Related: riverside_community · tui_community · Source: lit_015_jones-2011-nz-intentional-communities
Overview
Wilderland, Coromandel Peninsula — founded late 1960s by Dan and Edith Hansen, 73 hectares, held in the Wilderland Trust. One of the oldest surviving intentional communities in NZ. Drug-free rule established by founders. Dan Hansen died in 2006; at the time of Jones’s study (2011), a new young resident group had formed — an example of generational renewal in practice. LIT_015
GEN directory classification (RD_031). The Global Ecovillage Network public directory lists Wilderland as setting Rural, types Eco Farm / Eco Project / Ecovillage / Intentional / Learning Centre, GEN region GENOA, and accepting new members (as at the 19 Jul 2026 extract) — external corroboration of Wilderland’s eco-village/eco-farm archetype. (Identity matched on name + country; high confidence.) RD_031
Relevance to Neobiome
Wilderland represents an early NZ IC experiment with generational turnover underway at time of study. As a Coromandel-based community it offers a North Island rural context distinct from Riverside and Tui (both South Island).
Open questions
- What is current membership composition and size?
- How has the community evolved since Dan Hansen’s death in 2006?
- What economic activities sustain the community?
- What does the Wilderland Trust structure look like in practice?
Connections
Links to
Cases (2): Riverside Community · Tui Community
Referenced by
Cases (2): Riverside Community · Tui Community
Decisions (1): D_003: Council profiling — a purposive 5-counc…