Chatswood, New Zealand
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Chatswood is a
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
in the city of
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
,
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 ...
, in the middle-eastern side of the North Shore. It contains a primary school and many parks. To the south of Chatswood is Kendall's Bay, a small bay of the
Waitematā Harbour The Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city ...
. The suburb is under the governance of
Auckland Council Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...
. The Royal New Zealand Navy's Kauri Point Armament Depot is located in Chatswood. Chelsea Sugar Refinery is located in Chatswood.


Etymology

The name Chatswood was decided by property developers in 1973. In the latter 19th century, the sparsely populated area near Kauri Point was often referred to as Balmain.


Geography

The Chatswood area is primarily uplifted Waitemata Group sandstone, that was deposited on the sea floor during the
Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...
, between 22 and 16 million years ago. Prior to human settlement, the inland North Shore was a mixed podocarp-broadleaf forest dominated by
kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...
and other conifer trees.
Pōhutukawa Pōhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, or iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the Myrtus, myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow o ...
trees dominated the coastal margins of Birkenhead. Some kauri remnant forest remains in areas around Chatswood, including Kauri Park, Le Roys Bush, Kauri Point Domain, Kauri Glen and Eskdale Reserve. Duck Creek is a stream that flows south south-east through Chatswood, entering the
Waitematā Harbour The Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city ...
near the Chelsea Sugar Refinery. A number of bays of the Waitematā Harbour can be found around Chatswood including (clockwise from right): Chelsea Bay, Kendall Bay, Onetaunga Bay, Fitzpatrick Bay, and Soldiers Bay. The highest in the suburb is above sea-level, located on Onetaunga Road north of Bragato Place. The southernmost point of the suburb is Kauri Point Birkenhead / Te Mātā-rae-o-Mana.


History


Māori history

The poor clay soils of the inland forest of the hindered development. Most Māori settlements of the Birkenhead area focused on fishing and harvesting food from the forests. The focal point of Te Kawerau ā Maki on the North Shore was ("The Brow of Mana"), a headland
The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori people, Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive :wikt:terrace, terraces – and also to fo ...
at Kauri Point.


Early European settlement

The area Chatswood was a part of the Mahurangi Block, an area purchased by
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
on 13 April 1841. Land speculators purchased much of the isolated forests of Birkenhead in 1843, and the first permanent settlers arrived in 1849. Major Collings Ann de Jersey Grut emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850s from the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
, alongside her husband Major Collings de Jersey Grut and brother Charles D'Auvergne. The de Jersey Grut family established a farm and manor near Duck Creek in the 1850s, but struggled to establish a farm. The poor soil led to starvation, and the servants needing to share food with the de Jersey Grut family members, and cattle would often wander off into the bush. The de Jersey Grut family left in 1865, and had their house shipped to
Orewa Orewa () is a settlement in the northern Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is a suburb of the Hibiscus Coast, just north of the base of the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and north of central Auckland. The Auckland Northern Motorway, Northern Motor ...
. Birkenhead was subdivided and promoted as a township from 1863, and in 1882 Auckland Harbour Board constructed the Birkenhead Wharf. Around the year 1866, Walter Carnall established a brickworks at Kauri Point. In 1881, the Australasian Colonial Sugar Refining Company chose Birkenhead for the site of a new sugar refining factory, after founder Edward Knox visited Auckland. The refinery was chosen due to Auckland's relative proximity to the sugarcane plantations of
Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
, and south-eastern Birkenhead was chosen as it was one of the few deep water anchorages of the Waitematā Harbour, and due to its proximity to the fresh water Duck Creek. The factory opened in 1884, and by 1888 had greatly increased production. The factory continues to be the largest single site industrial facility on the North Shore. The establishment of Chelsea Sugar Refinery led to a population explosion in Birkenhead and the surrounding areas, and led to Birkenhead developing into a suburban township. In the mid-1880s, a factory village was constructed adjacent for workers at the factory. Mr Judd, the first customs officer, successfully convinced the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to call both the factory and adjacent company village Chelsea, after his hometown in England. In 1938 on the eve of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the New Zealand Government established the Kauri Point Armament Depot.


