Peacocke, New Zealand


Peacocke is a semi-rural suburb in southern Hamilton in New Zealand. Peacocke was brought into the city boundaries in 1989. It is one of the future urban zones of Hamilton, along with Rotokauri.
The Peacocke Structure Plan of 2007 provided for development on over about 25 years.
Two consent applications were made in 2018 proposing an 'Amberfield' development of 862 sections on between Peacockes Rd and the Waikato River. By 2020 the granting of the consent had been appealed to the Environment Court, a major issue being protection of habitats for endangered long tailed bats.

History

is one of the best preserved pā sites on the Waikato. It is at the south end of Peacocke, beside the river. Ngāti Mahuta may have been occupied it around 1700, after which Ngati Raukawa conquered it, or it may have belonged to Ngāti Ruru and been taken back by Ngāti Māhanga. It was reported as abandoned about 1830, at the time of the musket wars. After the 1863 invasion of the Waikato it was confiscated.
The land was acquired in 1868 by Colonel de Quincy, who named it “Weston Lea” after his grandmother’s English home, near Bath. In 1887, Fitzroy Peacocke, a son of Captain Peacocke, bought the land from the Colonel, who was step-father of his wife, Florence Henrietta. However, they didn't move there until 1889 and the farm was for sale 3 years later. Their son, Egerton Peacocke, took on the farm in 1905 and cleared much of the bush to form a dairy farm. His brother Noel, an architect, designed a new homestead, built in 1912.