Auckland: Encyclopedia II - Auckland - History

Auckland - History

Auckland - Māori settlers

The area, Tamaki Makau Rau (isthmus of one thousand lovers), now known as Auckland, was first settled by Māori people around 1350. The region was valued for its rich and fertile land. Māori constructed terraced pa (fortified villages) on the volcanic peaks. Māori population is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 in the region in pre-settlement times, a figure which would later qualify in New Zealand as a city. Earthworks are still evident today around some of the larger volcanoes such as; Mount Albert, Mount Eden and One Tree Hill.

The isthmus, at around 8km from coast to coast - with Mount Eden and One Tree Hill placed along the line of the narrowest point, led to the area having great strategic qualities. The isthmus also has the highly productive soils providing agricultural opportunities, and the two harbours (Waitemata to the East and Manukau to the West) providing diverse kai moana (seafood).

Ngāti Whātua and Tainui were the main tribes traditionally living in the area. The arrival of Europeans, using guns as one of many trade commodities, changed the balances of power between Iwi with the inevitable result of armed conflict. European settlement caused Māori numbers in what is now central Auckland city to be greatly reduced due to; inter-iwi warfare, new diseases (especially smallpox and tuberculosis), and the common ills experienced by indigenous peoples of colonisation. There was a period of migrations of both Europeans and Māori. One of the initial appeals of the area to Europeans being it was virtually uninhabited.

Āpihai Te Kawau (c. 1760 - 1869), leader of the Ngati Taou Hapu, was a good friend of Samuel Marsden. Over a 10 month period of 1821 - 1822, he took a principle part in the 1,000 mile Amiowhenua expedition. This series of battles raged through much of central and southern North Island. It ended when Te Kawau's Ngāti Whātua forces, uniting with the Taranaki they were embattled with, to jointly defend the Tainui Matakitaki pa from Hongi Hika's Ngapuhi forces.

By 1840 Te Kawau had become the paramount chief of Ngāti Whātua. Cautious of reprisals from the Nga Puhi defeated at Matakitaki, Te Kawau found it most convenient to offer Governor Hobson land around the present central city. He and six other chiefs travelled the Bay of Islands to make the offer and signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 20 March.

Ngāti Whātua would certainly have expected from English colonialism increased security and trading benefits. This would include greater access via the quickly developed port facilities for the lucrative trade in produce grown in Tainui's fertile Waikato and Hauraki Plains for the Australian prison colonies and Sydney market. The sale price for the initial 3,000 acres (12 km²) was for cash and goods to the value of £341.

As Māori population declined for nearly a century, so did the quantity of land held by Ngāti Whātua. Within 20 years, 40% of their lands were lost, some through government land confiscation. At close to the lowest level of population, Ngāti Whātua land holding was reduced to a few acres at Orakei, land which Te Kawau had declared "a last stand".

Auckland - Birth of Auckland

After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840 the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, had the task of choosing a capital for the colony. At the time, the main European settlements were in the Bay of Islands. However, the Bay of Islands' geographical position made it very remote, inaccessible and off-centre from the rest of the New Zealand archipelago.

Even in 1840 Port Nicholson (now the location of Wellington) probably seemed the obvious choice for an administrative capital. Centrally situated at the south of the North Island, close to the South Island, and growing fast, it had a lot to commend it. But the New Zealand Company and the Wakefield brothers had founded and continued to dominate Port Nicholson. Furthermore, it already had a bad reputation with the Māori for unscrupulous or even illegal occupation of land.

On the initial recommendation of the missionary Henry Williams, supported by the Surveyor General, Felton Mathew, and the offer of land from Ngāti Whātua, Hobson selected the south side of Waitemata Harbour as his future capital, while setting up a temporary capital at Okiato (also known now as Old Russell) in the Bay of Islands. The Chief Magistrate, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds, soon purchased the further land from Ngāti Whātua, and a foundation ceremony took place at 1pm on 18 September 1840, probably on the higher ground at the top end of present-day Queen Street. Hobson named the new settlement in honour of George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, a patron and friend of his. The New Zealand Government Gazette announced the royal approval of the name on 26 November 1842.

From the outset a steady flow of new arrivals from within New Zealand and from overseas came to the new capital. Initially settlers from New South Wales predominated, but the first immigrant ships sailing directly from Britain started to arrive as early as 1842. From early times the eastern side of the settlement remained reserved for government officials while mechanics and artisans, the so-called "unofficial" settlers, congregated on the western side. This social division still persists in modern Auckland.

Eventually Port Nicholson became the capital and, now known as Wellington, remains so today. The advantages of a central position became even more obvious as the South Island grew in prosperity with the discovery of gold in Otago, and with the development of sheep farming and refrigeration, especially refrigerated ships which allowed chilled meat to be safely shipped to Britain. Parliament met for the first time in Wellington in 1862. In 1868 Government House moved there too.

Auckland - Growth of Auckland

Auckland formed a base for Governor George Grey's operations against the rebel Māori King Movement in the early 1860s. Grey's modus operandi involved opening up the Waikato and King Country by building roads, most notably Great South Road, (a large part of which now forms State Highway 1). This enabled rapid movement, not only of soldiers, but also civilian settlers. It also enabled the extension of Pakeha influence and law to the South Auckland region.

During the mid 19th century, European settlement of New Zealand was predominantly in the South Island. Auckland however gradually became the commercial capital. Market gardens were planted on the outskirts, while kauri tree logging and gum digging opened up the Waitakere Ranges.

A Russian scare at the end of the century caused coastal guns to be bought and fortifications built, notably at Devonport and on Waiheke Island, where they can still be seen.

By 1900 Auckland was the largest New Zealand city.

In World War II the city was overflown by a Japanese seaplane, chased ineffectually by a Royal New Zealand Air Force De Havilland Tiger Moth.

In the 1950s the Auckland Harbour Bridge was constructed, linking North Shore with the city.

As flying boat services from Mechanics Bay and Hobsonville by aircraft such as the Short Solent and Short Sunderland were replaced by landplanes, an airport was opened at Mangere, supplanting earlier airfields at Ardmore and Whenuapai.

Following the initiative of Michael Joseph Savage's New Zealand Labour Party large numbers of state houses were constructed through the late 1930s, '40s and '50s, usually on quarter-acre (1,000 m²) sections - a tradition that survives despite frequent subdivision. Auckland is a largely suburban city: although it has not much more than a seventh of the population of London, it sprawls over a considerably larger area - a fact that serves to make public transport by Auckland's rail and bus systems unpopular and uneconomic.

All four electrical power cables supplying the Central Business District failed on 20 February 1998, causing the 1998 Auckland power crisis. It took five weeks before an emergency overhead cable was completed to restore the power supply to the Central Business District. For much of that time, about 60,000 of the 74,000 people who worked in the area, worked from home or from relocated offices in the suburbs. Many of the 6,000 apartment dwellers in the area had to find alternative accommodation.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki