{{Short description|Locality in Tasman District, New Zealand}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Parapara | settlement_type = locality | image_skyline = View of Parapara.jpg | imagesize = | image_alt = | image_caption = View north along the beach | area_footnotes = <ref name="Area"/> | area_total_km2 = 0.69 | population_footnotes = {{NZ population data 2018||||y}} | population_total = {{NZ population data 2018|Parapara|y}} | population_as_of = {{NZ population data 2018|||y}} | population_density_km2 = auto | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 11 | pushpin_map = | pushpin_mapsize = | coordinates = {{coord|40|43|45|S|172|41|35|E|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = New Zealand | subdivision_type1 = [[Territorial authorities of New Zealand|Territorial authority]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Tasman District|Tasman]] | subdivision_type2 = Ward | subdivision_name2 = Golden Bay Ward | subdivision_type3 = Community | subdivision_name3 = Golden Bay Community | seat_type = [[New Zealand electorates|Electorates]] | seat = {{ubl|[[West Coast-Tasman]]|{{nowrap|[[Te Tai Tonga]] ([[Māori electorates|Māori]])}}}} | government_footnotes = | leader_title = Territorial authority | leader_name = [[Tasman District Council]] | leader_title1 = [[Mayor of Tasman]] | leader_name1 = {{NZ officeholder data|Tasman District Mayor|y}} | leader_title2 = {{nowrap|[[West Coast-Tasman|West Coast-Tasman MP]]}} | leader_name2 = {{NZ officeholder data|West Coast-Tasman MP|y}} | leader_title3 = [[Te Tai Tonga|Te Tai Tonga MP]] | leader_name3 = {{NZ officeholder data|Te Tai Tonga MP|y}} | timezone1 = [[Time in New Zealand|NZST]] | utc_offset1 = +12 | timezone1_DST = [[Time in New Zealand|NZDT]] | utc_offset1_DST = +13 | postal_code_type = [[Postcodes in New Zealand|Postcode]] | postal_code = 7182 | area_code_type = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Parapara''' is a coastal location in the [[Tasman District]] of New Zealand. It is located near [[Golden Bay / Mohua|Golden Bay]], close to the edge of the [[Parapara Inlet]], between [[Tākaka]] and [[Collingwood, New Zealand|Collingwood]]. The location is rich in minerals and has a history of mining, mainly for gold and [[limonite]] ore.
==Māori settlement== The first settlers in the area were [[Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri]], an ''[[iwi]]'' (tribe) from the [[Whanganui]] area that came to Parapara in the 16th century. These [[Māori people|Māori]] settled around the [[Parapara Inlet]]. They named the place after a small island in their [[Polynesia|Polynesian]] homeland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Philip |title=Down the Bay: a natural and cultural history of Abel Tasman National Park |publisher=Potton & Burton |year=2018 |isbn=9780947503932 |location=[[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] |page=18}}</ref> By the early 1800s, [[Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō]] and [[Ngāi Tahu]] had displaced Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}} During the 1820s, [[Ngāti Tama]] came from the North Island and displaced the two iwi. During the mid-1830s, the iwi's rangatira, [[Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi]], led further migration of his people from Taranaki to what is now the Tasman District and this resulted in tension. Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi himself moved south and settled at Parapara. From there, he started a raid against Ngāi Tahu in 1836 down the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]], across the [[Haast Pass]] into [[Otago]], and into [[Southland, New Zealand|Southland]], where he was killed by a party led by [[Tūhawaiki]].<ref>{{DNZB|Anderson |Atholl |1t59 |Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi |13 March 2022||Atholl Anderson}}</ref>
