Lower Hutt, New Zealand
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Lower Hutt Awakairangi (Māori) |
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| Coordinates: 41°13′S 174°55′E / 41.217°S 174.917°E | |
| Country |
 New Zealand |
| Region | Wellington |
| Territorial authority | Hutt City |
| Suburbs | Petone, Melling, Maungaraki, Normandale, Kelson, Belmont, Ava, Alicetown, Moera, Woburn, Waiwhetū, Waterloo, Taita, Seaview, Avalon, Stokes Valley, Wainuiomata, Eastbourne, Fairfield, Epuni |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ray Wallace |
| Area | |
| • Territorial | 377 km2 (146 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 135 km2 (52 sq mi) |
| Population (June 2016) | |
| • Territorial | 103,400 |
| • Density | 270/km2 (710/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 102,700 |
| • Urban density | 760/km2 (2,000/sq mi) |
| Postcode(s) | 5010, 5011, 5012, 5013, 5014, 5019 |
| Area code(s) | 04 |
| Website | huttcity |
Lower Hutt (Māori: Awakairangi) is a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is administered by the Hutt City Council and is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
It is New Zealand's seventh most populous city, with a population of 103,400. The city covers an area of 377 km2 (146 sq mi) around the lower half of the Hutt Valley and the eastern shores of Wellington Harbour. It is separated from Wellington proper by the harbour, and from Upper Hutt by the Taitā Gorge.
Though it is administered by the Hutt City Council, neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This name has led to confusion, as Upper Hutt is administered by a separate city council, the Upper Hutt City Council, which objects to the name "Hutt City".
Before European settlement, thick forest covered most of the Hutt Valley, with areas of marshland close to the river's mouth. Māori inhabited the shoreline, with a pa at each end of Petone beach.
The local Māori welcomed the arrival of the New Zealand Company ship Tory in 1839, and William Wakefield (the company's agent) negotiated with local chiefs to allow settlement. The first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived on 22 January 1840, still celebrated every year on the Monday closest as Wellington's Anniversary Day. A settlement, Britannia, grew up close to the mouth of the Hutt River, and settlers set up the infant country's first newspaper and bank.
The city takes its name from the river, named after the founding member, director and chairman of the New Zealand Company, Sir William Hutt.
Within months of settlement the river flooded, and in March 1840 the majority of Britannia settlers decided to move to Thorndon, (as of 2013[update] in the heart of Wellington city), though some settlers remained at the north end of the harbour. In the 1840s an area on the west bank of the Hutt River formed the village then known as Aglionby.
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Wikipedia