Pukekohe

Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay Hills form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region. Pukekohe is located within the political boundaries of the Auckland Council, following the abolition of the Franklin District Council on 1 November 2010. With a population of Pukekohe is the 24th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in the Auckland Region behind Auckland itself and Hibiscus Coast. Pukekohe is a rural service town for the area formerly known as the Franklin District. Its population is mainly of European descent, with significant Māori and ethnic Indian and East Asian communities. There are also a notable number of people of South African and Dutch descent. The fertile volcanic soil and warm moist climate supports a large horticultural and dairy farming industry; the Pukekohe long keeper onion is well known internationally. Pukekohe and the surrounding areas are a section of the South Auckland volcanic field, which erupted between 550,000 and 1,600,000 years ago. The traditional Māori name for Pukekohe Hill, Pukekohekohe ("Hill of Kohekohe") refers to Dysoxylum spectabile, also known as the New Zealand mahogany tree, which used to be a prominent part of the native bush on in the area. The area was important to Waiohua tribes including Ngāti Tamaoho, Ngāti Te Ata and Te Ākitai, due to the strategic views from the hill and the high quality soil. The northern slopes of the hill were home to some of the largest croplands (māra kai) for the Tāmaki Māori people who settled here. Much of the population around Pukekohe migrated south during the Musket Wars in the 1820s due to the threat from Ngāpuhi and other northern tribes, gradually returning from the mid-1830s. In modern times, the two main iwi of the area are Ngāti Tamaoho and Ngāti Te Ata.