Petone (Māori: Pito-one) is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in January 1840, making it the oldest European settlement in the Wellington Region. It became a borough in 1888, and merged with Lower Hutt (branded as "Hutt City") in 1989.

The Māori name Pito-one has long been taken to mean the end (pito) of the sand (one), referring to the long sandy beach at Petone with pā at each end of the beach. However in 2024 The New Zealand Geographic Board suggested that Pito-one means "an umbilical cord (pito) buried in the sand (one)", as a symbolic tethering of a newborn to the whenua (land) in Māori culture.

On 6 September 2024, the Hutt City Council voted to officially name the suburb "Pito One". This proposed name change was supported by the New Zealand Geographic Board, The Wellington Tenths Trust and the Palmerston North Māori Reserve Trust. On 19 December 2024, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk chose to decline the change, stating that "people feel strongly about the name of their home and each proposal received a range of submissions both for and against".

Petone is on flat land, between Hutt River to the north and east, hills on the west and Wellington Harbour to the south. The land along the foreshore was uplifted by a metre or more in the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake, which improved drainage around the mouth of Hutt River. The foreshore has a shallow sandy beach, formed by sediment from the Hutt River, which is a popular family swimming spot. Korokoro Stream enters Wellington Harbour at the western end of the Petone foreshore, and drains a catchment in Belmont Regional Park.

As a low-lying suburb, Petone is vulnerable to tsunami and flooding. During a severe storm on 20 December 1976, Korokoro Stream caused flooding almost a metre deep in the industrial area of Petone around Cornish Street, and more than 40 people had to be rescued from factory roofs.

There were two Māori pā (fortified settlements), belonging to Te Āti Awa, at Pito-one near the beach when the first European settlers arrived in the region. At the western end of the beach was the Pito-one pā, and at the other end near the mouth of the Hutt River stood Hikoikoi pā. In 1850 the pā at Pito-one was described as "the largest and best fortified within the District of Wellington ... their cultivations of kumara and maize look well and the residents, in point of comfort and wealth, are better off than any of the Port Nicholson natives ... total population 136".

Around 1840, Edward Jerningham Wakefield described the locality as a "sandy beach, which is about two miles long. The main river falls into the sea at the eastern end ... and is called the Heretaunga [Hutt River]. A merry brawling stream, called the Korokoro, or "throat", flows between [Pito-one pa] and the western hills. The valley ... [is] bounded on either side by wooded hills from 300 to 400 feet in height. It was covered with high forest to within a mile and a half of the beach, when swamps full of flax and a belt of sand hummocks intervened."

Petone was the first European settlement in the Wellington region and retains many historical buildings and landmarks. The first European settlers in large numbers arrived on 22 January 1840 on the ship Aurora, which brought 25 married couples, 36 single people and 40 children. The Aurora is commemorated in the Petone Settlers Museum, which has a sculpture shaped like the bow of the ship protruding from the front of the building. Māori from the nearby Pito-one pā came to meet the new arrivals, with one passenger recording in his diary: "The first great object of attraction was the venerable old chief Te Puni, his interesting and beautiful wife 'Victoria,' and his handsome daughter Aena, the princess, together with sons and endless relatives and a pa full of natives who were delighted to greet us with 'Kapai te Pakeha,' Tena-koe, and other expressions of greeting."