New Plymouth

New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers came.

New Plymouth District includes New Plymouth City and several smaller towns. New Plymouth District is the 15th largest district (out of 73) in New Zealand, and has 1.7 percent of New Zealand's population.

New Plymouth District has a population of 68,901 – nearly two thirds of the total population of the Taranaki Region. This includes – New Plymouth City (52,200), Waitara (6,288), Inglewood (3,090), Oakura (1,359), Okato (531) and Urenui (429).

Electric power was first provided in January 1906 from the Mangorei power station alongside the Waiwakaiho River near Burgess Park. In the 1960s, the New Plymouth Power Station was initially designed to run on coal but constructed to be fueled by natural gas or fuel oil. This is a thermal power station with a steam turbine, commenced operation in 1974 with units progressively decommissioned from 2000 with one left operating in 2008.

Companies began searching for oil on the New Plymouth coast in 1865 after small deposits of thick oil were found on the shoreline. The first commercial quantities of oil were obtained in January 1866. Exploration continued sporadically and a refinery opened in 1913. Production ceased about 1972. The offshore Maui A well began production of natural gas in the late 1970s, sparking a flourishing energy and petrochemical industry. As Maui A’s resources decline, new sites in Taranaki are being developed in an effort to find more commercial petrochemical reserves.

An 18 km (11 mi) railway link between New Plymouth and Waitara was completed in 1875; this later became the Waitara Branch. The next year, work began on a line south to Stratford, which was reached in 1879, followed by Hawera in 1881. This line, known as the Marton - New Plymouth Line, was completed on 23 March 1885, and when the Wellington - Manawatu Line of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company was opened on 3 November 1886, a direct railway link was established to Wellington. The original routing through the centre of the town was replaced in 1907 by an alignment along the foreshore, which remains today.