Hutt Valley

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Lower and Upper Hutt cities are marked as 2 and 3 in this satellite image of the Wellington area (composite landsat-7 image) Wellington landsat labelled.jpg
Lower and Upper Hutt cities are marked as 2 and 3 in this satellite image of the Wellington area (composite landsat-7 image)
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Hutt Valley
Location of Hutt Valley

The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zealand Company in early colonial New Zealand.

Contents

The river flows roughly along the course of an active geologic fault, which continues to the south to become the main instrument responsible for the uplift of the South Island's Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. For this reason, the land rises abruptly to the west of the river; to the east two floodplains have developed. The higher of these is between 15–22 km (9.3–13.7 mi) from the mouth of the river. Beyond this, the river is briefly confined by a steep-sided gorge near Taitā, before the land opens up into a long triangular plain close to the outflow into Wellington Harbour.

The Waiwhetu Aquifer is formed from water seeping underground from the Hutt River near Taitā. It flows underground down the Hutt Valley and out under Wellington Harbour.

Human settlement

Some early Māori nations (iwi) of the region were Ngāi Tara, Muaūpoko, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō and Ngāti Ira. These iwi descended from the sons of Whātonga, Taraika and Tautoki-ihu-nui-a-Whātonga, who migrated through the lower North Island with some descendants settling in the Hutt Valley. [1] The name Heretaunga is often applied to the Hutt Valley from the name of the 'house of Whātonga at Nukutaurua vollage ()'. [1]

In 1846 there was fighting between Māori tribes and the Government, known as the Hutt Valley Campaign.

The Hutt River also has the name Te Awa Kairangi, and was a major arterial route for Māori. There was a trail linking Wellington Harbour and the Wairarapa over the Remutaka Range and through Pākuratahi river. Before the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake large Māori boats (waka) could travel as far Pākuratahi river, and European ships could also go up the valley 'almost' to Silverstream. [1]

The lower valley contains the city of Lower Hutt, administered by Hutt City Council, while the adjacent, larger but less populous city of Upper Hutt has its centre on the smaller plain above the Taita Gorge. The valley forms a major dormitory suburban area for Wellington, and is a location for manufacturing and heavy industry, educational and recreational facilities, and the region's motor camps.

Petone, on the Wellington Harbour shoreline, was proposed as the initial site for the settlement of Wellington by the New Zealand Company. However, as the chosen site was soon seen to be prone to river flooding, early settlement was relocated to Wellington. A small settlement remained at the Petone site as the whole valley was believed to be well suited as farm land.

Almost the whole valley was clearfelled and converted to pasture or market gardens before the urbanisation of the 20th century. A small remnant of the early podocarp forest is preserved in Barton's Bush in Upper Hutt.

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Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika is a Māori collective that was formed to lodge claims with the Waitangi Tribunal relating to the New Zealand Company's purchase of land in the vicinity of Wellington in 1839 and 1844. Following on from the Tribunal's 2003 report WAI145, a settlement of these claims was signed in 2008 between the New Zealand Government and the collective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Howard</span> Suburb of Lower Hutt, New Zealand

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waiwhetu Aquifer</span> Aquifer in Wellington, New Zealand

The Waiwhetu artesian aquifer, sometimes referred to as the Hutt aquifer, is a pressurized zone of water-retaining sand, gravel and boulders beneath the Hutt Valley and Wellington Harbour in New Zealand. The aquifer provides about 40% of the public fresh water supply for Lower Hutt and Wellington city. Water from the Hutt River begins to flow underground south from Taita Gorge, then becomes pressurized under a seal of clay. Water is extracted from the pressurized area for public use, but concerns about overuse and damage by earthquakes have led to investigations of alternative sources of fresh water.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Our Māori heritage". Upper Hutt City Council.


41°09′57″S174°58′23″E / 41.1657°S 174.973°E / -41.1657; 174.973