==Mining history== [[File:Lightband Gully memorial 02 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Lightband Gully]] memorial on the former highway in Parapara]] The first European settlers came to Parapara in 1858. They were gold miners, having come across from the South Island's first payable gold discovery in 1856 in nearby [[Lightband Gully]]. In Parapara, they were first working on Richmond Hill and then down Sarah's Saddle. In the early 1860s, most of the miners left when the gold rushes started in [[Otago gold rush|Otago]] and near [[Hokitika]].{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}}{{sfn|Broad |1892 |pp=143ff}} Some miners stayed on, though, and were mainly working in the Glen Gyle (which flows into the [[Parapara River]]), and on the Parapara flats.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}}
The Parapara area is rich in several minerals. The district surveyor, Charles Lewis, collected half a ton of minerals for the [[Colonial and Indian Exhibition]] held in 1886 in London. Materials collected for this purpose included [[marble]], [[silver ore]], coal, [[galena]], [[Soapstone|steatite]], [[hematite]], sand suitable for making glass, [[graphite]], [[Tourmaline#Schorl|schorl]], and [[pyrite|iron pyrite]].{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}}<ref>{{cite news |title=The Golden Bay Argus |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GBARG18851030.2.6 |access-date=27 December 2020 |volume=I |issue=123 |date=30 October 1885 |page=2}}</ref>
Māori had made use of iron ore for making paint. Europeans did the same and in the early 1870s, iron ore from Parapara was shipped to [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] and turned into paint there. The paint manufacture was undertaken in Parapara from the late 1870s. The machinery was driven by a waterwheel, with the water coming via a {{convert|5|km|mi|adj=mid|-long|spell=in}} water race from Glen Gyle Creek. A tramway was built to get the ore from the quarry to the plant, and the bagged paint from the plant to the beach. Paint manufacture had stopped by 1922.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=40}}{{sfn|Newport|1979|pages=5–8}} A major customer for the red paint was the [[New Zealand Railways Department]], which used it for its goods sheds and railway wagons. Other uses were at ship yards, foundries and on farms.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=42}}
The manner of gold mining changed in the 1890s when mining companies took over, with miners employed on a wage and [[Hydraulic fill|hydraulic sluicing]] became the main extraction method.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}} The companies built three dams in the hills behind Parapara to have secure water supply for sluicing: [[Druggans Dam]]<!-- Q32185419 -->, [[Parapara Dam]], and [[Boulder Lake (New Zealand)|Boulder Lake]]. Druggans Dam is a {{convert|20|ha|adj=mid}} reservoir. Parapara Dam is a dam in the Parapara River that was used to sluice the valley of the Glen Gyle Creek; the creek originally flowed into [[Appos Creek]], which in turn drains into the [[Aorere River]], but the miners removed a whole hillside and it now flows into Parapara River. At {{convert|985|m}} above sea level, Boulder Lake is the highest of the lakes and is much smaller than originally as the dam got blown up in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hindmarsh |first1=Gerard |title=A dam fine legacy with golden linings |url= https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/back-your-backyard/123655747/a-dam-fine-legacy-with-golden-linings |access-date=27 December 2020 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=12 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hindmarsh |first1=Gerard |title=Determination and true grit defined the early days of Golden Bay's golden days |url= https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/experiences/123786404/determination-and-true-grit-defined-the-early-days-of-golden-bays-golden-days |access-date=27 December 2020 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=12 December 2020}}</ref>
