Pukekohe  Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay Hills form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region. Pukekohe is located within the political boundaries of the Auckland Council, following the abolition of the Franklin District Council on 1 November 2010. With a population of Pukekohe is the 24th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in the Auckland Region behind Auckland itself and Hibiscus Coast. Pukekohe is a rural service town for the area formerly known as the Franklin District. It has a population of mainly of European descent, with significant Māori and ethnic Indian and East Asian communities. There are also a notable number of people of South African and Dutch descent. The population growth from 2007 to 2008 was 2.2 percent. The fertile volcanic soil and warm moist climate supports a large horticultural and dairy farming industry; the Pukekohe long keeper onion is well known internationally. The Māori word "puke-kohe" means "hill of the kohekohe", New Zealand's native mahogany. During the period of the Musket Wars of 1807-1843, Northern "iwi" (tribes) attacked parts of the Auckland area, including Pukekohe. From the 1820s, as a result of these attacks, the resident Māori population who survived mainly migrated south. When European settlers arrived, the remnant Māori population initially provided them with food supplies. As the number of settlers grew, the Pukekohe area, which was largely bush covered, was opened up after 1843 and individual farmers purchased small blocks of land which they cleared by hand. By 1863, the land was still bush covered but with an increasing number of small isolated farms. When Kīngitanga Māori refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown, many Māori moved out of the area, but some remained. A Māori from this area guided the first gunboats through the Waikato Heads and through the shoals of the Waikato River delta to help put down the rebel Kīngitanga uprising. A major battle of the 1863 Land Wars was fought at Pukekohe East between 11 armed settlers, who were converting the Pukekohe East church into a redoubt and approximately 200–300 Māori rebels, mainly from the Waikato area.