Nawton is a community suburb in western

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

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 ...

Features

Within Nawton are Playworx Kindy, an

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, the Yardhouse bar, and the Sugar Bowl

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

Demographics

Nawton covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Nawton had a population of 11,391 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 ...

, an increase of 267 people (2.4%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 1,023 people (9.9%) since the 2013 census. There were 5,538 males, 5,814 females and 39 people of other genders in 3,729 dwellings. 3.3% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 31.5 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 2,715 people (23.8%) aged under 15 years, 2,661 (23.4%) aged 15 to 29, 4,776 (41.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,239 (10.9%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 54.4% 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 ...

); 40.0%

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 ...

; 10.3% Pasifika; 16.3% Asian; 1.8% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.6% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 94.3%, Māori language by 11.1%, Samoan by 1.2%, and other languages by 13.6%. No language could be spoken by 2.9% (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 1.0%. The percentage of people born overseas was 19.7, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 27.4%

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 ...

, 4.1%

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 ...

, 1.9%

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 ...

, 2.9%

Māori religious beliefs 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 ...

, 1.4%

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 ...

, 0.4%

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 2.7% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 51.6%, and 7.7% of people did not answer the census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 1,314 (15.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 4,677 (53.9%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 2,685 (30.9%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $39,500, compared with $41,500 nationally. 381 people (4.4%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 4,539 (52.3%) people were employed full-time, 972 (11.2%) were part-time, and 441 (5.1%) were unemployed.

Community Centres and schools

There are at least two

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

s in Nawton. These include the Western Community Centre and the Good News Community Centre, which opened in 2014. Nawton Primary School is a state school for year 1 to 6 students with a roll of . The school opened in 1960. Fraser High School is a secondary state school for year 9 to 13 students. It has a roll of . The school was established in 1920 and called Hamilton Manual Training Centre. It moved to what is now the site of Waikato Institute of Technology and became Hamilton Technical College in 1924, then moved to its current site in 1970 and was renamed to Fraser High School after a previous principal. Both these schools are coeducational. Rolls are as of Crawshaw also has a primary school.

History

A community

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

was removed from the area in 2014. Neil Tolan (a Hamilton community advocate) believed that the loss of community constables would have a radical impact on neighbourhoods and lead to unreported crimes. In 2014, it was found that a number of the suburb's homes were sinking. This meant that

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing and large-scale damage was caused. In April 2016, Nawton was found to be the Hamilton's worst suburb for dog attacks. In December of that year, Hamilton mayor Andrew King opened a million dollar

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

at Dominion Park as part of the city council's Playgrounds of the Future plan. The playground (known as Te oko o Kirikiriroa) became one of seven destination playgrounds in the city. In 2017, a petition called for a return of devoted community

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

s. The petition was co-organized by Labour MP Sue Moroney, Western Community Centre manager Neil Tolan and city councillor James Casson at that year's

Waitangi Day Waitangi Day (, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the The Cr ...

celebrations.

References

External links