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General
Information
Warkworth
village is the hub of the historic Mahurangi
- Matakana area.
The
area was
first settled about 800 years ago by Polynesian
people, who made epic
sea
voyages here from Pacific Islands to the north-east
of New Zealand. They lived mainly near
the water to fish, for transport and tend
their gardens.
Unfortunately, early contact with people from
the New World, starting in the late 1700s,
was devastating. These early European and American
adventurers introduced new diseases against
which Maori had no natural immunity, and
together with the introducion of muskets as
an item of exchange, resulting in deadly inter-tribal
warfare between the local Tribes and the Ngapuhi
Tribe to the north, large scale
population decline ensued.
In
early to mid 1800s, a new wave of settlers
from England and Europe arrived, attracted
by the bountiful Kauri forests on the shoreline.
The timber was shipped to Sydney for house
construction and spars were exported in large
quantities to meet the demands of the expansive
British Navy.
New
communities grew, based on timber milling,
ship building, fishing, cement manufacturing,
horticulture and farming. Warkworth was one
of them.
Warkworth is now the commercial centre
of the Matakana - Mahurangi area, supporting
the vineyards, orchards, farms, light
manufacturing, printing, services and
tourist industries.
Many
exotic holiday homes have been built around
the wonderful sheltered waterways and beaches.
The
area has become a haven where city people
take time out during weekends and holidays
to relax.
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