Ahuriri Lagoon () was a large tidal

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

at Napier, on the east coast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, that largely drained when the area was raised by the

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47am on 3 February, killing 256,The exact number of deaths varies according to different sources; the ''New Zealand Listener'' article cited be ...

. Before the earthquake, the lagoon stretched several kilometres from north to south, and covered roughly 4000 hectares (ha), or 40 km². The

Tutaekuri River The Tutaekuri River () flows eastward for 99.9 kilometres through the Hawke's Bay Region of the eastern North Island of New Zealand into the Pacific Ocean. It starts in the Kaweka Range roughly 50 kilometres north-east of Taihape, and reaches t ...

flowed into the southern end, and the Esk River into the northern end. Following the earthquake, the Esk was no longer able to flow into the lagoon and ran more directly to the sea. The Tūtaekurī still flowed into the lagoon after the earthquake but it caused flooding for the next few years, and by the end of the 1930s it had been diverted away from the lagoon to enter the sea at the mouth of the

Ngaruroro River The Ngaruroro River is located in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It runs for a total of 164 kilometres southeast from the Kaweka Range, Kaimanawa Range and Ruahine Range and then east before emptying into Hawke Bay roughly halfway be ...

. The land rise in the earthquake drained much of the lagoon, leaving a smaller

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

. Land reclamation and drainage work further reduced the estuary to its present size of 470 ha.

Cultural history

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

named the lagoon ''Te Whanganui-a-Orotū'' (the Great Harbour of Orotū) after the chief Te Orotū. It was an important food source for Māori and supported a large population. European settlers established Napier on

Scinde Island Napier Hill () is a limestone outcrop and suburb rising above the lowland districts of the city of Napier on New Zealand's North Island. The north-east end, Bluff Hill, has a steep cliff face overlooking the Port of Napier. It features Napi ...

(present day Bluff Hill) in the harbour, and it soon became a prosperous region on New Zealand's east coast. Napier's growth then halted, as there was not enough flat land to build on. The southern end of the lagoon stretched between Scinde Island and the mainland, separating Napier from the settlement of Taradale, and many people moving into the region chose Taradale over Napier because of the abundance of land. In the

the lagoon was uplifted, exposing roughly 30 km² (3000ha) of seabed. This included a new land bridge between Napier and Taradale. The towns grew over the years and Taradale amalgamated with Napier, forming Napier City, in 1968.

Current use

Most of what was the lagoon is now low-lying land.

Hawke's Bay Airport Hawke's Bay Airport , commonly referred to as Napier Airport, is Hawke's Bay's main commercial airport, serving domestic flights to the main centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and smaller centres such as Gisborne. The airport i ...

and suburbs of Napier are built on part of it. Much of the rest is used for agriculture. A broad shallow river channel runs along the western edge and across the southern half of the reclaimed land, flowing into

Hawke Bay Hawke Bay (), formerly named ''Hawke's Bay'', is a large bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, surrounded by the Hawke's Bay region. It stretches from Māhia Peninsula in the northeast to Cape Kidnappers / Te Kauwae-a-Mā ...

at Ahuriri Estuary, to the west of the suburb of

Ahuriri Ahuriri is a suburb of the city of Napier, in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand's eastern North Island. The area was a major site of Māori and European settlement, and the site of the Port of Napier until the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthq ...

and Bluff Hill. The suburb of Westshore occupies a thin strip between the sea and State Highway 2.

References

{{coord, 39, 28, S, 176, 52, E, display=title 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake Napier, New Zealand History of Hawke's Bay Lagoons of New Zealand Landforms of Hawke's Bay Former lakes of New Zealand Wetlands of Hawke's Bay