Māpua is a small town in 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 ...
of New Zealand. It is to the west of
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
on
State Highway 60 and on the coastline of Tasman Bay.
With a thriving wharf and commercial area, Māpua has grown in popularity for visitors, with numbers swelling the region over the summer months. A large fair and market is held every
Easter Sunday
Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...
. Up to 10,000 people visit the town on this day to enjoy rides, stalls, and other attractions. The local schools and playcentre benefit from the fair, which is their primary fundraising activity.
History
Before 1930
Middens, tools and human bones found at Grossis Point and around the northern edges of the
Waimea inlet suggest small seasonal
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 ...
settlements were located here, with a major
pā
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 ...
(fortified settlement) located on the Kina Cliffs to the north. The pā remained in use in the period of early European settlement of the Māpua district; the public can visit the site. The lack of evidence of cannibalism and the rarity of weapons suggest that the Māori living in this district were peaceful and seldom were involved in wars. In the late 1820s, Māori from the
North Island
The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
(led by the Māori Chief
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha ( – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira, warlord, and chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi. One of the most powerful military leaders of the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha fought a war of conquest that greatly expanded Ngāti Toa south ...
) came to 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 ...
with warriors armed with muskets. Te Rauparaha took over
Marlborough
Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to:
Places Australia
* Marlborough, Queensland
* Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993
* Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...
before sending half his army west to take over
Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere
Tasman Bay (; officially Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere), originally known in English as Blind Bay, is a large V-shaped bay at the north end of New Zealand's South Island. Located in the centre of the island's northern coast, it stretches alon ...
and
Golden Bay Golden Bay may refer to:
* Golden Bay / Mohua
Golden Bay / Mohua is a large shallow bay in New Zealand's Tasman District, near the northern tip of the South Island. An arm of the Tasman Sea, the bay lies northwest of Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aore ...
. Owing to the invaders' considerable advantage in weaponry and skill, they soon overcame the local Māori populations. After a battle, most of the invaders moved on, leaving only a small local population of Māori in the region.
The first land-sale to a European in Māpua involved 166 acres, bought in 1854 by Captain James S. Cross for 60
pound
Pound or Pounds may refer to:
Units
* Pound (currency), various units of currency
* Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom
* Pound (mass), a unit of mass
* Pound (force), a unit of force
* Rail pound, in rail profile
* A bas ...
s.
The first European resident of Māpua, James Heatly, worked as a fisherman and hunted rabbits, which he brought to
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
to sell. The port area was originally known as the Western Entrance, and the township dubbed Seaton Township (by a surveyor who had been subdividing part of the town). Mr F.I. Ledger helped plan out the town and later named it "Mapua" which was also what the New Zealand telephone guide named it. ''Māpua'' means "abundance" or "prolific" when interpreted into English. By 1915, a substantial wharf could cope with larger ships coming into the harbour for the apple trade, which was booming at this time. The poor roads in the area meant that shipping the apples out was the only option, however eventually a road was built around the
Ruby Bay bluffs, linking Nelson with
Motueka
Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of as of
The surrounding district has a numb ...
. A shop, first opened in 1921 to service the locals, stood on the same plot of land as the shop.
The name of the town was officially gazetted as Māpua on 5 November 2018.
Former contaminated site
In the 20th century Māpua became one of the most
contaminated sites in New Zealand due to
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
residues in the
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
s from a now defunct
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
, but the 21st century saw a major
cleanup operation.
In 1932 the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company built a plant to manufacture pesticides for use in the numerous orchards in the surrounding area. In the 1940s the factory produced
organomercury
Organomercury chemistry refers to the study of organometallic compounds that contain mercury. Many organomercury compounds are highly toxic, but some are used in medicine, e.g., merbromin ("Mercurochrome") and the vaccine preservative thiomers ...
and
organochlorine
Organochlorine chemistry is concerned with the properties of organochlorine compounds, or organochlorides, organic compounds that contain one or more carbon–chlorine bonds. The chloroalkane class (alkanes with one or more hydrogens substituted ...
pesticides, including
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
,
DDD,
dieldrin
Dieldrin is an organochlorine compound originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. Dieldrin is closely related to aldrin, which reacts further to form dieldrin. Aldrin is not toxic to insects; it is oxidized in the i ...
