The Bombay Hills are a range of hills to the south of Auckland, New Zealand. Though only a small and seemingly insignificant range of hills, they lie at the southern boundary of the Auckland region, and serve as a divide between Auckland and the Waikato region.[1] There is a 19th-century settlement, Bombay, on the old main road south of Auckland, the Great South Road.
Aucklanders and other New Zealanders have a mostly light-hearted "love-hate" relationship. Stereotypically, Aucklanders view parts of the country "south of the Bombay Hills" as provincial and unsophisticated, while the rest of the country sees Aucklanders as brash and arrogant. For this reason, the boundary between Auckland and its southern neighbours bears great significance. People on both sides of the boundary are as likely to use the phrase "New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills".[2] The term was adopted by 1990s New Zealand reggae band Southside of Bombay.
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Bombay to Bombay - Roadside Stories
Transcription
[1920s newspaper voice] Franklin Times, 1926. The serious danger with which civilization is threatened does not come from actual savages. The peril is from those dark-skinned races which have long ago put on a thin veneer of semi-civilisation. No better example of this class can be found than the Hindus --mentally and morally incapable of real civilisation. [Narrator] The Bombay Hills are part of the Hunua ranges. They, and the nearby town of Pukekohe, are located about just south of Auckland. This fertile area has many market gardens which provide fruit and vegetables for New Zealand's largest city. Though the gardens attracted Indian immigrants in the early part of the twentieth century, the township of Bombay and its nearby hills are actually named after a ship called Bombay. It brought British and Irish immigrants to settle in the area in 1863. Because Auckland was New Zealand's capital at that time, the colonial government believed it was necessary to protect it from invasion by Waikato Māori, who were incensed over the confiscation of their land. So the British established military garrisons around the Hunua Ranges. The route of State Highway One over the Bombay Hills down into the Waikato traces the military road built by the British in the early 1860s. During the twentieth century as market gardens became established, Indian immigrants came to the area to work as labourers. The work was long and hard, though most of the Indian immigrants had farming backgrounds. By the 1920s, about 60 Indians worked in Pukekohe as labourers in market gardens owned by Pākehā, or European New Zealanders. Life was difficult for the Indian migrants and changes to the immigration laws meant most prospective Indian migrants were denied entry. But families of Indians resident in New Zealand were allowed entry, so many Indian men brought out their sons. Eventually some Indian labourers leased land to grow their own vegetables and they formed the Pukekohe Indian Growers Association. Once farms owned by Indians were established, other Indians preferred to work for them, which antagonised some Pākehā growers, who believed Indian and Chinese growers were 'enticing' their labourers away. In 1926, about sixty Pākehā farmers in the Pukekohe area formed the White New Zealand League. This soon turned into a national movement. The League wanted it to be made illegal for Asians to acquire further land and urged the government to improve the 'quality' of migrants to New Zealand. [European farmer] The business and landowners in the district agree to approach the government to introduce legislation making it illegal to lease or sell land to Asiatics, and that the immigration from these countries be of a much higher standard than the class now coming in. [Narrator] Later, the league called for all Asian immigration to New Zealand to be stopped. They were supported by a range of groups including grower associations, labour organisations, local bodies, the Returned Soldiers' Association and city newspapers such as the Auckland Star. [1920s newspaper voice] The views expressed by the White New Zealand League are quite moderate and reasonable, and the questions that have been raised demand very serious attention from the general public as well as the Government. [Narrator] In response, Indians argued that they were British-born subjects who belonged to the Aryan race, and were therefore brothers and cousins to the English people. The White New Zealand League died out in the mid-1930s, though racial discrimination continued in Pukekohe. Until the late 1950s, Indians were excluded from barbers, private bars, balcony seats in cinemas, and could not join the local growers' association. Today the Bombay Hills mark the line dividing Auckland from the rest of New Zealand. The term 'south of the Bombay Hills' is used by Aucklanders to denote the unsophisticated rest of the country. It is also used by non-Aucklanders to describe the sensible people who are not the self-important fashion followers that they believe can be found north of the Bombay hills.
