Manukau

Manukau (/ˈmɑːnᵿˌkaʊ/) or Manukau Central is a suburb of south Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD, west of the Southern Motorway, south of Papatoetoe and north of Manurewa. The industrial and commercial suburb of Wiri lies to the east and south.

The headquarters of Manukau City Council were in Manukau Central until the council was merged into Auckland Council in November 2010. Manukau Central should not be confused with the much larger Manukau City, which was the entire area administered by the city council.

History

The Manukau Central area was part of the largely rural area of Wiri in the early 20th century. Its transition from farmland was driven by Manukau City Council, which formed in 1965 and purchased land there in 1966 for the development of an administrative and commercial centre. The Manukau City Centre mall, now Westfield Manukau City, opened in October 1976, and the Manukau City Council administration building in 1977. Several government departments established offices in the late 1970s.

Manukau (New Zealand electorate)

Manukau is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the south Auckland Region. It existed from 1881 to 1978, with a break from 1938 to 1954. It was represented by nine Members of Parliament. Two by-elections were held in the electorate.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–76 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Manukau, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

The First Labour Government was defeated in the 1949 election and the incoming National Government changed the Electoral Act, with the electoral quota once again based on total population as opposed to qualified electors, and the tolerance was increased to 7.5% of the electoral quota. There was no adjustments in the number of electorates between the South and North Islands, but the law changes resulted in boundary adjustments to almost every electorate through the 1952 electoral redistribution; only five electorates were unaltered. Five electorates were reconstituted (including Manukau) and one was newly created, and a corresponding six electorates were abolished; all of these in the North Island. These changes took effect with the 1954 election.