Napier Hill

Suburb in Napier, New Zealand

Napier Hill
Suburb
Port of Napier as seen from Bluff Hill.
Coordinates: 39°28′47″S 176°54′38″E / 39.479749°S 176.910528°E / -39.479749; 176.910528
Country	New Zealand
City	Napier
Local authority	Napier City Council
Electoral ward	Ahuriri Ward
Area [1]
• Land	339 ha (838 acres)
Population  (June 2023)[2]
• Total	5,890

Ahuriri	(Hawke Bay)	Napier Port
Pandora	Napier Hill	(Hawke Bay)
Onekawa	Napier South Marewa	Central Napier

Napier Hill (Māori: Mataruahou) is a limestone outcrop and suburb rising above the lowland districts of the city of Napier on New Zealand's North Island.^[3]

The north-east end, Bluff Hill, has a steep cliff face overlooking the Port of Napier. It features Napier Girls' High School, the historic former Napier Prison and a scenic walk.^[4]

The western end, Hospital Hill, was the site of the former Napier Hospital, whose services were transferred to Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings in 1999.^[5] The building was demolished in 2015 after years of sitting derelict and the land has recently been purchased (December 2020) by the Napier City Council to be developed for use as a new reservoir to replace the current ageing water source on Enfield Road.^[6] European settlement on the hill began in 1855.^[7] Most homes on the hill were built in the 1920s.^[8]

Napier Botanical Gardens were established in the 1860s, and were for a long time the only public park in the city.^[9]

Prior to the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, the hill was almost surrounded with water, with just two shingle spits running north and south, and was known as Scinde Island. The earthquake raised the Napier area and the sea receded from around the island and the spits.^[3] Scinde Island was named after the province of Sindh, then in India and now in Pakistan.^[10][7] The Napier soccer club Scindians derived their name from Scinde Island.