The Wood is a suburb of

Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

. It lies just to the north-east of the city centre and adjoins it. The suburb incorporates Botanical Reserve, a section of Nelson's town belt that includes the trigonometrical geographic centre of New Zealand, Botanical Hill. The reserve borders the Botanical Gardens to the east and Branford Park to the west. The suburb also has four other public reserves: Guppy Park, Neale Park, Peace Grove and Pepper Tree Park.

History

Italian immigration

The Wood has a sizeable Italian community. The earliest Italian immigrants were fishermen in the 1860s but the majority of Italian immigrants arrived in the 20th century. The Wood was used for horticulture due to suitable conditions such as lack of frost. Horticulture continued into the 1990s but rising interest rates made the area too expensive and combined with other factors most gardens were sold off and turned into housing in the 1990s.

Demographics

The Wood statistical area covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The Wood had a population of 2,907 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 72 people (2.5%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 117 people (4.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,263 households, comprising 1,371 males and 1,536 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.89 males per female. The median age was 50.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 360 people (12.4%) aged under 15 years, 450 (15.5%) aged 15 to 29, 1,257 (43.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 837 (28.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 85.8% 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 ...

, 9.1% Māori, 1.8% Pasifika, 8.6% Asian, and 2.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 29.1, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.0% had no religion, 37.0% 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 ...

, 0.2% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.8% 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 ...

, 0.5% 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 ...

, 1.4% 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 2.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 603 (23.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 483 (19.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $25,700, compared with $31,800 nationally. 294 people (11.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 948 (37.2%) people were employed full-time, 396 (15.5%) were part-time, and 72 (2.8%) were unemployed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, The Suburbs of Nelson, New Zealand Populated places around Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere