Aramoana

Aramoana
Rural settlement
Looking east across the mouth of Otago Harbour; Aramoana settlement to the lower right
Looking east across the mouth of Otago Harbour; Aramoana settlement to the lower right
Map
Coordinates: 45°47′S 170°42′E / 45.783°S 170.700°E / -45.783; 170.700
CountryNew Zealand
IslandSouth Island
RegionOtago
CityDunedin
Community boardWest Harbour Community Board[1]
Electorates
Government
 • Territorial authorityDunedin City Council
 • Regional councilOtago Regional Council
 • Mayor of DunedinJules Radich
 • Dunedin MPRachel Brooking
 • Te Tai Tonga MPTākuta Ferris
Area
 • Total0.49 km2 (0.19 sq mi)
Population
 (June 2024)[3]
 • Total130
 • Density270/km2 (690/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+12 (NZST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+13 (NZDT)
Area code03
Local iwiNgāi Tahu

Aramoana is a small coastal settlement 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. The settlement's permanent population in the 2001 Census was 261. Supplementing this are seasonal visitors from the city who occupy cribs. The name Aramoana is Māori for "pathway of the sea".

It was founded by the Otago Harbour Board and established in the 1880s as a pilot station for navigation around the mouth of the Otago Harbour. This area grew into a small farming village. In the 1950s, the town became popular as a beach resort and a rural life village due to the construction of a mole to inhibit the spread of tidal sands into the mouth of Otago Harbour and was surveyed and amalgamated as a suburb of Port Chalmers borough.

It is the site of the Aramoana massacre, New Zealand's second deadliest criminal shooting, on 13 and 14 November 1990.

  1. ^ "2016 West Harbour Community Board Boundary" (PDF). dunedin.govt.nz. Dunedin City Council. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Area was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.