Red Hill, New Zealand


Red Hill is a suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Located 34 kilometres to the southeast of Auckland CBD, under authority of the Auckland Council. The suburban area of Red Hill makes up the southernmost part of the Auckland metropolitan area, however the majority of the area is rural. The suburb lies on an ancient Pā Site known in Māori as Pukekiwiriki. The area is also situated on a no longer active volcano, and an old fault line in the region. Red Hill is located in the Manurewa-Papakura ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland city.

History

Red Hill was once a sacred Pā site for local iwi in Papakura. With panoramic views of the entire Auckland Region, it once was used as a lookout point during the Māori wars to see the incoming waka from the Manukau Harbour and movements through the surrounding native forest. Also the soil on the hill was used to grow and contain the kai of the local Māori. The area is known to have rich and fertile soil ever since the community was founded as well as other rural areas throughout the Papakura District.
During the major reformation of local government in 1989, the Red Hill area was included into the Papakura District boundaries.
From October 2010, after a review of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, the entire Auckland Region will be amalgamated into a single city authority. As well as the current Papakura District, all other territorial authorities will be abolished and the entire area will be dissolved into a single Auckland city council. The suburb of Red Hill will be separated into the urban ward of Manurewa-Papakura, as well as the rural ward of Franklin, under the Auckland Council.

People

Red Hill is a very diverse area of both rural and urban picturesque living. The top and northern side of the hill is known as a high economic living area, with multimillion-dollar estates and views of the greater Auckland metropolitan area and Manukau Heads, the eastern and south-eastern views the rural areas of Franklin District and the Bombay Hills towards Waikato, with the low-lying areas closer to Papakura being low economic areas run by the state and Housing New Zealand.
The most common ethnic group in Red Hill is European as at 2006, with 53.9 percent. Maori residents make up 36.2 percent of the suburb, and Pacific peoples consisting of 15.9 percent, as well as 3.2 percent being of Asian ethnicity. According to the 2006 New Zealand census, the most common occupational group in Red Hill is 'Technicians and trade workers', and the least common group is 'Community and personal service workers', with an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent of the Red Hill population.