Coromandel is the name of a town and harbour on the western side of the
Coromandel PeninsulaThe Coromandel Peninsula lies in the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Waikato Region and Thames-Coromandel District and extends 85 kilometres north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier to protect the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the west...
, which is on the east coast of the
North IslandThe North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is 75 kilometres east of the city of
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, although the road between them, which winds around the
Firth of ThamesThe Firth of Thames is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of Thames lies on its southeastern coast....
and
Hauraki GulfThe Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
coasts, is 190 km long.
The town was named after the peninsula, which was named after
HMS CoromandelHMS Malabar was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been the East Indiaman Cuvera, which the Navy bought in 1804. The Navy converted her to a storeship in 1806. After being renamed HMS Coromandel she became a convict ship and made a trip carrying convicts to New South Wales...
, which sailed into the harbour in 1820. At one time the harbour was a major port serving the peninsula's
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
mining and kauri industries. Today, the town's main industries are
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and
musselThe common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
farming.
Coromandel Harbour is a wide bay on the Hauraki Gulf guarded by several islands, the largest of which is
Whanganui IslandWhanganui Island is the largest of a small group of islands at the entrance to Coromandel harbour in the Hauraki Gulf, off the coast of New Zealand's North Island.The island, which is privately owned, is in area...
.
The town and environs are a popular summer holiday destination for New Zealanders. Coromandel is noted for its artists, crafts,
alternative lifestyleAn alternative lifestyle is a lifestyle generally perceived to be outside the cultural norm. Usually, but not always, it implies an affinity or identification within some matching subculture...
rs, mussel farming, and recreational fishing. The population was 1476 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 36 from 2001.
Education
Coromandel Area School is a co-educational state composite (years 1-13) school with a
decile ratingDecile, Socio-Economic Decile or Socio-Economic Decile Band is a widely used measure in education in New Zealand used to target funding and support to more needy schools....
of 3 and a roll of 304.
Coromandel Rudolf Steiner School was a small private full primary (years 1-8) school. It closed at the end of 2007.