Helensville

Helensville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is sited 40 kilometres northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of the Kaipara Harbour. State Highway 16 passes through the town, connecting it to Waimauku 16 km to the south, and Kaukapakapa about 12 km to the north-east. Parakai is 2 km to the north-west. The Kaipara River runs through the town and into the Kaipara Harbour to the north.

The population was 2,532 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 315 from 2001.

Helensville is also the name of an electorate seat in the Parliament of New Zealand. The current member for Helensville is John Key for the National Party.

Early history

The area around Helensville was originally called Te Awaroa, meaning "The long path" or "The long river valley". The first European settlers in the district were Scottish timber millers named McLeod but who had actually come from Nova Scotia to New Zealand. John McLeod built a house which he named "Helen's Villa" in honour of his wife, and the name soon became that of the surrounding settlement.

Helensville (New Zealand electorate)

Helensville is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. The electorate was first established for the 1978 election and was abolished again in 1984, and has existed again since the 2002 election. The current MP for Helensville is John Key, leader of the National Party and Prime Minister of New Zealand. He has held this electorate since 2002.

Population centres

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government. As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island. The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Helensville) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.