A gold dredge was brought up from [[Dunedin]] to work in the Parapara Inlet. After working for a week or two, the dredge overturned and sank at the mouth of the Parapara River, resulting in a total loss.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=55}}
==Settlement== [[File:Quarry lake view of Parapara and inlet.jpg|thumb|View from the quarry lake of Parapara and Parapara Inlet]] Early land-based travel in Golden Bay was along the beach. Beacons were installed in 1885 to guide people across the mudflats but only after at least five people had drowned. Crossing of the Parapara Inlet at the mouth was not advised as it was too dangerous. The "inland road", much of which is now [[State Highway 60 (New Zealand)|State Highway 60]], was built in stages between Tākaka and Collingwood. A local contractor won the tender in May 1897 to form that part of the road that ran along the Parapara Inlet for [[New Zealand pound|NZ£]]33.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|pp=38, 56}}
The authors of a local history book, ''Between the ports : Collingwood to Waitapu'', state that Parapara was "liveliest" around 1900. In 1901, a hall was opened on land granted by a local land owner, with the building paid for by a mining company, some of the main shareholders, and a government subsidy.{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|p=33}} Premier [[Richard Seddon]] and Governor [[Uchter Knox, 5th Earl of Ranfurly|Lord Ranfurly]] visited Parapara on 18 February 1904, coming over from Collingwood for the day. The official party included Viscount Northland (the governor's son) and [[Albert Pitt]] ([[Attorney-General (New Zealand)|Attorney-General]]).{{sfn|Dawber and Win|2008|pp=56f}}
On 17 April 2014, the remnants of [[Cyclone Ita]] merged with a separate cyclone.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Climate Summary: April 2014 |url=https://niwa.co.nz/sites/default/files/Climate_Summary_April_2014.pdf |publisher=[[National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research]] |access-date=21 August 2025 |page=3 |date=6 May 2014}}</ref> This caused coastal erosion from [[Ruby Bay]] to [[Pākawau]]. The greatest damage was in Parapara, where much of Esplanade Road was washed away.<ref>{{cite web |title=Coastal erosion at Parapara |url=https://heritage.tasmanlibraries.govt.nz/nodes/view/7118 |publisher=Tasman District Libraries |access-date=21 August 2025 |date=April 2014}}</ref>
==Demographics== Parapara is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement. It covers {{Convert|0.69|km2||abbr=on}}<ref name="Area">{{Cite web|title=Stats NZ Geographic Data Service|url=https://datafinder.stats.govt.nz/data/|at=Urban Rural 2023 (generalised)|access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref> and had an estimated population of {{NZ population data 2018|Parapara|y}} as of {{NZ population data 2018|||y|y||,}} with a population density of {{Decimals|{{formatnum:{{NZ population data 2018|Parapara|y}}|R}}/0.69|0}} people per km<sup>2</sup>. It is part of the [[Golden Bay / Mohua#Demographics|Golden Bay/Mohua]] SA2 statistical area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://statsnz.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=3a406ce8fbb14367ab5caae21c07ab8b|title=Geographic Boundary Viewer|publisher=Stats NZ|at=Urban Rural Areas – 2023 and Statistical Area 2 – 2023}}</ref>
{{Historical populations|1911|23|2006|96|2013|90|2018|96|2023|99|percentages=pagr|align=left|source=<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fraser |first1=M. |title=Results of a census of the Dominion of New Zealand |url=https://www3.stats.govt.nz/historic_publications/1911-census/1911-results-census.html |publisher=Statistics New Zealand |access-date=9 April 2026 |date=30 December 1912}}</ref><ref name="Census 2023"/><ref name="Census 2018">{{NZ census 2018|7022518}}</ref>}} Parapara had a population of 99 in the [[2023 New Zealand census]], an increase of 3 people (3.1%) since the [[2018 New Zealand