Portland, New Zealand
# Portland, New Zealand

Portland is a locality on the western side of Whangarei Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. Whangarei is about 10 km to the north. Tikorangi is a hill to the west with a summit 161 m above sea level.

The major industry is Portland Cement, which is New Zealand's largest cement manufacturer. It has a specialised loading dock on the harbour, and quarries Tikorangi for lime.

## History

The Portland Cement Works, which started on Limestone Island in Whangarei Harbour in 1885, moved to Portland in 1916. The Cement works is now owned by Golden Bay Cement, a division of Fletcher Building.

Dominion Cement built a mile-long pier of disused tram rails in 1913.

The town had a railway station on the North Auckland Line from 1918 to 1975.

## Demographics

Portland is in two SA1 statistical areas which cover 11.96 $km^2$ (4.62 sq mi). The SA1 areas are part of the larger Otaika-Portland statistical area.

Portland had a population of 441 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 108 people (32.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 42 people (10.5%) since the 2006 census. There were 132 households, comprising 234 males and 204 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.15 males per female, with 114 people (25.9%) aged under 15 years, 75 (17.0%) aged 15 to 29, 219 (49.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 33 (7.5%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 80.3% European/Pākehā, 39.5% Māori, 5.4% Pacific peoples, 0.7% Asian, and 2.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 62.6% had no religion, 25.2% were Christian, 2.0% had Māori religious beliefs and 0.7% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 45 (13.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 84 (25.7%) people had no formal qualifications. 48 people (14.7%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 180 (55.0%) people were employed full-time, 51 (15.6%) were part-time, and 15 (4.6%) were unemployed.

## Education

Portland School is a coeducational contributing primary (years 1–6) school with a roll of 66 students as of April 2023.

