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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

CENTRAL PLATEAU – BAY OF PLENTY REGION

Contents


CENTRAL PLATEAU

The Central Plateau is an extensive area of high but level country whose underlying rocks and soils are of volcanic origin; hence it is sometimes referred to as the Volcanic Plateau. It lies in the central part of the North Island extending from Ruapehu and Lake Taupo in the south towards Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty in the north-east. The area corresponds roughly to the extent of five counties, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, Whakatane, and Opotiki, which, together with their interior boroughs, constitute the principal basis for the collection of statistics. Rotorua (urban area population, 25,068, 1961) and Tauranga (urban area population, 24,659, 1961) are the main towns of the region, which, in 1961, had a total population of 129,840 (representing 5·37 per cent of the New Zealand population), 24·74 per cent of whom were Maoris.

Co-creator

Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.