Location
The hills are located 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Auckland, close to the town of Pukekohe. State Highway 1 here reaches its highest point between Auckland and Tīrau in the eastern Waikato Region, 134 kilometres (83 mi) to the southeast. Bombay is the nearest settlement to the southern fringe of the Auckland metropolitan area.
Name
The settlement of Bombay and hence the Bombay Hills are directly named after the ship Bombay, which landed in Auckland and brought settlers to the area, originally called Williamson's Clearing, in 1863.[3] The ship itself was named after the Indian city of Bombay (now Mumbai).
Geology
The Bombay Hills are a remnant of a shield volcano from the South Auckland volcanic field, which erupted an estimated 600,000 years ago.[4] The hills are overlain by Hamilton Ash tephra which has weathered to create some of the best soils for market gardening in New Zealand.
The Bombay Hills are the barrier that halts the northward progression of the Waikato River. The hills cause it to turn west towards the coast where it empties into the Tasman Sea near Port Waikato.
Demographics
Bombay Hills statistical area covers 30.16 km2 (11.64 sq mi)[5] and had an estimated population of 2,090 as of June 2023,[6] with a population density of 69 people per km2.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 1,659 | — |
| 2013 | 1,620 | −0.34% |
| 2018 | 1,974 | +4.03% |
| Source: [7] | ||
Before the 2023 census, Bombay Hills had a larger boundary, covering 31.68 km2 (12.23 sq mi).[5] Using that boundary, Bombay Hills had a population of 1,974 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 354 people (21.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 315 people (19.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 669 households, comprising 972 males and 1,002 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female. The median age was 45.0 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 387 people (19.6%) aged under 15 years, 297 (15.0%) aged 15 to 29, 975 (49.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 315 (16.0%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 85.7% European/Pākehā, 10.3% Māori, 4.0% Pacific peoples, 8.8% Asian, and 2.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 19.8, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.4% had no religion, 35.6% were Christian, 0.6% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.8% were Hindu, 1.5% were Muslim, 0.8% were Buddhist and 1.7% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 306 (19.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 243 (15.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $44,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. 465 people (29.3%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 885 (55.8%) people were employed full-time, 261 (16.4%) were part-time, and 42 (2.6%) were unemployed.[7]
Residents
The Bombay Hills has many former athletes as residents including Eric Murray (Olympic rower), Katherine Prumm (World Champion motorcyclist) and Andy Dalton (former All Black captain). Bombay is also the location of a monastery of enclosed Benedictine nuns, Tyburn Monastery.
Walkways
Since the closure of Te Araroa long-distance walkway through the Hunua Ranges in 2018, it has followed Pinnacle Hill Road for 6.5 km (4.0 mi) through the Bombay Hills.[8]
The 4.5 km (2.8 mi) Mount William Walkway runs parallel to Te Araroa, linking 376 m (1,234 ft) Puketutu and 369 m (1,211 ft) Mount William. It goes through bush with kauri, hard beech and king ferns and has views to Waikato, the west coast and Firth of Thames.[9]
Notable buildings
- St Peter in the Forest Church (Anglican)[10]
See also
- The Watford Gap, a similar cultural border concept in the United Kingdom
- Jafa, a sometimes pejorative term for a resident of Auckland
References
- ^ "Auckland's Bombay hills, the frontier". Michaelfield.org. 9 July 2006. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010.
- ^ "Auckland places – Papakura and the rural south-east". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Teara.govt.nz.
- ^ "Bombay Hills in the 1966". Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. A. H. McLintock. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Hayward, Bruce W. (2017). Out of the Ocean, Into the Fire. Geoscience Society of New Zealand. pp. 207–211. ISBN 978-0-473-39596-4.
- ^ a b "ArcGIS Web Application". statsnz.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "Population estimate tables - NZ.Stat". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Statistical area 1 dataset for 2018 Census". Statistics New Zealand. March 2020. Bombay Hills (166300). 2018 Census place summary: Bombay Hills
- ^ "Te Araroa - New Zealand's Trail – Auckland trail notes". www.teararoa.org.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "Mount William Walkway". www.doc.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "Church of St Peter in the Forest (Anglican)". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
37°12′39″S 175°01′19″E / 37.210781°S 175.021992°E
This page was last edited on 25 March 2024, at 04:25