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 approximately 50 kilometres south of Auckland City, 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 18th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the second largest in the Auckland Region behind Auckland itself.The Māori word puke-kohe means "hill of the kohekohe", New Zealand's native mahogany.HistoryPukekohe was part of the Auckland area attacked during the musket war period 1807-1843 by Northern tribes. From the 1820s as a result of these attacks the resident Māori population who survived mainly migrated south. When European settlers arrived the remnant Māori population initially provided them with food supplies. As the number of settlers grew, the Pukekohe area, which was largely bush covered, was opened up after 1843 and individual farmers purchased small blocks of land which they cleared by hand. By 1863 the land was still bush covered but with an increasing number of small isolated farms. When Kīngitanga Māori refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the crown many Māori moved out of the area but some remained. A Māori from this area guided the first gunboats through the Waikato Heads and through the shoals of the Waikato River delta to help put down the rebel Kīngitanga uprising.