Belfast, New Zealand
suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand
Belfast (Māori: Purarekanui) is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is in the north of the city 10 km (6.2 mi) from Cathedral Square, close to the banks of the Waimakariri River.
History
Belfast is named after Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was originally known as North Road District, Seven Mile Peg, Styx, or by its Māori name Purarekanui.
James McNeight Watt (1838–1892) emigrated from Belfast and was a partner with the original meat works, around which the settlement grew. Watt, who developed much of the area, is believed to have given it its present name.
Demographics
Belfast, comprising the statistical areas of Belfast West and Belfast East, covers 6.57 km2 (2.54 sq mi). It had an estimated population of 5,280 as of June 2025, with a population density of 804 people per km2.
Belfast had a population of 4,668 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 441 people (10.4%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 780 people (20.1%) since the 2013 census. There were 2,286 males, 2,370 females, and 12 people of other genders in 1,845 dwellings.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Belfast, New Zealand” as suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3459122. Authority coordinates are -43.450, 172.633. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1892, 2025 and 2023.
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This entry incorporates text from “Belfast, New Zealand” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.