Franklin District

Pōkeno (spelled Pookeno in Waikato-Tainui dialect) is a small town in the Waikato District of the Waikato region in New Zealand, 53 km (33 mi) southeast of Auckland, 9 km (5.6 mi) from Tuakau and 5 km (3.1 mi) from Mercer. State Highway 1 originally ran through the town, but the upgrading of the highway in 1992 to expressway standards mean that the town has been bypassed.

The Pokeno railway station is a former railway station in Pokeno, New Zealand on the North Island Main Trunk line. It opened for passengers on 20 May 1875, and for goods on 6 April 1879. It was 39 mi 36 ch (63.5 km) south of Auckland (via Newmarket) and 41 mi 52 ch (67.0 km) (via Orakei).The station closed to passengers on 24 June 1973, and to goods on 30 March 1980.Work on the proposed Paeroa–Pokeno Line commenced in 1938, and whilst approximately 13 km of earthworks were completed at each end, the proposal was halted due to the Second World War. Work was still making slow progress in 1950. The line was to be the first part of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway.

Whangarata railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk, and in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It was originally known as Wangarata. The station was opened on 20 May 1875, and was closed on 3 October 1966.Whangarata was a flag station, 37 mi (60 km) south of Auckland. It was on a steep gradient, 618.4 km (384.3 mi) north of Wellington, 3.17 km (1.97 mi) east of Tuakau, 4.28 km (2.66 mi) west of Pokeno and 60 m (200 ft) above sea level. A deviation in 1914 allowed for an easier curve and gradient.

Queen's Redoubt is a fortification of the New Zealand Wars, located at Pōkeno, New Zealand. It was built to protect the southern end of a major supply route to Auckland. It subsequently served as the main British base during the early stages of the Invasion of the Waikato. Erected in June 1862, it was garrisoned until 1866 at which time it was abandoned. The majority of the site is now owned by the Queen’s Redoubt Trust, which has developed it as a visitor attraction.

The Bombay Hills are a range of hills to the south of Auckland, New Zealand. Though only a small and seemingly insignificant range of hills, they lie at the southern boundary of the Auckland region, and serve as a divide between Auckland and the Waikato region. There is a 19th-century settlement, Bombay, on the old main road south of Auckland, the Great South Road. Aucklanders and other New Zealanders have a mostly light-hearted "love-hate" relationship. Stereotypically, Aucklanders view parts of the country "south of the Bombay Hills" as provincial and unsophisticated, while the rest of the country sees Aucklanders as brash and arrogant. For this reason, the boundary between Auckland and its southern neighbours bears great significance. People on both sides of the boundary are as likely to use the phrase "New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills". The term was adopted by 1990s New Zealand reggae band Southside of Bombay.

Felix Donnelly College was a state special school with six sites in the Auckland region of New Zealand. The school is named after Felix Donnelly (1929–2019), a Roman Catholic priest who gained notoriety in the 1970s for his outspoken views on the Church's stance on sexuality. A Ministry of Education commissioner was appointed to the school to address issues that concerned the Ministry. The Education Review Office has repeatedly raised concerns about the school and in May 2009 suggested that action should be taken that may result in closure of the school.The school was closed in January 2011 due to a history of serious management and governance issues.

Harrisville is a locality about 3 km northeast of Tuakau and 5.5 km southeast of Pukekohe in the North Island of New Zealand. Harrisville is in meshblocks 0828202 (SE) and 0828302 (NW), which had a combined population of 99 people in the 2018 New Zealand census.The area was named for an early landowner and politician, Benjamin Harris, and was largely settled by Danes.

The South Auckland volcanic field, also known as the Franklin Volcanic Field, is an area of extinct monogenetic volcanoes around Pukekohe, the Franklin area and north-western Waikato, south of the Auckland volcanic field. The field contains at least 82 volcanoes, which erupted between 550,000 and 1,600,000 years ago.

Bombay is a rural community in the Bombay Hills at the southern boundary of Auckland Region of New Zealand. The Auckland Southern Motorway runs through Bombay.Bombay is named for the ship Bombay, which transported settlers from England to the area in 1863. At the beginning of the 20th century, a community of Indian New Zealanders also settled in the area. A Sikh temple was opened in 2004.

Tuakau railway station was a railway station (now closed) in the town of Tuakau in the Waikato District of New Zealand. The station was on the North Island Main Trunk line, and opened on 20 May 1875. Originally it was called Tuakau Road. Tuakau was 34 mi 51 ch (55.7 km) south of Auckland (via Newmarket) and 36 mi 67 ch (59.3 km) (via Orakei).The station was rebuilt in 1910, opening on 10 September 1911, and closed to passengers on 14 March 1983. The station closed on 2 March 1986.The station was on the route of the former Waikato Connection, although it did not stop at Tuakau. The Hamilton-Auckland passenger service is to resume as Te Huia in 2020; and as the new service may stop at Tuakau, in 2018 the District Council allocated money for reopening the station. In 2020 reopening of the platform was put forward as a COVID-19 recovery scheme, at an estimated cost of $15m.

Tuakau (Māori: Tūākau) is a town in the Waikato region at the foot of the Bombay Hills, formerly part of the Franklin District until 2010, when it became part of Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand. The town serves to support local farming, and is the residence of many employees of New Zealand Steel at Glenbrook.

Mercer railway station in Mercer, New Zealand, is 72 km from Auckland and 609 km from Wellington on the North Island Main Trunk line. It opened on 20 May 1875 and was closed to passengers about 1970 and to goods in the 1990s. It burnt down in 1879 and also in 1900. Until 1958 it was the first refreshment stop south of Auckland.