The province covered roughly half of the North Island of New Zealand. It was the largest of the six initial provinces, both by area and population. The southern boundary was mostly along the 39th latitude, which was an arbitrary line, as the country's interior was little known by Europeans.[1] It was not subdivided during its existence;[1] the Taranaki Province (originally named New Plymouth Province)[2] was the only other that remained unchanged during its existence.
History
The six original provinces were established in 1853. At that time, about 30,000 Europeans were living in New Zealand, a third of them in the Auckland Province. An estimated 70% of the Māori population was within the Auckland Province. Although the population of Otago Province (triggered by the Otago gold rush) and then also the Canterbury Province surpassed Auckland's, the northernmost area of the country became most populous again by 1901.[1]
The provincial system was abolished in 1876. Auckland Province was from then used as an administrative district by the Department of Lands and Survey, but the area was later subdivided into the North Auckland, South Auckland, and Gisborneland districts. The 39th latitude was subsequently replaced by boundaries that took landforms into account, and as a consequence, parts of the former Auckland Province are now in the Wellington and Hawke's Bay land districts, and part of the former Wellington Province is in the South Auckland Land District.[1]
Anniversary Day
New Zealand law provides a public holiday for each province's anniversary day. Auckland Anniversary Day generally occurs in late January, on the Monday closest to 29 January, and is still observed throughout the historic province.
Auckland Provincial Council
Auckland Provincial Council was the elected body of Auckland Province. From its second session onwards, the council used the General Assembly House for its meetings. It shared the use of this building with the New Zealand Parliament from 1854 until 1864 during the time that Auckland was the capital of New Zealand. From 1858, the province owned the building, but continued to make it available to parliament.[3]
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