Hinuera

Hinuera Stone, or Ongatiti Ignimbrite,[6] is a Late Pleistocene,[7] light-brown rock containing angular fragments of pumice in a fine-grained ash matrix.[8] It has been quarried since at least 1893,[9] though not on the present scale until 1954,[6] and is sold as Hinuera Stone for cladding and other decorative uses.[10] The stone is soft enough to be quarried by cutting with saws.[11] One of the first houses built with Hinuera stone was the Bishop's House in Ponsonby in 1893.[12]

The Hinuera Gap, a geological feature stretching west and southwest from the locality towards Piarere, was in prehistoric times the path of the Waikato River, which had its outlet in the Firth of Thames. The river's course was altered to its current outflow by the massive Oruanui eruption about 26,500 years ago.[13] A remnant river, the Waitoa River, now flows through the gap, with its source lying less than one kilometre from the Waikato River, close to the junctions of SH1 and SH29.[14] The route of the latter of these roads takes it through the Hinuera Gap.

Hinuera settlement is in an SA1 statistical area, which covers 10.59 km² (4.09 sq mi).[1] The SA1 area is part of the larger Hinuera statistical area.

The SA1 area had a population of 162 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 9 people (5.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 12 people (8.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 63 households, comprising 87 males and 75 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.16 males per female. The median age was 36.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 39 people (24.1%) aged under 15 years, 33 (20.4%) aged 15 to 29, 75 (46.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 21 (13.0%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 87.0% European/Pākehā, 11.1% Māori, 1.9% Pacific peoples, 3.7% Asian, and 3.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 48.1% had no religion, and 33.3% were Christian.

Of those at least 15 years old, 15 (12.2%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 30 (24.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $40,900, compared with $31,800 nationally. 27 people (22.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 81 (65.9%) people were employed full-time, 18 (14.6%) were part-time, and 3 (2.4%) were unemployed.[2]

Hinuera was a flag station[17] off Hinuera Rd,[18] on the Kinleith Branch, from 8 March 1886. It was 78 m (256 ft) above sea level.[19] The station was renamed from Mangawhara to Hinuera on 1 April 1897, as the Post Office found that Mangawhara was confused with Mangawhare, near Dargaville. By then the station had a shelter shed, platform, cart approach, a 24 ft (7.3 m) by 20 ft (6.1 m) goods shed (increased to 40 ft (12 m) by 15 ft (4.6 m) in 1915), cattle yards and a passing loop for 29 wagons.[20] Hinuera was used as a transfer point during construction of Horahora power station in 1911,[21] for additional turbines in the 1920s.[22] The station became staffed[3] and expanded to 3 tracks in 1919, when part of the plantation was removed.[23] Like many stations in this area,[24] Hinuera was protected by a tree plantation,[25] part of which remains,[26] though more of it, on the east side, was felled between 1943[27] and 1966.[28] The station closed to passengers on 12 November 1968 and to freight on 29 March 1981.[29] Only the plantation and passing loop remain.[26]

Hinuera School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students,[30][31] with a roll of 171 as of April 2023.[32]

The area's first official school, Mangawhara School, opened in 1908,[33] though the Education Board had a lease of a railway cottage from 1893.[34]

• James Cotter, MLC was from Hinuera

• 2014 view of old butter factory