# Tāmaki

Tāmaki is a small suburb of East Auckland, 11 kilometres from the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located by the banks of the estuarial Tāmaki River, which is a southern arm of the Hauraki Gulf. The suburb is between the suburbs of Point England to the north and Panmure to the south.
Tāmaki is under the local governance of Auckland Council. It is part of the much larger Tāmaki parliamentary electorate.

## History

In the 1940s Tāmaki was chosen to be an area for large state housing development and continued to have state houses built for almost 20 years.

## Demographics

Tāmaki covers 1.29 km$^2$ (0.50 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 5,160 as of June 2024, with a population density of 3,969 people per km$^2$.
Tāmaki had a population of 4,167 in the 2023 New Zealand census, a decrease of 108 people (−2.5%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 213 people (5.4%) since the 2013 census. There were 2,073 males, 2,085 females and 12 people of other genders in 1,272 dwellings. 3.4% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. There were 924 people (22.2%) aged under 15 years, 936 (22.5%) aged 15 to 29, 1,887 (45.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 423 (10.2%) aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 30.8% European (Pākehā); 22.5% Māori; 40.1% Pasifika; 23.3% Asian; 2.2% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.5% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 90.5%, Māori language by 4.5%, Samoan by 7.3%, and other languages by 28.3%. No language could be spoken by 3.0% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.4%. The percentage of people born overseas was 39.2, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 46.1% Christian, 2.3% Hindu, 3.0% Islam, 3.1% Māori religious beliefs, 2.0% Buddhist, 0.4% New Age, and 1.7% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 34.3%, and 7.7% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 753 (23.2%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 1,350 (41.6%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 1,158 (35.7%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. 264 people (8.1%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,620 (50.0%) people were employed full-time, 318 (9.8%) were part-time, and 156 (4.8%) were unemployed.
Individual statistical areas :
| Name | Area (km$^2$) | Population | Density (per km$^2$) | Dwellings | Median age | Median income |
| Tamaki West | 0.63 | 2,592 | 4,114 | 789 | 32.8 years | $36,000 |
| Tamaki East | 0.66 | 1,575 | 2,386 | 483 | 32.5 years | $38,100 |
| New Zealand | | | | | 38.1 years | $41,500 |

## Education

Tāmaki Primary School is a contributing primary school (years 1–8) with a roll of 181. Sommerville School is a school for students with special educational needs with a roll of 362. These schools are adjacent to each other. Both schools are coeducational. Rolls are as of November 2024.

## Volcano

To the west of the suburb is Mount Wellington, a 137-metre volcanic peak which is part of the Auckland volcanic field, and which was formed by an eruption around 9,000 years ago.

## Related names

By a quirk of geographical naming, the suburb of East Tāmaki is located several kilometres to the south of Tāmaki because it takes its name from the fact that it is on the eastern side of the Tamaki River, rather than from its relationship to Tāmaki.
The name Tāmaki was the Māori name for the Auckland isthmus, and was later applied to the eastern part of early Auckland (towards the Tamaki River), as in the name of the Tamaki Road Board.
The name Tāmaki is of contested origin. It is an ancient Polynesian word for battle; it can also mean full of people, i.e., heavily populated – an ironic possibility given that the Māori name of the heavily populated Auckland isthmus in Māori is Tāmaki-makau-rau. A third possible origin of the names is Tā-Maki, meaning successful attack by Maki, which was the name of a local tribal chief.