21-529: The Oroua River is a river of the southwestern North Island of New Zealand . The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of dredging for shellfish" for Ōroua . The Oroua River is a tributary of the Manawatū River , it flows generally southwestward from its source in the Ruahine Range . In its upper reaches, near the small town of Āpiti , the river passes through
42-601: A deep gorge before emerging onto plains south of Kimbolton . Near Feilding , the Oroua River is fed by the Makino and Kiwitea streams, which are both significant tributaries. The river passes along the eastern edge of Feilding , through Timona Park, where it is a popular local swimming spot. Beyond Feilding, the river feeds into the Manawatu River just to the west of Opiki (between Palmerston North and Shannon ). Oroua River
63-576: A great fish and pulled it right up from the sea. While he was not looking, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island, and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui"). The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish. During Captain James Cook 's voyage between 1769 and 1770 , Tahitian navigator Tupaia accompanied
84-549: A river in Manawatū-Whanganui is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . North Island The North Island ( Māori : Te Ika-a-Māui [tɛ i.kɐ ɐ mɑː.ʉ.i] , lit. 'the fish of Māui', officially North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui or historically New Ulster ) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand , separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait . With an area of 113,729 km (43,911 sq mi), it
105-626: A whole. During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight . During this period, most of the North Island was covered in thorn scrubland and forest , while the modern-day Northland Peninsula was a subtropical rainforest . Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating
126-503: Is also normal to use the preposition in rather than on , for example "Hamilton is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use North Island without "the". According to Māori mythology , the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui . Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught
147-551: Is in the bottom 25% of New Zealand's most polluted waterways. Some significant causes include run-off from local agriculture and issues relating to the Feilding Wastewater Treatment Plant. A 2011 report concluded that the quality fell from fair to poor at the AFFCO meat works effluent discharge point, but a 2015 resource consent application claimed an 87% improvement in that effluent quality. In spite of this, Oroua
168-489: Is located at the south-west tip of the island. The island has been known internationally as the North Island for many years. The Te Reo Māori name for it, Te Ika-a-Māui , also has official recognition but it remains seldom used by most residents. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island is named New Ulster (named after Ulster province in northern Ireland) which was also a province of New Zealand that included
189-634: Is the world's 14th-largest island , constituting 43% of New Zealand's land area. It has a population of 4,077,800 (June 2024), which is 76% of New Zealand's residents, making it the most populous island in Polynesia and the 28th-most-populous island in the world. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei , Auckland , Hamilton , Tauranga , Rotorua , Gisborne , New Plymouth , Napier , Hastings , Whanganui , Palmerston North , and New Zealand's capital city Wellington , which
210-645: The North Island . With the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 , the province was defined as the North Island north of the Pātea River mouth. Like the other province of New Zealand at the time, New Munster Province , New Ulster Province was headed by a Lieutenant-Governor who reported to the Governor of New Zealand . In 1852, a new Constitution Act was passed, and the New Ulster province
231-573: The 2023 census, 63.1% of North Islanders identified as European ( Pākehā ), 19.8% as Māori , 10.6% as Pacific peoples , 19.3% as Asian , 1.9% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.1% as other ethnicities. Percentages add to more than 100% as people can identify with more than one ethnicity. Māori form the majority in three districts of the North Island: Kawerau (63.2%), Ōpōtiki (66.2%) and Wairoa (68.5%). Europeans formed
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#1733084505431252-583: The North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards (DHBs) . Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions . New Ulster New Ulster was a province of the Colony of New Zealand that existed between 1841 and 1853. It was named after the Irish province of Ulster . Between 1841 and 1846, the province included all
273-577: The North Island. In 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named it North Island, or the aforementioned Te Ika-a-Māui, in October 2013. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island , with the definite article. It
294-437: The South Island, this is solely due to the North Island having higher natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, the internal migration flow has been from the North Island to the South Island. In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 people from international migration, while losing 3,570 people from internal migration. At
315-462: The South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it. There are 30 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more: The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at NZ$ 282.355 billion in 2021 (78% of New Zealand's national GDP). Nine local government regions cover the North Island and its adjacent islands and territorial waters. Healthcare in
336-411: The circumnavigation of New Zealand. The maps described the North Island as " Ea Heinom Auwe " and " Aeheinomowe ", which recognises the "Fish of Māui" element. Another Māori name that was given to the North Island, but is now used less commonly, is Aotearoa . Use of Aotearoa to describe the North Island fell out of favour in the early 20th century, and it is now a collective Māori name for New Zealand as
357-447: The conclusion of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, New Zealand's European population growth has experienced a steady 'Northern drift' as population centres in the North Island have grown faster than those of New Zealand's South Island. This population trend has continued into the twenty-first century, but at a much slower rate. While the North Island's population continues to grow faster than
378-648: The islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea . The North Island has an estimated population of 4,077,800 as of June 2024. The North Island had a population of 3,808,005 at the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 213,453 people (5.9%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 570,957 people (17.6%) since the 2013 census . Of the total population, 733,893 people (19.3%) were aged under 15 years, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15 to 29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older. Ever since
399-465: The plurality in the Auckland region (49.8%) and are the majority in the remaining 39 districts. The proportion of North Islanders born overseas at the 2018 census were 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth were England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%). The North Island has a larger population than
420-456: The years. Major flooding has been recorded in the area in 1880, 1897, 1902, and 1953. In February 2004, significant rainfall in the surrounding streams caused a once-in-a-hundred-years flood. The flooding forced over 500 people from their homes and over $ 100 million in damage. The plains near Opiki have also faced flooding where the river meets the Manawatū River. This article about
441-470: Was awarded the New Zealand River award from Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA) for significant improvements in dissolved reactive phosphorus, nitrogen, e. coli , and turbidity . Near the top of the Oroua River is one of the most significant whio populations. It is the southernmost wild population of the bird in the north island. The river, and surrounding areas, have been the site of many floods over
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