census|2018 census]], and an increase of 9 people (10.0%) since the [[2013 New Zealand census|2013 census]]. There were 42 males and 57 females in 60 dwellings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://explore.data.stats.govt.nz/vis?fs[0]=2023%20Census%2C0%7CTotals%20by%20topic%23CAT_TOTALS_BY_TOPIC%23&pg=0&fc=Variable%20codes&bp=true&snb=9&df[ds]=ds-nsiws-disseminate&df[id]=CEN23_TBT_005&df[ag]=STATSNZ&df[vs]=1.0&dq=doTotal%2Bdo1.2002.2023&ly[rw]=CEN23_TBT_DWD_003|publisher=Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer|access-date=3 October 2024|title=Totals by topic for dwellings, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses}}</ref> 3.0% of people identified as [[LGBTQ|LGBTIQ+]]. The median age was 59.6 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 9 people (9.1%) aged under 15 years, 9 (9.1%) aged 15 to 29, 45 (45.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 36 (36.4%) aged 65 or older.<ref name="Census 2023"/>
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 93.9% [[European New Zealanders|European]] ([[Pākehā]]); 12.1% [[Māori people|Māori]]; and 3.0% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA). English was spoken by 100.0%, and other languages by 9.1%. [[New Zealand Sign Language]] was known by 3.0%. The percentage of people born overseas was 24.2, compared with 28.8% nationally.<ref name="Census 2023"/>
The sole religious affiliation given was 27.3% [[Christianity in New Zealand|Christian]]. People who answered that they had [[Irreligion in New Zealand|no religion]] were 60.6%, and 9.1% of people did not answer the census question.<ref name="Census 2023"/>
Of those at least 15 years old, 36 (40.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 45 (50.0%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 9 (10.0%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $26,200, compared with $41,500 nationally. 6 people (6.7%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 27 (30.0%) full-time, 21 (23.3%) part-time, and 3 (3.3%) unemployed.<ref name="Census 2023">{{Cite web|url=https://explore.data.stats.govt.nz/vis?fs[0]=2023%20Census%2C0%7CTotals%20by%20topic%23CAT_TOTALS_BY_TOPIC%23&pg=0&fc=Variable%20codes&bp=true&snb=9&df[ds]=ds-nsiws-disseminate&df[id]=CEN23_TBT_008&df[ag]=STATSNZ&df[vs]=1.0&dq=hq011%2Bhq010%2Bhq009%2Bhq008%2Bhq007%2Bhq006%2Bhq005%2Bhq004%2Bhq003%2Bhq002%2Bhq001%2Bhq000%2Bws1%2Bsp99%2Bra80%2Bra08%2Bra07%2Bra06%2Bra05%2Bra01%2Bra04%2Bra03%2Bra02%2Bra00%2Brb1%2Bls66%2Bls03%2Bls02%2Bls05%2Bls04%2Bls01%2Beg6%2Beg5%2Beg4%2Beg3%2Beg2%2Beg1%2BbiTotal%2Bbi0%2Bbi1%2BasTotalLG%2Bas4%2Bas3%2Bas2%2Bas1%2Bws4%2Bws3%2Bws2%2Bge3%2Bge2%2Bge1%2Brc%2BasMed%2BegTotal%2BlsTotal%2BgeTotal%2BrbTotal%2BraTotal%2BhqTotal%2BibTotal%2Bib7%2Bibmed%2BwsTotal.2002.2013%2B2018%2B2023&to[TIME]=false&ly[rw]=CEN23_TBT_IND_003&ly[cl]=CEN23_YEAR_001|publisher=Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer|access-date=3 October 2024|title=Totals by topic for individuals, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses|at=Parapara (2002)}}</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book |last1=Broad |first1=Lowther |url= http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-LowJubi-t1-body1-d10.html |title=The Jubilee History of Nelson: From 1842 to 1892 |date=1892 |publisher=Bond, Finney, and Co |location=Nelson |access-date=27 December 2020 |chapter=X}} *{{cite book |last1=Dawber |first1=Carol |last2=Win |first2=Cheryl |ref={{sfnRef|Dawber and Win|2008}} |title=Between the ports : Collingwood to Waitapu |date=March 2008 |publisher=River Press |location=Dunedin |isbn=978-0-9582779-1-4}} *{{cite journal |last1=Newport |first1=J. N. W. |title=Haematite Paint |journal=Nelson Historical Society Journal |date=October 1979 |volume=3 |issue=5 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NHSJ03_05-t1-body1-d2-d2.html |access-date=27 December 2020}}
{{Tasman District}}
[[Category:Populated places around Golden Bay / Mohua]] [[Category:Aorere gold rush]]