North Island (Te ika-A-Maui) New Zealand is H. H. Wilmot’s authoritative portrait of the island at a decisive 1920 juncture, published under the aegis of the New Zealand Department of Lands and Survey. As Surveyor-General from 1914 to 1920, Wilmot shaped a cartography calibrated to policy: a map devised to inform regional planning, closer settlement, and resource management in the wake of the First World War. Its visual language is purposeful and clear, blending careful relief with a sophisticated system of color-coding to classify terrain and agricultural potential. What emerges is both a synoptic geography of Te ika-A-Maui and a blueprint for development, a state-of-the-art guide for administrators and settlers intent on translating landscape possibilities into economic momentum.

Physical grandeur and practical exactitude meet in the hachured ranges and indented coasts that define the island’s form. Mountain country glows in cool blue, from the solitary cone of Taranaki/Egmont to the volcanic triad of Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe. Rivers—the Waikato rolling north, the Whanganui carving west—thread fertile basins, while the Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Plenty, and Hawke Bay articulate a serrated littoral. Brown-toned bush country clads the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges and the rugged central spine, a frank accounting of where timber and steep relief limited early cultivation. Patterned red cautions against quicksand along select dune-fields and river mouths, a cartographic nod to the subtleties—and hazards—of coast and estuary.

At the island’s heart, the central plateau is labeled “Very poor pumice land,” a few words that distill a national problem. Here, bush sickness baffled farmers and officials, undermining herds and yields on light, leached soils. Wilmot’s schema captures that impasse with unusual candor: yellow-greens for districts promising dairying and mixed agriculture, yellow for sheep country, and a stark void for the pumice mantle that refused improvement. Only later would science trace the trouble to trace-element deficiencies, transforming prospects across Rotorua and Taupō. In 1920, however, the map is a freeze-frame of uncertainty—an honest ledger of hope, hazard, and hypothesis at the frontier where geology, botany, and husbandry converged.

Infrastructure is plotted with equal precision. Railways and main roads stitch the island together, the North Island Main Trunk binding Auckland to Wellington while feeders arc toward Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, the Bay of Plenty, and the Northland peninsulas. These lines mirror the flow of produce from dairy sheds and sheep runs to harbor and market, a graphic of emergent logistics as much as of place. Land district boundaries lend administrative hierarchy to the scene, dividing authority over survey, tenure, and development. Urban nodes—Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Whangarei, Palmerston North—anchor the network. An inset isolates the boroughs of the Auckland isthmus, a telling vignette of urban consolidation on the narrow neck between Waitematā and Manukau.

Wilmot’s hand is steady, empirical, and unshowy—a public cartography refined for consequence. His tenure coincided with a surge in closer settlement, the expansion of dairying, and the measured extension of public works; this map is their graphic counterpart. The hachuring is disciplined, the hydrology lucid, and the thematic palette unflinching in its judgments. It is a document of governance as much as geography, where topography, tenure, and technology are woven into a single intelligible fabric. For the connoisseur, it offers not just a beautifully ordered vision of Te ika-A-Maui, but a rare, candid snapshot of a country aligning land and science to meet the imperatives—and the promises—of a new century.

Cities and towns on this map

• Auckland
• Wellington
• Hamilton
• Napier
• Tauranga
• Palmerston North
• Gisborne
• New Plymouth
• Whangarei

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Mountains: prominently displayed with careful hachuring
• Quicksand areas: patterned red
• Bush country: brown
• Dairying and agricultural lands: yellow-green
• Sheep grazing areas: yellow
• Central Volcanic Plateau: labeled "Very poor pumice land"
• Inset map: boroughs on the Isthmus of Auckland
• Railways and main roads: traced routes
• Land district boundaries: clearly demarcated

Historical and design context

• Name: North Island (Te ika-A-Maui) New Zealand
• Mapmaker: H.H. Wilmot; Surveyor-General of New Zealand (1914–1920); created in 1920
• Publisher/authority: New Zealand Department of Lands and Survey
• Geographic coverage: Predominantly the North Island with key cities, towns, and administrative/geographical landmarks
• Design and style: Lithographed at 1:1,000,000; meticulous hachured relief; color-coded legend classifying land use and terrain types
• Themes: Thematic representation of land use and quality, including agricultural developments and topographical features
• Historical significance: Post–WWI view of New Zealand’s agrarian economy; documents bush sickness impacts on the central North Island and later shifts in agricultural practice

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

Please note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 40in (100cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.

The model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.