the snow-clad Rimutaka and Tararuas, partly glistening in the sun and partly shrouded in cloud." Karori gold rush Karori experienced a gold rush when the valley of the Upper Kaiwharawhara Stream became subject to intensive gold-mining activity between 1869 and 1873. This activity eventually led to the building of the lower Karori Dam (now part of Zealandia) in 1873. At the height of the rush, about 200 men worked the claims, driving shafts and drives up to 500 feet in length into the hills. Growth and subdivision In 1888 a syndicate purchased section 34, which was the closest to town (running from present day Ponsonby Road to Cooper Street). The new owners prepared the land for sale by building roads and naming them after the members of the syndicate and their families, and by running a marketing campaign, including providing free buses from Manners Street and writing poems: In far-famed New Zealand, the evergreen free land Most favoured and beautiful Queen of the wave, Where the sun ever smiling, bad weather beguiling, Brightly shines on the face of the honest and brave. Tho' for Europe's bold races there are plenty of places Adapted as homes for the great and the small, Yet, for onward progressing and bountiful blessing There is one whose position is far before all. So haste where kind Nature's arrayed in her glory, To pleasant, romantic, suburban Karori. Karori Borough, 1891–1920 Karori was a part of Hutt County from the county's establishment in 1877 to 1891 when Karori was declared a separate borough following a petition in favour of forming a borough with 123 signatories. A counter-petition garnered 41 signatories. List of mayors of Karori Borough Amalgamation with Wellington, 1920 Both Wellington and Karori expanded towards each other, the two urban areas becoming gradually connected, aided by the construction of the Karori tunnel in 1901, and the Borough of Karori amalgamated with the City of Wellington in 1920. Demographics Karori, comprising the statistical areas of Karori East, Karori North, Karori Park and Karori South, covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Karori had a population of 15,234 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 555 people (3.8%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,230 people (8.8%) since the 2006 census. There were 5,361 households. There were 7,479 males and 7,755 females, giving