Colville, New Zealand

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Colville is a small town in the north of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand. It lies 15 kilometres north of Coromandel and is the northernmost town of any note on the peninsula. Beyond it lies 25 kilometres of rough road leading to the small settlement of Port Jackson, close to the peninsula's northernmost point, Cape Colville.

Colville the town was named for the cape, which itself was named by Captain James Cook on November 18, 1769, after Rear Admiral Lord Colville, who Cook had previously served under in the Royal Navy. Colville was also known as Cabbage Bay, thought to be in reference to the cabbage trees in the bay.

Colville township grew following the construction of a General Store with a Motor Garage alongside. This was built by Richard (Dick) Goudie, a local man who's grandparents had settled in Cabbage Bay. Dick Goudie later ran a taxi service from the town, being the first to drive a motor vehicle across the new bridge at Papa Aroha which opened up the northern peninsula from Coromandel.

Another member of the Goudie family, John, developed a motor camp a few kilometers north of the town some years later.

The Motukawao Islands lie five kilometres off the coast to the southwest of Colville.

[edit] References

• Reed, A. W. (2002). The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names. Auckland: Reed Books. ISBN 0-7900-0761-4.

Coordinates: 36°38′S 175°28′E