Horotiu is a small township on the west bank of the Waikato River in the Waikato District of New Zealand. It is on the Waikato Plains north of Hamilton and south of Ngāruawāhia. From early in the 20th century it developed around a freezing works and other industries.
The North Island Main Trunk railway runs through the town, as did State Highway 1 until opening of part of the Waikato Expressway in 2013. An hourly bus runs between Huntly and Hamilton.
Name
The name, Horotiu, seems to have been used interchangeably with Waikato River, or Pukete. Its first use for the current township seems to occur in 1864, shortly after the invasion of the Waikato. Until then, Horotiu was the name of the upper Waikato river, where its current became faster and of Horotiu pā, on its banks, near Cambridge. An 1858 map only shows the name as Horotiu Plains in the area near the pā. The name, Horotiu, for the Waikato River, upstream from Ngāruawāhia, seems to have remained in use until the 1920s, though the 1859 map named it as Waikato.
Horotiu and Pukete parishes existed from at least 1867, but, until the 1900s, Horotiu was often referred to as Pukete, a name now used for the Hamilton suburb upstream. The railway station changed its name on 23 June 1907, when the proposed post office was referred to as Horotiu (Pukete), and the name of the school was changed from Pukete to Horotiu in 1911. The post office closed in 1988.
Demographics
Horotiu covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Horotiu had a population of 624 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 126 people (25.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 111 people (21.6%) since the 2006 census. There were 198 households, comprising 324 males and 300 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.08 males per female. The median age was 34.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 150 people (24.0%) aged under 15 years, 114 (18.3%) aged 15 to 29, 306 (49.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 54 (8.7%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 78.4% European/Pākehā, 34.1% Māori, 3.8% Pacific peoples, 6.2% Asian, and 1.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 8.2, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 64.9% had no religion, 23.1% were Christian, 0.5% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.4% were Buddhist and 1.4% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 66 (13.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 108 (22.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $40,900, compared with $31,800 nationally. 78 people (16.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 291 (61.4%) people were employed full-time, 51 (10.8%) were part-time, and 9 (1.9%) were unemployed.
In 2018 the census unit was reduced to about half its previous area, losing most to the west of the railway to Te Kowhai area unit. Growth to 1,390 is planned by 2040.
Geology
Taupō Pumice Alluvium (Q1a) was deposited on the Hinuera Formation (Q2a) until about 15,000 years ago. Some of the alluvium has been dug for sand and gravel. The Hinuera formation is also sand and gravel, interbedded with silt and some peat. In the last 14,000 years the Waikato River has cut into these formations, forming a low terrace and then cutting deeper.
The low ridge between the Waikato and Waipā rivers is made of Walton Subgroup (eQa – pumiceous fine-grained sand and silt with interbedded peat, pumiceous gravelly sand, diatomaceous mud, and non-welded ignimbrite and tephra), covered in places by Piako Subgroup (1Qa – Late Pleistocene, mainly locally derived, stream and coastal alluvium, and minor fans, with up to of unconsolidated to very soft, thinly to thickly bedded, yellow-grey to orange-brown, pumiceous mud, silt, sandy mud and gravel, with muddy peat in some valleys).
History
Ngāti Hauā had a pā named Horotiu near Cambridge and they also had land in this area. The 1858 census put the Ngāti Hauā population at 1,399. By then they had seeded this area with European grasses. Their land was confiscated in 1864.
Education
Horotiu School is a co-educational state primary school covering years 1 to 8 with a roll of as of The 2012 report on the school said, "the vast majority of students are achieving at or above National Standards" and noted it was in a Decile 3 area. The school dates back to 1879, following a government grant of the land in 1878.
Horotiu also has a playcentre.