First census of the Colony of New Zealand | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
General information | ||
Country | Crown colony of New Zealand | |
Results | ||
Total population | 26,707 [1] | |
Most populous | Auckland (9,430) | |
Least populous | New Plymouth (1,532) |
The 1851 colony of New Zealand census was the first national population census held in the Crown colony of New Zealand. The day used for the census was Saturday 1 November 1851. The enumeration was left to the governments of New Ulster and New Munster, the two provinces into which the country was then divided and was ordered by the Census Ordinance of 1851. [2] [3] The census, which only surveyed European New Zealanders, revealed a population of 26,707. [4]
General census of 1851
The Blue Books were statistical information from New Zealand's early Colonial period (1840–1855). They have information about population, revenue, military, trade, shipping, public works, legislation, civil servants, foreign consuls, land transactions, churches, schools, and prisons. [6]
Population counts for the New Zealand districts. The original six were Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, though in 1858 New Plymouth was renamed Taranaki.
Population of New Zealand colony in 1851. [7] [8]
Birthplace | Population | Percentage | |
---|---|---|---|
New Zealand | - | 12.3 | |
Totals, Overseas-born | - | 87.7 | |
England | 13,485 | 50.5 | |
Scotland | – | 12.7 | |
Ireland | – | 16.5 | |
Wales | – | 0.4 | |
Totals, British Isles | – | 84.4 | |
Other | – | 3.3 | |
Colony of New Zealand | 26,707 | 100.0 | |
Members of Christian denominations formed 93.35 per cent. of those who made answer to the inquiry at the census; non-Christian sects were 0.24 per cent.; whilst "other" religions constituted 6.41 per cent. [9] [10]
Denomination | 1851 Census | |
---|---|---|
Number | Percent (%) | |
Christian | 24,930 | 93.35 |
Church of England | 14,179 | 53.09 |
Presbyterians | 4,124 | 15.44 |
Methodists | 2,755 | 10.31 |
Baptist | 400 | 1.50 |
Totals, Protestants | 21,458 | 80.34 |
Roman; Catholic | 3,472 | 13.00 |
Jews | 65 | 0.24 |
Other specified religions | 1,712 | 6.41 |
Totals, New Zealand | 26,707 | 100.0 |
Showing the numbers of livestock in the possession of Europeans in the several settlements in 1851. [11]
Settlement | Horses | Mules and Asses | Horned Cattle | Sheep | Goats | Pigs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Auckland | 1,035 | 11 | 10,943 | 11,075 | 2,604 | 5,679 |
New Plymouth | 68 | - | 1,395 | 2,700 | 83 | 1,165 |
Wellington (incl Hawkes Bay) | 788 | 28 | 11,407 | 64,009 | 2,654 | 3,135 |
Nelson | 532 | 13 | 5,838 | 92,014 | 5,842 | 2,609 |
Canterbury | 224 | 7 | 2,043 | 28,416 | 356 | 1,255 |
Otago | 243 | 1 | 3,161 | 34,829 | 582 | 2,371 |
Totals | 2,890 | 60 | 34,787 | 233,043 | 12,121 | 16,214 |
The provinces of the Colony of New Zealand existed as a form of sub-national government. Initially established in 1846 when New Zealand was a Crown colony without responsible government, two provinces were first created. Each province had its own legislative council and governor. With the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 the provinces were recreated around the six planned settlements or "colonies". By 1873 the number of provinces had increased to nine, but they had become less isolated from each other and demands for centralised government arose. In 1875 the New Zealand Parliament decided to abolish the provincial governments, and they came to an end in November 1876. They were superseded by counties, which were later replaced by territorial authorities.
New Munster was an early original European name for the South Island of New Zealand, given by the Governor of New Zealand, Captain William Hobson, in honour of Munster, the Irish province in which he was born.
New Ulster was a province of the Colony of New Zealand that existed between 1841 and 1853. It was named after the Irish province of Ulster.
Ōkato is a small town in rural Taranaki, New Zealand. It is situated about 25 minutes drive around the coast from New Plymouth on State Highway 45. Ōakura is 12 km to the north-east, and Warea is 9 km to the south-west. The place offers popular rocky surfing spots around coastal beaches. The town was established as a military settlement in the 1860s.
New Zealanders of European descent are mostly of British and Irish ancestry, with significantly smaller percentages of other European ancestries such as Germans, Poles, French, Dutch, Croats and other South Slavs, Greeks, and Scandinavians. European New Zealanders are also known by the Māori-language loanword Pākehā.
The New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was intended to grant self-government to the Colony of New Zealand, but was never fully implemented. The Act's long title was "An Act to make further Provision for the Government of the New Zealand Islands". It received royal assent on 28 August 1846.
New Zealand has no state religion and freedom of religion has been protected since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealand Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form with Hawaii (8,000–10,000), the joint-second largest (7,500–10,000) Jewish community in Oceania, behind Australia (118,000).
The following lists events that happened during 1853 in New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 1852 in New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 1851 in New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 1841 in New Zealand.
Omata is a locality in Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 45 just southwest of New Plymouth. Omata and Western New Plymouth are adjacent to the Tapuae Marine Reserve.
Auckland is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about 1,531,400. It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of 1,798,300 as of June 2024. It is the most populous city of New Zealand and the fifth largest city in Oceania. While Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland's population, the city became multicultural and cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asians accounting for 34.9% of the city's population in 2023. Auckland has the fourth largest foreign-born population in the world, with 39% of its residents born overseas. With its sizable population of Pasifika New Zealanders, the city is also home to the largest ethnic Polynesian population in the world.
Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed a distinct culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.
South Island nationalism refers to a nationalist movement in the South Island of New Zealand.
The Colony of New Zealand was a colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1907. British authority was vested in a governor. The colony had three successive capitals: Okiato in 1841; Auckland from 1841 to 1865; and Wellington from 1865. Following the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, the colony became a Crown colony with its first elected parliament in 1853. Responsible self-government was established in 1856 with the governor being required to act on the advice of his ministers. In 1907, the colony became the Dominion of New Zealand within the British Empire.
The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.
Bell Block is a town in Taranaki, New Zealand. State Highway 3 runs through it. It is 6 km north-east of the centre of New Plymouth and 1 km from the outer edge of New Plymouth at Waiwhakaiho. Waitara is about 9 km to the north-east. New Plymouth Airport is located immediately to the north-east of Bell Block.