,
2,4-D
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is usually referred to by its ISO common name 2,4-D. It is a systemic herbicide that kills most broadleaf weeds by causing uncontrolled growth, but most gra ...
and
paraquat
Paraquat ( trivial name; ), or ''N'',''N''′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium dichloride (systematic name), also known as methyl viologen, is a toxic organic compound with the chemical formula C6H7N)2l2. It is classified as a viologen, a family o ...
.
Organophosphorous
In organic chemistry, organophosphates (also known as phosphate esters, or OPEs) are a class of organophosphorus compounds with the general structure , a central phosphate molecule with alkyl or aromatic substituents. They can be considered a ...
pesticides were produced from the 1960s. By 1978, 124 chemicals were being used to produce 84 different formulations. The plant closed in 1988.
The
Tasman District Council
Tasman District Council () is the unitary authority#New Zealand, unitary local authority for the Tasman District of New Zealand. The council is led by the mayor of Tasman, who is currently .
History
Tasman District Council was formed on 1 Novem ...
took over the site in 1989, and measures were taken to prevent leaching of the chemicals into the adjoining Waimea Inlet. In 1999, the Ministry for the Environment allocated funding for a remediation programme, with "on-site" processing selected as the preferred remediation option. Two years later, the Tasman District Council awarded a contract for remedial work to a partnership of Theiss Services (an Australian remediation specialist) and Environmental Decontamination Limited (EDL) of Auckland. Thiess, the main contractor, held the resource consents to carry out the work; EDL supplied the remediation technology: Mechano-Chemical Dehalogenation (MCD). The site was handed back to the Tasman District Council in November 2007.

In May 2012, a
Department of Labour
A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...
report found that some of the 30 people who worked on the cleanup suffered health issues including respiratory problems, nausea, collapsing and fatigue.
Demographics
Māpua
Mapua 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 km
2. Before the 2023 census, it was part of the larger Ruby Bay-Māpua statistical area.
Before the 2023 census, Māpua had a smaller boundary, covering .
Using that boundary, Māpua had a population of 1,143 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 120 people (11.7%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 183 people (19.1%) since the
2006 census. There were 432 households, comprising 564 males and 567 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female, with 222 people (19.4%) aged under 15 years, 84 (7.3%) aged 15 to 29, 510 (44.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 315 (27.6%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 95.8% 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 ...
, 4.5%
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 Co ...
, 1.3%
Asian, and 1.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 61.9% had no religion, 28.9% 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 ...
, 0.3% were
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 ...
and 1.8% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 270 (29.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 117 (12.7%) people had no formal qualifications. 177 people (19.2%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 378 (41.0%) people were employed full-time, 171 (18.6%) were part-time, and 18 (2.0%) were unemployed.
Ruby Bay and Māpua statistical areas
Ruby Bay and Māpua statistical areas cover .
They had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km
2.
Before the 2023 census, the Ruby Bay-Māpua statistical area had a smaller boundary, covering .
Using that boundary, Ruby Bay-Māpua had a population of 2,562 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 441 people (20.8%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 615 people (31.6%) since the
2006 census. There were 972 households, comprising 1,260 males and 1,302 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female. The median age was 50.5 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 471 people (18.4%) aged under 15 years, 228 (8.9%) aged 15 to 29, 1,212 (47.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 651 (25.4%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 95.6% 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 ...
, 6.0%
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 ...
, 1.1%
Pasifika, 1.3%
Asian, and 1.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 27.8, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 61.5% had no religion, 28.8% 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 ...
, 0.1% were
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 ...
, 0.1% were
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, 0.7% were
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 ...
and 1.4% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 627 (30.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 276 (13.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $32,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. 438 people (20.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 873 (41.8%) people were employed full-time, 384 (18.4%) were part-time, and 39 (1.9%) were unemployed.
Education
Māpua School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,
with a roll of as of .
Mountain biking
Mapua is one of the stops on the Tasman's Great Taste Trail which is a mountain bike trail which links the towns of Nelson, Wakefield, Richmond,
Motueka
Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of as of
The surrounding district has a numb ...
and
Kaiteriteri
Kaiteriteri is a town and seaside resort in the Tasman Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is close to both Mārahau, the main gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, and the town of Motueka.
Kaiteriteri is a small coastal town reli ...
.
References
External links
Mapua portalMapua Community LibraryMapua Wharf
{{Tasman District
Populated places in the Tasman District
Populated places around Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere