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South Waikato District

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South Waikato District is a local government district in the Waikato Region of the North Island of New Zealand . It is located between the cities of Hamilton to the north, Rotorua to the east, Taupō to the south and Ruapehu District to the west.

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87-607: The seat of the South Waikato District Council is at Tokoroa , the biggest town. The other main towns are Putāruru , Tīrau and Arapuni . South Waikato District consists of the following towns, localities, settlements and communities: The district's population in June 2024 was 26,200, of whom 55.9% lived in Tokoroa. Putaruru's population was 4,670. The region's population decreased markedly during

174-408: A Millionenstadt , a city with anywhere between one and five million inhabitants (such as Cologne , Munich , Hamburg and Berlin ). Also, a city with more than five million inhabitants is often referred to as a Megastadt (commonly translated as megacity ). Historically, many settlements became a Stadt by being awarded a Stadtrecht in medieval times. In modern German language use,

261-542: A further 17 towns , which have merged with a municipal parish ( vallasisene linn ). In Finland, there is no distinction between a town and a city as the word kaupunki is used for both bigger and smaller settlements, which are bigger than villages and boroughs; although when talking about the word town , the word pikkukaupunki is used ( pikku means 'little' or 'small'). There are over one hundred municipal towns in Finland. From an administrative standpoint,

348-530: A palisade or stockade instead. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of the palace of Het Loo in Apeldoorn , which was the model for the privy garden of William III and Mary II at Hampton Court ). In Old Norse tún means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and the word is still used with

435-490: A 17-bed inpatient ward and a 4-bed maternity ward. There is also a dedicated emergency department with capacity for five patients, and a fully functional theatre suite presently used for minor day surgery. Other facilities include x-ray and laboratory services, a cafe, a helipad for patient transfer, and various allied health services. District and public health nursing, diabetes nursing specialists, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and health social work services are also based

522-646: A decrease of 18 people (−1.2%) since the 2013 census , and an increase of 333 people (29.9%) since the 2006 census . There were 543 households, comprising 789 males and 657 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.2 males per female. The median age was 33.8 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 324 people (22.4%) aged under 15 years, 324 (22.4%) aged 15 to 29, 636 (44.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 165 (11.4%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 83.6% European/ Pākehā , 19.5% Māori , 2.7% Pacific peoples , 8.5% Asian , and 1.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas

609-561: A higher degree of services . (There are a few exceptions, when towns of fewer than 50,000 people gained the status: Érd , Hódmezővásárhely , Salgótarján and Szekszárd ) As of middle 2013, there are only 23 such towns in Hungary. The 2011 Census of India defines towns of two types: statutory town and census town . Statutory town is defined as all places with a municipality , corporation , cantonment board or notified town area committee. Census towns are defined as places that satisfy

696-604: A higher tier of local government, larger towns and cities may have the status of a kreisfreie Stadt , combining both the powers of a municipality and a district. Designations in different states are as diverse as e.g. in Australian States and Territories, and differ from state to state. In some German states, the words Markt ('market'), Marktflecken (both used in southern Germany) or Flecken ('spot'; northern Germany e.g. in Lower Saxony ) designate

783-569: A marked drop in population. Census figures put the 2018 population at approximately 14,300. Tokoroa has two marae connected to local iwi and hapū : In October 2020, the Government committed $ 1,259,392 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Ngātira Marae and 7 other Ngāti Raukawa marae, creating 18 jobs. Surrounding the township are many dairy farms and plantation forests . There are many scenic reserves around

870-426: A municipality must have at least 3,000 inhabitants to have the right to request the town title. Market towns usually have between 500 and 4,000 inhabitants, with median and average both around 1,000. In Denmark, in many contexts no distinction is made between "city", "town" and "village"; all three translate as by . In more specific use, for small villages and hamlets the word landsby (meaning 'country town')

957-409: A number of Tourist and visiting attractions, as well as many facilities for local use. Since 1997, Tokoroa has been "sprouting" Talking Poles, consisting mainly of carvings representing ethnic culture, sports recreation, industry in the town and stories about the town. This one, photographed shortly after its unveiling in 2004, is a chainsaw carving of a deodar cedar which died from natural causes. It

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1044-402: A population density of 14.4 people per km. South Waikato District had a population of 25,044 in the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 1,002 people (4.2%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 2,973 people (13.5%) since the 2013 census . There were 12,444 males, 12,540 females and 66 people of other genders in 9,075 dwellings. 2.2% of people identified as LGBTIQ+ . The median age

1131-711: A population density of 936 people per km . Tokoroa had a population of 13,578 at the 2018 New Zealand census , an increase of 1,242 people (10.1%) since the 2013 census , and an increase of 408 people (3.1%) since the 2006 census . There were 4,629 households, comprising 6,759 males and 6,813 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female, with 3,210 people (23.6%) aged under 15 years, 2,601 (19.2%) aged 15 to 29, 5,559 (40.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 2,199 (16.2%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 59.0% European/ Pākehā , 42.7% Māori , 20.7% Pacific peoples , 4.2% Asian , and 1.4% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas

1218-641: A similar meaning in modern Norwegian. Old English tūn became a common place-name suffix in England and southeastern Scotland during the Anglo-Saxon settlement period. In Old English and Early and Middle Scots , the words ton , toun , etc. could refer to diverse kinds of settlements from agricultural estates and holdings, partly picking up the Norse sense (as in the Scots word fermtoun ) at one end of

1305-488: A small city or large village; and occasionally even hamlets ). Sometimes, the word town is short for township . In general, today towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce , and public services rather than primary sector industries such as agriculture or related activities. A place's population size

1392-537: A social and technical infrastructure, as well as a population of no fewer than 3500 people. For resort settlements the requirements are lower with the population needing to be no fewer than 1000 people but infrastructure requirements remain. The legal definition of a town in Canada varies by province or territory , as each has jurisdiction over defining and legislating towns, cities and other types of municipal organization within its own boundaries. The province of Quebec

1479-408: A town such as Parun , the capital of Nuristan Province , whose population is less 20,000 people. In Albania and Kosovo qytezë means 'town', which is very similar to the word for city ( qytet ), although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means 'small city' or 'new city', while in ancient times it referred to a small residential center within

1566-563: A town-like residential community between Gemeinde and Stadt with special importance to its outer conurbation area. Historically those had Marktrecht (market right) but not full town privileges; see Market town . The legal denomination of a specific settlement may differ from its common designation (e.g. Samtgemeinde – a legal term in Lower Saxony for a group of villages [ Dorf , pl. Dörfer ] with common local government created by combining municipalities [ Gemeinde , pl. Gemeinden ]). In ordinary speech, Greeks use

1653-704: Is Stadt , as it is the case in many other languages that do not differentiate between these concepts. The word for a 'village', as a smaller settlement, is Dorf . However, the International Statistics Conference of 1887 defined different sizes of Stadt , based on their population size, as follows: Landstadt ('country town'; under 5,000), Kleinstadt ('small town'; 5,000 to 20,000), Mittelstadt ('middle town'; between 20,000 and 100,000) and Großstadt ("large town"; 100,000 to 1,000,000). The term Großstadt may be translated as 'city'. In addition, Germans may speak of

1740-471: Is a de facto statutory city. All the Czech municipalities with more than 40,000 inhabitants are cities. Town and market town are above all ceremonious honorary degrees, referring to population, history and regional significance of a municipality. As the statistics of Czech municipalities shows, towns usually have between 1,000 and 35,000 inhabitants, with median around 4,000 and average around 6,500. Nowadays

1827-673: Is a type of a human settlement . Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities , though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. The word "town" shares an origin with the German word Zaun , the Dutch word tuin , and the Old Norse tún . The original Proto-Germanic word, * tūnan , is thought to be an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic * dūnom (cf. Old Irish dún , Welsh din ). The original sense of

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1914-422: Is commonly referred to as a city or as a town, no distinction and no objective legal criteria exist to make such a distinction under law. Ontario allows municipalities to select whichever administrative term they like with no legal distinction existing between towns, townships, cities, and villages. Instead all municipalities, with the exception of Toronto and Ottawa, fall into one of three legal categories under

2001-530: Is difficult to call the remaining provincial capitals "large towns" as, in general, they are less developed and have shrinking population, some with as few as 30,000 inhabitants. In Bulgaria the Council of Ministers defines what constitutes a settlement, while the President of Bulgaria grants each settlement its title. In 2005 the requirement that villages that wish to classify themselves as town must have

2088-508: Is important to Tokoroa, through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology . Tokoroa has two secondary schools: It has two alternative education facilities for secondary students who work better with full teacher guidance outside the classroom: There are three full Year 1 to 8 primary schools: There is one intermediate school: Tokoroa also has a range of Year 1–6 primary schools: Matarawa Primary School closed in 1999. Tokoroa East School closed in 2010. Tokoroa has

2175-473: Is milled and processed at Kinleith. Over recent years, the sharp decline in timber processing has seen the majority of raw logs shipped offshore. Most of the Kinleith workers live in Tokoroa, with a small number commuting from other South Waikato towns. Tokoroa is a marketing and servicing centre for agriculture, inline with other associated industries. These other industries include (but are not limited to):

2262-561: Is not a reliable determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, e.g. in India at least until recent times, a large village might contain several times as many people as a small town. In the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. The modern phenomenon of extensive suburban growth, satellite urban development, and migration of city dwellers to villages has further complicated

2349-420: Is partitioned into 2098 municipalities ( German : Gemeinden ) of fundamentally equal rank. Larger municipalities are designated as market towns ( German : Marktgemeinden ) or cities ( Städte ), but these distinctions are purely symbolic and do not confer additional legal responsibilities. There is a number of smaller communities that are labelled cities because they used to be regional population centers in

2436-512: Is representative of the Greenman in Welsh mythology and was, prior to 2018, located on State Highway 1, immediately adjacent to the town's information centre. By October 2008, 42 Talking Poles were displayed around the town. Tokoroa Talking Poles symposium is convened every two years at the Tokoroa campus of Te Wananga o Aotearoa . The Greenman was carved in 2004 by Mr Andy Hankcock. As part of

2523-739: Is the fourth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District . Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua and 20 km south of Putāruru , close to the foot of the Mamaku Ranges , it is midway between Taupō and Hamilton on State Highway 1 . Tokoroa was the name of a chief of the Ngāti Kahupungapunga, who was slain by Raukawa during

2610-423: Is the historical skate-bowl park. It was built in the 1980s, as one of the first skate parks in the country, and was recently chosen for a major refurbishment project. This community-led project is set to receive $ 550,000 from the South Waikato District Council in order to facilitate its upgrade. Intended upgrades include additional skating features, court area, and seating area. Tokoroa Tokoroa

2697-468: Is unique in that it makes no distinction under law between towns and cities. There is no intermediate level in French between village and ville ( municipality is an administrative term usually applied to a legal, not geographical entity), so both are combined under the single legal status of ville . While an informal preference may exist among English speakers as to whether any individual ville

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2784-492: Is used, while the Danish equivalent of English city is storby (meaning 'large town'). For formal purposes, urban areas having at least 200 inhabitants are considered by . Historically some towns held various privileges, the most important of which was the right to hold market. They were administered separately from the rural areas in both fiscal, military and legal matters. Such towns are known as købstad (roughly

2871-508: The 1930s, the deficiency was addressed, and subsequently, cattle farming became profitable. Between 1925 and 1935 Pinus radiata was first introduced to the district as a commercial tree crop – the trees were found not to be adversely affected by the local soil deficiencies. As the initial crops matured, Tokoroa was then developed as a residential satellite for Kinleith Mill workers (New Zealand Forest Products Limited's integrated timber, pulp and paper mill), approximately 8 km south of

2958-484: The 1950s, to accommodate exponential population increase. The first new towns included Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong . In the late 1960s and the 1970s, another stage of new town developments was launched. Nine new towns have been developed so far. Land use is carefully planned and development provides plenty of room for public housing projects. Rail transport is usually available at a later stage. The first towns are Sha Tin , Tsuen Wan , Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O . Tuen Mun

3045-431: The 1970s, 'The Lake' was used extensively by youths and was referred to in local parlance as 'Tokoroa Beach'. On many summer afternoons, it was a common sight to see youth lying on the footpath across the road from the lake drying out after a swim. In the period following the initial construction of the dam in the late 1970s, the lake began to deteriorate due to low rainfall and poor water flows, which saw lake weed overtake

3132-753: The 1990s, dropping over 4000 since the 1991 census. Ngāti Raukawa is the Maori tribe of the area and goes back 20–25 generations. There are 32 marae in the district, Papa te Aroha marae (Catholic Community), Aotearoa marae, Pikitu marae (Nga-Huri), Pōhara marae (Ngati Koroki), Whakaaratamaiti marae (Ngati Mahana), Mangakaretu marae (Ngati Ahuru), Ngatira marae (Ngati Ahuru), Tarukenga marae (Ngati Te-Ngakau), Mokai marae (Ngati Te Kohera), Ongaroto marae (Ngati Whaita), Paparamu marae (Ngati Te Apunga), Te Ruapeka marae (Ngati Tukorehe), among others South Waikato District covers 1,818.88 km (702.27 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 26,200 as of June 2024, with

3219-541: The 21st century, merged most κοινότητες with the nearest δήμοι , dividing the whole country into 325 self-governing δήμοι . The former municipalities survive as administrative subdivisions ( δημοτικά διαμερίσματα , δημοτικές ενότητες ). Cyprus, including the Turkish-occupied areas, is also divided into 39 δήμοι (in principle, with at least 5,000 inhabitants, though there are exceptions) and 576 κοινότητες . Hong Kong started developing new towns in

3306-492: The CBD Upgrade project, several of the town's Talking Poles were relocated next to where the existing 'Pine Man' sculpture stands in a central area between State Highway One and Leith Place. In 2018, the Greenman carving was relocated from its site to make way for this new development. Due to substantial rot discovered during this process, the Greenman was not re-installed. As of 2021 council has made arrangements to restore

3393-598: The Kinleith complex's development. These subdivisions are: Many of the street names of the town were named by the first managing director of N.Z. Forest Products Ltd.(builders of the Kinleith mill ), Sir David Henry (1888–1963), after places near his hometown of Edinburgh , in Scotland . David Henry Primary School is a key example of him and his namesaking. Tokoroa covers 15.65 km (6.04 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 14,650 as of June 2024, with

3480-629: The Matarawa Land Company as a potential farming area; a few families had already settled in the area after 1910, and a school with 9 pupils was founded in 1915 (later to become Tokoroa East School). The land was found to be too poor for raising cattle or sheep due to its predominant pumice soils. However, agricultural science showed the land could actually be made to successfully support dairy cattle. The soil had serious deficiencies causing livestock to suffer from what became known as " bush sickness " (later found to be cobalt deficiency). In

3567-657: The Minister of Internal Affairs selects candidates from a committee-screened list of applicants, whom the President of Republic usually affirms by issuing a bill of town's rank to them. Since being a town carries extra fiscal support from the government, many relatively small villages try to win the status of városi rang ('town rank') nowadays. Before the fall of communism in 1990, Hungarian villages with fewer than 10,000 residents were not allowed to become towns. Recently some settlements as small as 2,500 souls have received

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3654-517: The Municipalities Act: Single-tier (I.e. towns that are located within a region or county but that are considered separate for municipal purposes such as Hamilton ), lower-tier (i.e. municipalities that are part of a region or county such as St. Catharines ), or upper-tier (i.e. regional municipalities such as Niagara ). Accordingly, many larger municipalities continue to use the title of town due to it better reflecting

3741-732: The National Statistics Institute (INE) as an urban entity with a population from 2001 to 5000 or an area with a population from 1001 to 2000 and an established economic activity. In Czechia , a municipality can obtain the title of a city ( Czech : statutární město ), town ( Czech : město ) or market town ( Czech : městys ). The title is granted by law. Statutory cities (in English usually called just "cities"), which are defined by law no. 128/2000 Coll., can define their own self-governing municipal districts. There are 26 such cities, in addition to Prague , which

3828-627: The Polynesian festival. Tokoroa Polynesian Festival occurs every year during September. Tokoroa's local schools and preschools give Samoan, Māori and Cook Islands performances, where you hear the Cook Island drumming and dancing and the Māori performing arts being displayed on the huge stage at the new South Waikato Events Centre, located at The Tokoroa Memorial Sports Ground. The 2009 event hosted NZ artists J.Williams and Erika. Tokoroa being within

3915-683: The Waikato Province falls under the Waikato ITM Cup provincial catchment and the Chiefs Super Rugby franchise. The South Waikato district's netball associations also fall under the catchment for inclusion in the ANZ Championship, Waikato/BOP Magic franchise. Over many decades, Tokoroa has been a natural base for strong, competitive woodchopping and sawing events. The axe long saw and chainsaw competitions, at

4002-475: The appurtenances of local government (e.g. a police force). In the United States these are referred to as "incorporated towns". In other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be "unincorporated". The existence of an unincorporated town may be legally set out by other means, e.g. zoning districts. In the case of some planned communities , the town exists legally in the form of covenants on

4089-469: The beginning of the root word (e.g. nagyváros ) have been normalized to differentiate between cities and towns (towns being smaller, therefore bearing the name kisváros .) In Hungary, a village can gain the status of város ('town'), if it meets a set of diverse conditions for quality of life and development of certain public services and utilities (e.g. having a local secondary school or installing full-area sewage collection pipe network). Every year

4176-420: The census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 1,665 (8.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 11,187 (57.6%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 6,096 (31.4%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $ 34,900, compared with $ 41,500 nationally. 1,347 people (6.9%) earned over $ 100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15

4263-399: The character of the municipality. For example, Oakville (2021 Population: 213,759) is the largest municipality to use the title of town to reflect its largely suburban character while other municipalities such as Richmond Hill (2021 Population: 202,022) have opted to change their status from "town" to "city" to encourage investment. In Chile , towns (Spanish: pueblos ) are defined by

4350-470: The consolidation of large estates during the Roman Empire , the town became the center of large farms. A distinction was created between rustic and urban settlements: In Afghanistan , a city and a town are both referred to as shār ( Dari : شهر ; Pashto : ښار ). The capital of each of its 34 provinces may include a major city such as Kabul whose population is over five million people or

4437-414: The definition of towns, creating communities urban in their economic and cultural characteristics but lacking other characteristics of urban localities. Some forms of non-rural settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural, but have at best a questionable claim to be called a town. Towns often exist as distinct governmental units, with legally defined borders and some or all of

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4524-614: The distant past. The city of Rattenberg for example has about 400 inhabitants. The city of Hardegg has about 1200 inhabitants. There are no unincorporated areas. Of the 201 cities in Austria, 15 are statutory cities ( Statutarstädte ). A statutory city is a city that is vested, in addition to its purview as a municipality, with the duties of a district administrative authority . The status does not come with any additional autonomy: district administrative authorities are essentially just service centers that citizens use to interact with

4611-421: The historical importance, the existence of central functions (education, retail etc.) and the population density of an urban place might also be taken as characteristics of a Stadt . The modern local government organisation is subject to the laws of each state and refers to a Gemeinde ( municipality ), regardless of its historic title. While most Gemeinden form part of a Landkreis ( district ) on

4698-516: The hospital site, which also hosts clinics with various visiting specialists. The hospital site accommodates the Tokoroa Council of Social Services (an umbrella organisation of community services), and since 2014 has also hosted the town's GP practices, a pharmacy and several other health services in a modern health campus based at the hospital's former Ward 3. Tokoroa hosts a number of sporting, cultural and music events every year including

4785-427: The local A&P Shows, over many decades, have always been central to the local, timber and timber works culture of the town. As of 2018 the annual Tokoroa A&P show has been axed due to financial reasons. The sports ground is used every weekend and is in use throughout the weekdays. The Memorial Sports Ground includes: Tokoroa's Y.M.C.A hosts a number of indoor and outdoor events, such as: Town A town

4872-483: The locals – as it was previously the town's cinema. It currently holds a library with a full computer suite, over 2,000 books, a reference book section, and children's leisure area. It is located in the Tokoroa town centre. Tokoroa Hospital provides limited medical services for a population of approximately 22,800 people in the South Waikato District. Currently, the hospital provides 21 beds made up of

4959-665: The manufacture of cheese (and related dairy products [via Fonterra ]), specialised wooden boxing, timber joinery, saw milling, general engineering, and the quarrying of building (masonry) stone. Although Tokoroa's economy primarily tends to revolve around timber and farming, many large retail companies have continued investing in the town – Foodstuffs recently constructed and opened a New World (supermarket) on Tokoroa's main street (Bridge Street). Also, Woolworths (a major competitor to Foodstuffs Group) also recently built New Zealand's first Countdown (supermarket) featuring bilingual (i.e. including Te Reo-Māori) signage. Tertiary education

5046-542: The name of their respective seats, and if they were not municipal seats, they would have the category of village. Bulgarians do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. However, in everyday language and media the terms "large towns" and "small towns" are in use. "Large towns" usually refers to Sofia , Plovdiv , Varna and Burgas , which have population over 200,000. Ruse and Stara Zagora are often included as well due to presence of relatively developed infrastructure and population over 100,000 threshold. It

5133-418: The national government, for example to apply for driver licenses or passports. The national government generally uses the provinces to run these points of contact on its behalf; in the case of statutory cities, the municipality gets to step up. In Brazil, since 1938, it was defined that the seat of the municipalities would pass to the category of city and give it the name and the districts would be designated by

5220-476: The properties within the town. The United States Census identifies many census-designated places (CDPs) by the names of unincorporated towns which lie within them; however, those CDPs typically include rural and suburban areas and even surrounding villages and other towns. The distinction between a town and a city similarly depends on the approach: a city may strictly be an administrative entity which has been granted that designation by law, but in informal usage,

5307-417: The rank of town (e.g. Visegrád, Zalakaros or Gönc) and meeting the conditions of development is often disregarded to quickly elevate larger villages into towns. As of middle 2013, there are 346 towns in Hungary, encompassing some 69% of the entire population. Towns of more than 50,000 people are able to gain the status of megyei jogú város (town with the rights of a county ), which allows them to maintain

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5394-562: The same meaning as borough albeit deriving from a different etymology) and they retain the exclusive right to the title even after the last vestiges of their privileges vanished through the reform of the local administration carried through in 1970. In Estonia , there is no distinction between a town and a city as the word linn is used for both bigger and smaller settlements, which are bigger than villages and boroughs. There are 30 municipal towns ( omavalitsuslik linn ) in Estonia and

5481-404: The scale, to fortified municipalities. Other common Anglo-Saxon suffixes included ham 'home', stede 'stead', and burh 'bury, borough, burgh'. In toponymic terminology, names of individual towns and cities are called astyonyms or astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'town, city', and ὄνομα 'name'). In some cases, town is an alternative name for "city" or "village" (especially

5568-431: The sculpture. Tokoroa's man-made Lake Moana-Nui was created in the late 1970s for the community, involving excavation by large earthmoving equipment and a concrete dam wall with a drain valve control. A wooden bridge located on the south-west end of the dam wall that supported and controlled the drain valve was a favourite 'bomb' spot, and barefoot skiing down the spillway was early extreme sport unique to Tokoroa. During

5655-542: The siege of Pōhaturoa, a volcanic plug adjacent to Ātiamuri , 27 km south of Tokoroa. This battle took place around 1600 as the Ngāti Raukawa moved into the southern Waikato. The name Tokoroa first appeared on the early maps of the 1860s, although this was for an area 50 km north east of today's Tokoroa. Tokoroa is one of the most recent towns in New Zealand. The township was established (circa) 1917 by

5742-430: The smallest level of local authorities are all called communes . They can have anywhere from a handful to millions of inhabitants, and France has 36,000 of them. The French term for town is bourg but French laws generally do not distinguish between towns and cities which are all commonly called villes . However, some laws do treat these authorities differently based on the population and different rules apply to

5829-466: The southern hemisphere's largest cheese factory in Lichfield, some 5 km north of the town. Due to increases in relative rates of return, large amounts of previously forested land were converted to farmland in the 2000s and 2010s. The main agricultural activities of the district are sheep and dairy farming. Forestry is still, however, the primary and most important industry to the district. Timber

5916-428: The swimming areas. The lake weed eventually became a drowning hazard that claimed the lives of swimmers over the preceding decade. In this sense, the project was a failure, and Lake Moana-Nui was considered unsafe. In an effort to control the problems, signs were erected banning access to the dam wall, and basic handrailing was put up to prevent public access. The lake was subject to regular draining in an effort to control

6003-421: The term is also used to denote an urban locality of a particular size or importance: whereas a medieval city may have possessed as few as 10,000 inhabitants, today some consider an urban place of fewer than 100,000 as a town, even though there are many officially designated cities that are much smaller than that. 193 countries have been involved in a common effort to agree on a common statistical definition of

6090-611: The three big cities Paris , Lyon and Marseille . For historical reasons, six communes in the Meuse département exist as independent administrative entities despite having no inhabitants at all. For statistical purposes, the national statistical institute ( INSEE ) operates a distinction between urban areas with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and bigger communes, the latter being called villes . Smaller settlements are usually called villages . Germans do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. The German word for both

6177-455: The three categories: cities, towns and rural areas. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age and pattern of land use . He identified five types of towns: Through different periods of recorded history, many towns have grown into sizeable settlements, with the development of properties, centres of culture, and specialized economies. Çatalhöyük , currently an archaeological site,

6264-517: The town – the artificial Lake Moananui (formed by damming the Matarawa Stream in 1974/75) lies within a recreational park. Tokoroa lies in the centre of a triangle made up of the tourism destinations of Rotorua , Waitomo and Taupō . There are also about 45 recreational lakes within less than an hour's drive of Tokoroa. As well as the central business district, the township is made up of many subdivisions, each built in different stages of

6351-444: The township. In 1948, Tokoroa had a population of 1,100. By the early 1970s, however, Tokoroa reached, for a time, a population of over 20,000 – the number necessary to be officially deemed a city. In the 1980s years NZFP (and later, mill-owner Carter Holt Harvey Ltd) began to downscale and restructure operations at Kinleith. Since the late 1980s this ongoing downscaling at Kinleith – and closing of other local industries – resulted in

6438-694: The walls of a castle. In Australia, most rural and regional centres of population can be called towns; many small towns have populations of less than 200. The smallest may be described as townships. In addition, some local government entities are officially styled as towns in Queensland , South Australia , Western Australia and the Northern Territory , and formerly also (till the 1990s) in Victoria . The Austrian legal system does not distinguish between villages, towns, and cities. The country

6525-408: The weed and to flush out the stale, stagnant water. While this did slightly improve the situation in the short term, people were warned not to swim in it. The lake is undergoing a major cleaning project so that it can be used in the future. To date (as at 25 April 2015), Lake Moana-Nui has been fully drained, refilled, and restored – and has been cleared by the local council for public recreation (as it

6612-617: The word χωριό ('village') to refer to smaller settlements and the word πόλη or πολιτεία ('city') to refer to larger ones. Careful speakers may also use the word κωμόπολη to refer to towns with a population of 2,000–9,999. In Greek administrative law there used to be a distinction between δήμοι , i.e. municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants or considered important for some other geographical (county seats), historical or ecclesiastical (bishops' seats) reason, and κοινότητες, referring to smaller self-governing units, mostly villages. A sweeping reform, carried out in two stages early in

