Aramoana is a small coastal settlement north of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

on the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The settlement's permanent population in the 2001 Census was 261. Supplementing this are seasonal visitors from the city who occupy cribs. The name ''Aramoana'' is

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 Co ...

for "pathway of the sea". It was founded by the Otago Harbour Board and established in the 1880s as a

pilot station A pilot station is an onshore headquarters for maritime pilots, or a place where pilots can be hired from. To get from a pilot station to an approaching ship, pilots need to use fast vessels to arrive in time, i.e. a pilot boat. History Histor ...

for navigation around the mouth of the Otago Harbour. This area grew into a small farming village. In the 1950s, the town became popular as a beach resort and a rural life village due to the construction of a

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...

to inhibit the spread of tidal sands into the mouth of

Otago Harbour Otago Harbour is the harbor, natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour m ...

and was surveyed and amalgamated as a suburb of Port Chalmers borough. It is the site of the

Aramoana massacre The Aramoana massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, northeast of Dunedin, New Zealand. Resident David Gray killed 13 people, including local police Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthr ...

, New Zealand's second deadliest criminal shooting, on 13 and 14 November 1990.

Location and natural environment

The settlement is located on a sand dune spit at the mouth of the

, opposite the end of the

Otago Peninsula The Otago Peninsula () is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Ot ...

. The main channel of the harbour is kept clear by the ''Aramoana mole'', an artificial breakwater which extends for 1200 metres from Aramoana. The mole was originally intended to extend another 600 metres into the ocean, however due to tidal patterns and the instability of the construction, no attempt to extend beyond the current length was thought to be possible. The mole was begun in 1884 using prison labour, which the Otago Harbour Board replaced with unemployed workers in 1886. To the southwestern side of the township extend expansive salty

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s from the head of the Aramoana Spit around the harbourside to the township of Te Ngaru. This area is a protected Wildlife Sanctuary, which hosts a range of plant and animal life, both native and exotic. On the other side of the Spit is an expanse of beach, truncated by the Aramoana Mole. The beach and sand dunes to the east are known as Shelly Beach. The beach to the west is known as Big Beach and extends for over two kilometres. At points along this beach, steep rockfaces come down to the waterline. These are well used for practical training by local rock-climbers. Seals can be found sun bathing on the rocks of the spit. Enthusiastic Land yachters use this beach, especially in the favourable Nor’Easter winds.

Demographics

Aramoana is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement. It covers , and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². It is part of the much larger Mount Cargill statistical area. Aramoana had a population of 111 at the

2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...

, an increase of 24 people (27.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 33 people (42.3%) since the 2006 census. There were 54 households, comprising 69 males and 42 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.64 males per female. The median age was 52.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 15 people (13.5%) aged under 15 years, 9 (8.1%) aged 15 to 29, 72 (64.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 18 (16.2%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 97.3% European/

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

, 2.7%

, and 2.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 59.5% had no religion, 21.6% were

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and 8.1% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 21 (21.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 12 (12.5%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 18 people (18.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 51 (53.1%) people were employed full-time, 12 (12.5%) were part-time, and 3 (3.1%) were unemployed.

Save Aramoana Campaign

In the late 1970s Aramoana was proposed as the site of a major aluminium smelter by a consortium of New Zealand-based

Fletcher Challenge Fletcher Challenge was a multinational corporation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Fletcher Holdings, Challenge Corporation and Tasman Pulp and Paper. It had holdings in construction, forestry, building, and energy, i ...

, Australia's

CSR Limited CSR Pty Ltd is a major Australian industrial company, producing building products and has a 25% share in the Tomago aluminium smelter located near Newcastle, New South Wales. It is a subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. In 2021, it h ...

and Swiss firm

Alusuisse Alusuisse was a Swiss industrial group founded as ''Aluminium Industrie Aktien'' in 1898, Zurich, Switzerland. The organisation was named ''Schweizerische Aluminium AG'' from 1963, ''Alusuisse-Lonza Holding AG'' from 1990, and ''Algroup'' from 199 ...

. An

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

was already operating at

Tiwai Point Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. A spit which extends from the western end of the Awarua Plain, it lies between Awarua Bay to the north and Foveaux Strait to the south. ...

when the smelter at Aramoana was proposed. The Save Aramoana Campaign was formed in 1974 to oppose the smelter. Among the leaders were three Otago psychologists: Peter Bradshaw, Jules Older and Richard Thomson. A large number of Otago artists and performers also contributed to the successful drive to save Aramoana.

Aramoana massacre

Aramoana gained notoriety as the site of a mass murder that occurred on 13 and 14 November 1990. Resident David Gray, an unemployed gun collector, went on a rampage in which 13 people were shot dead, before Gray was shot by police. A monument to the 13 victims stands on the dunes near to the Aramoana Mole. In 2006, New Zealand director

Robert Sarkies Robert Sarkies is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2006 drama film '' Out of the Blue'' and the 2014 TV movie ''Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story''. Early life and education Robert Sarkies grew up in the ...

released a film based on the events, '' Out of the Blue''.

References

:* {{Authority control Localities in the Dunedin City territory Spits of New Zealand Headlands of Otago Wetlands of Otago Populated places around the Otago Harbour