Papakura

Papakura is a suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council.

Papakura is a Māori word believed to have originated from papa, meaning earth or flat (abbreviation of Papatuanuku) and kura meaning red, reflecting the rich, fertile soil upon which the community was founded.

History

An old highway, the Great South Road, runs through Papakura, forming its main street. The road was constructed during the New Zealand Wars to transport supplies to the Waikato campaign. It was guarded by armed constabulary and was a designated military road.

During the major reformation of local government in 1989, Papakura became a district. Prior to that time, a smaller area was known as Papakura City, which was a small city of New Zealand, but the new district included parts of the surrounding rural countryside that had previously been part of Manukau City. After the major change "Papakura City" went to "Papakura District", and instead of being an independent city, the area was amalgamated, including it into the Auckland Region. The whole district counts as part of the Auckland urban area for statistical purposes, forming part of its southern boundary.

Papakura (New Zealand electorate)

Papakura is an electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives, based in the south Auckland town of Papakura. Historically, the name refers to an electorate that existed between 1978 and 1996, which with the advent of Mixed Member Proportional voting and resulting reduction in the number of constituencies was folded into a new Hunua seat. In 2002 Hunua was modified, pulled northwards and renamed Clevedon.

In a modern sense, the name refers to a constituency which was fought for the first time at the 2008 election. This new Papakura seat is the successor to the old Clevedon seat. It also contains a set of towns to the west of Papakura, namely Drury, Karaka and Kingseat. Until 2014 it also included Waiau Pa and Clarks Beach. The current MP is Judith Collins, of the National Party.

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 Papakura) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.

Papakura City FC

Papakura City FC is a semi-professional football (soccer) club in Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the Northern Regional Football League (NRFL) Division 2 - men's, Auckland Football Federation (AFF) Conference - women's.

Club history

The club was founded in 1959, and is based at McLennan Park, Papakura. Papakura City was the first club to be coached by future All Whites national coach Ricki Herbert. Papakura City's best performance in the Chatham Cup was a quarter-final appearance in 2005. The men's squad contains several ex and current international players including Junior Bukalidi (Fiji), Apisai Smith (Fiji), Valerio Nawatu (Fiji), Nicholas Lawrence (Fiji), Daniel Billot (NZ U20's) and Harry Hillary-Jenkins (PNG). Ex-club members who have gone on to higher honours include Tim Payne (current Blackburn Rovers (English NPower Championship) and All Whites), Thomas Spragg (NZ U-17 and U-20). Current club membership stands at 815, with 64 teams covering all age groups (junior and youth - boys and girls, senior men, senior women).