Hutt County was one of the former counties of New Zealand. It occupied the south-western corner of the North Island, extending south from the

Waikanae River Waikanae River is located on the Kapiti Coast in the North Island of New Zealand. The river drains the western flanks of the Tararua Ranges around Reikorangi and the Akatarawa Valley, then passes to the south of the town of Waikanae to the ...

and lying to the west of the summits of the

Rimutaka Ranges The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east ...

. The county's name arises from the fact that a large amount of its land area lies in the Hutt River catchment. The county initially had 8 ridings : Belmont, Epuni, Horokiwi, Makara, Mungaroa, Porirua, Wainui-o-mata and Whareroa. By 1895, each riding elected one councillor, except Porirua, which elected two, to the Hutt County Council. One of the elected councillors was appointed as chairman of the council. Hutt County was administered by the Hutt County Council, which was first established in 1876, but it was eventually dissolved in 1989 when local government was reformed and the few remaining constituent ridings were amalgamated into adjacent cities. Between 1908 and 1962 the Makara Riding was separately administered as Makara County. During its time, several ''towns'', ''boroughs'', ''districts'', and eventually cities developed within the county. While the town of Wellington was already a separately incorporated local body at the time the county was established, its jurisdiction did not then extend beyond the town belt on the hills around Lambton Harbour. The boroughs of Melrose, Onslow, Karori, Miramar, Johnsonville and Tawa Flat initially developed in parts of Hutt County just outside Wellington. Those boroughs were eventually incorporated into Wellington city, as the county that had been the Makara Riding later was, after Porirua became a borough in 1961 and a city in 1965. In the

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

towns developed into boroughs at Eastbourne, Petone, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt, with the latter two eventually becoming cities. As these urban areas developed and grew, the urbanised areas of Hutt County were incorporated into these cities and boroughs. Despite this, significant communities also developed in Stokes Valley north-east of Lower Hutt, the Wainuiomata valley east of Lower Hutt, and Heretaunga–Pinehaven in the southern part of the Upper Hutt basin. Small coastal communities on the Kapiti Coast were established early on, though major development around

Paraparaumu Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington. Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...

and

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōt ...

was not significant until the 1970s and 1980s after land closer to Wellington had been developed. By 1989, Hutt County had become so fragmented that the only reasonable reform (as part of the abolition of all mainland counties) was to incorporate the various remaining communities into adjoining cities.

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