Waiheke Island

From Open Encyclopedia

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Waiheke Island is in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, 17.7 km (about 35 minutes by ferry) from Auckland. Of the Hauraki Gulf islands, it is the second-largest (after Great Barrier Island), the most populated and the most accessible by regular ferry and air services. Waiheke is the third most populated island in New Zealand, after the North and South Islands.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Government
4 Significant Events on Waiheke Island
5 External links

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Geography

The island is 19.3 km long from east to west and varies in width from 0.64 km to 9.65 km, with an area of 92 km². The coastline is 133.5 km including 40 km of beaches. The port of Matiatia at the western end of the island is 17.7 km from Auckland and the eastern end is 21.4 km from Coromandel. It is very hilly with few flat areas, the highest point being Maunganui at 231 m. The climate is generally warmer than Auckland with less humidity and rain and more sunshine hours.

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Demographics

There is a permanent population of around 7,000 residents. Much of the population lives close to the western end of the island, at or close to an east-west isthmus between Huruhi Bay and Oneroa Bay which, at its narrowest, is only 600 metres wide. Here are the settlements of Oneroa and Blackpool; immediately to the west of these are Palm Beach, Surfdale, and Ostend. Further east lies Onetangi, which is located on the central north coast on the wide Onetangi Bay. To the south of this on the opposing coast is Omiha. Much of the eastern half of the island is privately owned farmland.

Waiheke Island is a popular holiday spot. During the period around Christmas, it is said that the population on the island can swell to over 30,000 people, although the elected City Councillor for the island says this number is not backed up by any statistical study, and came about when a prior Community Board was asked to come up with an estimate and they did, pulling the number out of the air. It is safe to say the population increases significantly, rents go up, almost all homes and baches are full and a festive atmosphere exists.

Socially the island is highly diverse, although gentrification is having an impact. The island ranges from people living on the bottom of the earnings (or public benefit) scale to some of the wealthiest people in New Zealand. Some of the people earning little are well-educated and have voluntarily chosen live simply. Curiously some the wealthy show a similar choice, some live on the island because they get to live simply and not attract attention. The creative sector is highly represented with many artists, musicians, scientists, writers & poets, actors and eccentrics. There is a high proportion of people who sailed to New Zealand on sailboats and probably more ex-Greenpeace campaigners per capta than anywhere else in the country. Race relations are unusually supportive, even for New Zealand standards. The local marae was not ancestral Māori land held in Maori title but belonged to the Waiheke County Council. Its citizen, both pakeha and maori, got together, arranged for a long-term lease of council owned land, and built the marae. Also one of the earliest maori land claims was driven by Waiheke citizens, who at the time did not know who the Tangata Whenua maori were for the island. A detailed narrative of this history is available on the Waitangi Tribunal website in pdf form [1]

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Government

Waiheke Island is part of the territorial authority of Auckland City. From 1970 until its amalgamation with Auckland City in 1989, it was administered by the Waiheke County Council. It has less infrastructure than mainland Auckland City. Each house must maintain their own water supply, most collecting rainwater in cisterns, and install a septic tank to handle sewerage. The community established a charitable trust which bid on the City's contract for solid waste disposal. They won it, and implemented such a successful recyling rate on the island that the recyling centre had to be expanded to handle the volumes.

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Significant Events on Waiheke Island

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Stony Batter

During World War II, three gun emplacements were built on the eastern side of Waiheke to protect Allied shipping in Waitemata Harbour. The emplacements and the extensive tunnels below them are now open to the public. See Stony Batter.

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Nuclear and GE free zone

Waiheke Island was the first community in New Zealand to vote as a nuclear free zone and this action is said to have contributed to the national decision to become nuclear free under David Lange's government. This assertion was made by a prior community board member, and requires further confirmation. More recently, Waiheke's community board voted Waiheke as a GE Free Zone, but this is a matter of principle rather than fact, as only national controls exist over genetically engineered foods and grains.

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Matiatia redevelopment

The Gateway to Waiheke Island where the primary pedestrian ferry lands over 1 million passengers per year is a valley and harbour called Matiatia. In 2000 it was purchased by three investors in a company called Waitemata Infrastructure Ltd (WIL). In 2002 WIL proposed to change the Operative District Plan rules for their land to build a major shopping and hotel complex with 29,000 m² of gross floor area on buildable land of approximately 3 hectares. This united the residents of the island in opposition. Over 1,500 adult residents of the island (out of perhaps 3,000) joined together in an incorporated society, the Community and People of Waiheke Island (CAPOW), to oppose the private plan change in court. In 2004, they won an interlocutory judgement in which the environment court ruled that Auckland City Council had erred in the rules, and the current rules limited permitted, controlled development to 5,000 m² in what was called the Visitor Facility Precinct. In 2005, CAPOW won an interim judgement by the court which reduced the proposed redevelopment to about 1/3rd of what the investors had originally sought. This set the stage for confidential negotiations between Auckland's mayor Dick Hubbard and the investors, who on 31 August 2005 (now known as Matiatia Day) sold 100% of the stock in WIL to the city for $12.5 million. The unanimous vote on 30 June 2005 of the City Council to approve the purchase was said to have come about because of the unity of the people of Waiheke Island.

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Foot and mouth disease

In May 2005, in a suspected capping stunt, a letter was sent to the New Zealand Prime Minister claiming that foot and mouth disease had been released on Waiheke Island and would be released elsewhere unless money was paid and tax reforms made. A full agricultural exotic disease response was initiated. No livestock were allowed to enter or leave the island. Stock on Waiheke Island was tested every 48 hours for symptoms of the virus, which would devastate New Zealand's agricultural exports. After three weeks of testing, no infected animals were detected and the response staff were stood down. The New Zealand Police stated that they would continue efforts to track down the perpetrator of the hoax but the letter-writer is still at large.

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