Purau is a small town in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, New Zealand, facing

Lyttelton Harbour Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō is a major inlet on the northwest side of Banks Peninsula, on the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand; the other major inlet is Akaroa Harbour, which enters from the southern side of the ...

Geography

Purau is located on

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula () is a rocky peninsula on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand that was formed by two now-extinct volcanoes. It has an area of approximately . It includes two large deep-water harbours — Lyttelton Harbour a ...

, one of the southern bays forming Lyttelton Harbour.

History

Purau has a long history of

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 ...

settlement. Ngāti Māmoe lived here prior to

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...

settling the bay. There are many Māori burial sites in the area. The bay's first English name was "Acheron Bay", and this name persisted until the 1860s. The name derives from the British Admiralty survey ship HMSV ''Acheron'', which was anchored at Purau in early 1849 while its captain John Stokes and surveyor W.J.W. Hamilton conducted the first survey off the New Zealand coastline since Cook's voyage, exploring the Peninsula and nearby

Canterbury Plains The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and ...

. European occupation started in 1843, when the Greenwood brothers started a farm here. They sold to the Rhodes brothers in 1847 ( William Barnard and

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

, with the latter taking over management of the station). When

Robert Heaton Rhodes Robert Heaton Rhodes (1815 – 1 June 1884) was a New Zealand politician who represented the Akaroa electorate from 1871 to 1874, when he resigned. He was elected unopposed in 1871. Biography Born in 1815 in Rotherham, in the English county ...

, another of the Rhodes brothers, came to New Zealand in 1850, he took over Purau.

Demographics

Purau is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement, and covers . It had an estimated population of 70 as of June 2022 with a population density of people per km². It was part of the Eastern Bays-Banks Peninsula SA2 statistical area in 2018, and part of

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour is a town and municipality located in the South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, it serves as the administrative headquarters of the Diamond Harbour su ...

in 2023. Purau had a population of 69 at the

2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...

, an increase of 18 people (35.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 6 people (9.5%) since the 2006 census. There were 33 households, comprising 33 males and 33 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 52.5 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 9 people (13.0%) aged under 15 years, 6 (8.7%) aged 15 to 29, 39 (56.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 15 (21.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 95.7% European/

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

, 13.0%

, and 4.3%

Pasifika Pasifika may refer to: *Pacific Islander people, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands **Pasifika New Zealanders, Pacific peoples living in New Zealand *Pacific Islands, including Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia *The Pasifika Festival, an a ...

. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 47.8% had no religion, 26.1% were

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and 4.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 18 (30.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 6 (10.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $32,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 9 people (15.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 27 (45.0%) people were employed full-time, 12 (20.0%) were part-time, and 3 (5.0%) were unemployed.

Gallery

File:Panoramic of Purau Bay, Canterbury 20100119.jpg, Panorama of Purau Bay File:A house in Purau, Canterbury, New Zealand 13.jpg, A house in Purau File:Purau beach, Canterbury, New Zealand 12.jpg, Beach File:Bridge across Purau Stream, Purau, Canterbury, New Zealand.jpg, Bridge across Purau Stream

References

{{Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula Populated places in the Canterbury Region