The Coromandel region is easily located by its backbone, the Coromandel Range, which projects out as a peninsula between the Hauraki Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. The region is some 70 miles long and 20 miles wide at its widest point. The northern extremity of the Tauranga Harbour roughly coincides with the region's southern limits, whilst the Hauraki Plains lie along the eastern boundary. Included within these limits are the counties Coromandel, Thames, and Ohinemuri, which together with their boroughs form the basic units for the collection of statistics. In 1961 the region registered a total population of 21,565 (0.89 per cent of the national total), 9.20 per cent of which were classified as Maoris.
Despite its relatively small size the peninsula is very rugged. The backbone range, composed largely of volcanic rocks, rises to altitudes of 2,926 ft at Moehau near Cape Colville, 2,740 ft at Kaitarakahi, east of Thames, and reaches its highest point of 3,126 ft in Mt. Te Aroha. Vigorous stream erosion has closely dissected the upland area so that areas of low or flat relief are restricted to a multitude of small alluvial fans and bay-head flood plains fringed with tidal mud flats. The most extensive area of low relief lies along the upper course of the Ohinemuri River, generally termed the Waihi Plain. The major settlements, Thames and Waihi, are on the periphery of the region. Over most of the peninsula small villages supply the needs of the farming population and cater for the tourist traffic. Of these, Coromandel with 713 (1961) and Whitianga with 610 (1961) inhabitants are the largest. Farming provides the region's main source of income; 38.33 per cent of the labour force is engaged in primary production. Much of the central part is unused for agriculture and on the hill country the production of store sheep and cattle prevails. Dairy farming is concentrated around Coromandel, Mercury Bay, the lower course of the Tairua, and the valley of the Ohinemuri, and principally on the fringes of the Hauraki Plains.
In 1901 the total population of the area, excluding Maoris, numbered 23,199; 60 years later, with Maoris again excluded, it was 19,649. The sex ratio in 1901 was 78 women per 100 men, but in 1961 it was 98.
These figures are suggestive of the remarkable transition which the economy of the area has undergone. It is true that numerous regions of New Zealand have experienced a period of wildly exploitative activity followed by a period of consolidation when livestock farming created a more permanent basis to the regional economy. The fascination of Coromandel lies in the fact that this saga is crowded on to one small stage during a short period of time. Briefly, the timber resources of the region, especially kauri, attracted the attention of English merchant and naval interests in the early 1800s, and a cosmopolitan settlement of traders, land speculators, escapees, and deserters was established for trading purposes on an island in Coromandel Harbour. In 1852 the discovery of gold created a rush at Coromandel, but the difficulties of obtaining equipment adequate for the needs of lode mining destroyed the interest of the majority of the 2,000 diggers. In 1867, however, the rush to the Thames field induced a rapid increase in population so that 12,000 people were located in the vicinity, and a revival of interest in the Coromandel field occurred. By the 1880s the industry had once more slumped, but it revived again around Waihi with the new technologies introduced from Australia and North America by larger, better financed, and better organised companies. During the last three decades of the nineteenth century the forest resources of the peninsula were, as McCaskill (1949) puts it, “ruthlessly and energetically squandered”. The timber millers were followed by the kauri-gum diggers who burnt and destroyed large areas of seedlings and second growth. The flax industry, which had periodic bursts of intense activity, was conducted with the same ruthless disregard. At the turn of the century these exploitative industries had almost passed their peak. The population was concentrated around the Waihi, Thames, and Coromandel goldfields, the other communities being widely dispersed according to the location of their resources. Agriculture was sporadically distributed, its location often determined by the demand of the local market.
The downward trend in population associated with the decline of mining and timber felling was evident in the first post-war census of 1921 when 16,918 inhabitants (Maoris excluded) were recorded. Waihi borough, which possessed 6,436 inhabitants in 1911, had only 3,957. The general decline of population continued until the end of the twenties. Since that decade the region's population has increased slowly to reach a total of 21,565 in 1961 (Maoris included) and this increase has been associated with the development of the area's pastoral resources. Though on a national scale the numbers are insignificant, nevertheless, in the 30-year period 1921–22 to 1951–52, the number of cows in milk increased by 200 per cent and the number of sheep increased by 104 per cent. The effects of the earlier period are, however, still evident, especially in the decline of Waihi's population, which has hardly been halted by the policy of industrial decentralisation. In the last quinquennium its population increased by 89. The persistence of two large foundries in Thames, concerned mainly with overhauling locomotives, logging and sawmilling machinery, and earthmoving equipment, is a productive relic of the gold-mining days. In Coromandel village the predominance of colonial Victorian architecture indicates the limited development which has occurred since the turn of the century, and the presence of large numbers of retired people is suggestive of restricted economic opportunities.
| Urban Population | |||||
| Town | 1911 | 1936 | 1951 | 1961 | 1961 Maoris |
| Thames | 3,591 | 4,268 | 4,551 | 5,315 | 243 |
| paeroa | 1,416 | 2,149 | 2,590 | 2,894 | 238 |
| Waihi | 6,436 | 3,916 | 3,891 | 3,164 | 129 |
| Total | 11,443 | 10,333 | 11,032 | 11,373 | 610 |
| County Population | |||||
| County | 1911 | 1936 | 1951 | 1961 | 1961 Maoris |
| Coromandel | 2,732 | 2,635 | 2,622 | 2,826 | 351 |
| Thames | 4,388 | 2,795 | 2,933 | 3,205 | 438 |
| Ohinemuri | 4,628 | 3,335 | 3,438 | 4,161 | 585 |
| Total County | 11,748 | 8,765 | 8,933 | 10,192 | 1,374 |
| Total region | 23,191 | 19,098 | 20,025 | 21,565 | 1,984 |
| Cows in Milk | ||||
| County | Cows in Milk | Dairy Cows in Milk per 100 Sheep Shorn | ||
| 1921–22 | 1951–52 | 1959–60 | 1960 | |
| Coromandel | 2,276 | 8,502 | 9,068 | 11.80 |
| Thames | 4,972 | 11,642 | 12,071 | 31.33 |
| Ohinemuri | 7,271 | 23,302 | 20,012 | 29.46 |
| Total | 14,519 | 43,446 | 41,151 | .. |
| Land Occupation | ||
| County | Average Area of Holdings | Area Occupied |
| 1960 | 1960 | |
| Acres | Acres | |
| Coromandel | 635 | 202,036 |
| Thames | 402 | 132,230 |
| Ohinemuri | 204 | 84,725 |
In the post-war period high prices, the introduction of aerial topdressing, the use of molybdenum superphosphate, and the assistance of the Marginal Lands Board have permitted an increase in the region's carrying capacity. Thus the sheep and ewe numbers have shown a high rate of increase, 66.83 per cent and 85.84 per cent respectively. But whilst the labour force engaged in manufacturing has increased by 27.77 per cent, a little above the national average, the increase in the total labour force has been negligible (3.44 per cent). Surprisingly, during the last decade the rural population has increased at a faster rate than the urban population. Part of the increase must be attributed to the non-farming population associated with the smaller villages and the tourist activity, but the remainder of the increase has been concerned with the areas strictly devoted to farming. As a whole the growth of the regional population has been very slow (7.69 per cent, 1951–61). Of the three main towns Thames' growth, 16.78 per cent, has not been very great, Paeroa's rate of growth, 11.73, is below that of the rural population, and Waihi has experienced a decline of 18.6 per cent. The region, it would seem, is still in the process of readjustment after the inflation of its urban structure during the period of its greatest expansion.
by Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.