6699-442: The word in both Germanic and Celtic was that of a fortress or an enclosure. Cognates of town in many modern Germanic languages designate a fence or a hedge. In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed, and through which a track must run. In England, a town was a small community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built

6786-404: Was $ 42,400, compared with $ 31,800 nationally. 240 people (21.4%) earned over $ 70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 636 (56.7%) people were employed full-time, 183 (16.3%) were part-time, and 39 (3.5%) were unemployed. The economic lifeblood of Tokoroa is forestry, centred at the nearby Kinleith Mill ; and dairy farming. In 1995, Fonterra built

6873-564: Was 13.3, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 49.3% had no religion, 35.6% were Christian , 3.8% had Māori religious beliefs , 0.6% were Hindu , 0.2% were Muslim , 0.4% were Buddhist and 1.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 798 (7.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 3,063 (29.5%) people had no formal qualifications. 1,035 people (10.0%) earned over $ 70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15

6960-468: Was 17.0%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 56.0% had no religion, 32.0% were Christian , 1.5% had Māori religious beliefs , 0.6% were Hindu , 0.2% were Muslim , 0.2% were Buddhist and 3.7% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 150 (13.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 216 (19.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income

7047-563: Was 37.1 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 5,637 people (22.5%) aged under 15 years, 4,467 (17.8%) aged 15 to 29, 10,614 (42.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 4,326 (17.3%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 69.0% European ( Pākehā ); 38.3% Māori ; 13.5% Pasifika ; 5.0% Asian ; 0.3% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.0% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English

7134-498: Was considered to be the oldest inhabited town, or proto-city , that existed from around 7500 BC. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site , it remains a depopulated town with a complex of ruins. In Roman times , a villa was a rural settlement formed by a main residential building and another series of secondary buildings. It constituted the center from which an agricultural holding was administered. Subsequently, it lost its agricultural functions and reduced its activity to residential. With

7221-472: Was in its heyday during the 1970s and 80's). There are picnic tables built around the lakes arc and there are four playgrounds. At the southern end of Lake Moana-Nui are gardens which were planted by a collective of Tokoroa school children. Tokoroa has an airfield with an 850m sealed runway. There are no scheduled air services. The site is often used for non-aircraft related reasons. The current location of Tokoroa's library holds many historic memories for

7308-544: Was intended to be self-reliant, but was not successful and turned into a bedroom community like the other new towns. More recent developments are Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau (Tung Chung-Tai Ho) . In Hungary there is no official distinction between a city and a town (the word for both in Hungarian is város ). Nevertheless, the expressions formed by adding the adjectives kis ('small') and nagy ('large') to

7395-556: Was spoken by 96.8%, Māori language by 8.5%, Samoan by 1.0% and other languages by 6.3%. No language could be spoken by 2.3% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 13.4, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 30.1% Christian , 0.5% Hindu , 0.2% Islam , 2.6% Māori religious beliefs , 0.5% Buddhist , 0.5% New Age , 0.1% Jewish , and 1.3% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 55.5%, and 9.1% of people did not answer

7482-420: Was that 4,260 (41.1%) people were employed full-time, 1,290 (12.4%) were part-time, and 834 (8.0%) were unemployed. Kinleith statistical area, which surrounds but does not include Tokoroa, covers 947.52 km (365.84 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 1,580 as of June 2024, with a population density of 1.7 people per km . Kinleith had a population of 1,446 at the 2018 New Zealand census ,

7569-426: Was that 8,979 (46.3%) people were employed full-time, 2,334 (12.0%) were part-time, and 1,014 (5.2%) were unemployed. The district's main industries are forestry and timber production, however land previously in plantation forest is increasingly being converted to dairy production. Several hydroelectric projects are located at the district's western edge. One of South Waikato District's most prominent features

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