climbs to the ridge at the centre of the Otago peninsula before joining with Highcliff Road, the ridge road which runs between Shiel Hill and Portobello. Ocean Grove's most notable structures are the remains of two World War II gun emplacements. These stand close to the Jack Fox Lookout, which is at the top of the promontory which separates Tomahawk Beach from Smaills Beach. A notable two-storey house, Glen Cairn, the original Smaill family homestead, is located at Smaills Beach. It is now used as the headquarters of the Tautuku Fishing Club. Between Tomahawk Beach and Tomahawk Road is Tomahawk Domain and recreation ground, which serves as a sports ground and is home to Grants Braes football club.


Demographics

Ocean Grove covers , and is part of the larger Tainui statistical area. Ocean Grove had a population of 441 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 15 people (−3.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 33 people (8.1%) 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 177 households. There were 222 males and 219 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.01 males per female, with 87 people (19.7%) aged under 15 years, 72 (16.3%) aged 15 to 29, 246 (55.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 42 (9.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 92.5% European/Pākehā, 8.8% Māori, 2.7% Pacific peoples, 3.4% Asian, and 4.8% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Although some people objected to giving their religion, 57.8% had no religion, 29.3% were Christian, 1.4% were Buddhist and 6.1% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 102 (28.8%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 48 (13.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 189 (53.4%) people were employed full-time, 54 (15.3%) were part-time, and 18 (5.1%) were unemployed.


References

{{Dunedin suburbs Suburbs of Dunedin Otago Peninsula