Suburban development

In the 1950s, Birkenhead Borough was a semi-rural area of Auckland, with only the areas close to the Birkenhead Wharf having a suburban atmosphere. In 1959, the
Auckland Harbour Bridge The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins Saint Marys Bay, New Zealand, St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote, Auckland, Northcote on the North Shore, ...
opened, which rapidly brought Birkenhead closer to Auckland. The North Shore wharves of the Waitematā Harbour stopped being major transport nodes, and instead, areas with views of the Waitematā Harbour rose in importance for suburban housing. Chatswood was developed in 1966, on surplus land no longer needed by Chelsea Sugar Refinery. The suburb was the largest and most expensive of the Birkenhead Borough suburbs that developed after the construction of the bridge. The Chatswood Estate was sold to residents from 1973 onwards. In 1986, the Kauri Point Centennial Park was created to mark 100 years since the creation of the Birkenhead Borough Council.


Demographics

Chatswood covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Chatswood had a population of 3,438 in the
2023 New Zealand census The 2023 New Zealand census, which took place on 7 March 2023, was the thirty-fifth national census in New Zealand. It implemented measures that aimed to increase the Census' effectiveness in response to the issues faced with the 2018 census, i ...
, a decrease of 93 people (−2.6%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 36 people (1.1%) since the 2013 census. There were 1,731 males, 1,701 females and 3 people of other genders in 1,116 dwellings. 2.7% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 40.7 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 612 people (17.8%) aged under 15 years, 612 (17.8%) aged 15 to 29, 1,623 (47.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 591 (17.2%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 60.2% 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 ...
); 6.1%
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 ...
; 2.5% Pasifika; 35.3% Asian; 3.4% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.8% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 92.2%, Māori language by 1.0%, Samoan by 0.2%, and other languages by 32.8%. No language could be spoken by 1.7% (e.g. too young to talk).
New Zealand Sign Language New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL () is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. The purpose of the act was to create rights ...
was known by 0.3%. The percentage of people born overseas was 47.0, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 28.9%
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 ...
, 2.3%
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
, 0.8%
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, 1.5%
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, 0.3%
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
, 0.1%
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 1.3% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 58.6%, and 6.3% of people did not answer the census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 1,206 (42.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 1,077 (38.1%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 543 (19.2%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $51,200, compared with $41,500 nationally. 633 people (22.4%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,488 (52.7%) people were employed full-time, 381 (13.5%) were part-time, and 66 (2.3%) were unemployed.


Local government

The first local government in the area was the North Shore Highway District, which began operating in 1868 and administered roading and similar projects across the North Shore. From 1876, Chatswood was also a part of the Takapuna Riding of Waitemata County; a large rural county north and west of the city of Auckland. In 1884 the Birkenhead Road District split from the North Shore Highway District. On 12 April 1888, with only 330 ratepayers the Birkenhead Road District became the Borough of Birkenhead, one of the earliest boroughs of Auckland. The borough had a mayor and a local council, and was able to make more decisions on how to invest in the area. After 90 years due to major growth in the mid-20th century, Birkenhead became a city on 15 March 1978, with a population of 20,000 people. In 1989, Chatswood and Birkenhead were merged into the
North Shore City North Shore City was a territorial authority unit in the Auckland Region of New Zealand that was governed by the North Shore City Council. It existed from 1989 until November 2010, when the council was incorporated into Auckland Council. It ha ...
. North Shore City was amalgamated into
Auckland Council Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...
in November 2010. Within the Auckland Council, Chatswood is a part of the Kaipātiki local government area governed by the Kaipātiki Local Board. It is a part of the
North Shore ward North Shore Ward is an Auckland Council ward that elects two councillors and covers the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, Devonport-Takapuna and Kaipātiki Local Board, Kaipātiki Local Boards. The two councillors are currently Richard Hills (politi ...
, which elects two councillors to the Auckland Council.


Amenities

The Chatswood area is home to a number of forested reserves, including Kauri Park, Centennial Park and Chatswood Reserve.


Education

Chelsea School is a coeducational contributing primary (years 1-6) school with a roll of as of It was built in 1981.


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Chelsea School websiteChelsea Sugar website
{{Subject bar, auto=y, d=y Suburbs of Auckland North Shore, New Zealand Kaipātiki Local Board Area Populated places around the Waitematā Harbour Populated places established in 1973