Mount Albert is an inner suburb of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, which is centred on

Ōwairaka / Mount Albert Ōwairaka / Mount Albert, also known as Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura, is a volcanic peak and Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountain) which dominates the landscape of the Owairaka and Mount Albert suburbs of Auckland. Etymology The main Māori name of ...

, a local volcanic peak which dominates the landscape. In the past Mt Albert also referred to the 2,500 acre borough that was created in 1911 on the outskirts of

Auckland City Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

. Mt Albert was also one of the original five wards within the Mt Albert Borough. The suburb is located seven kilometres to the southwest of the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

(CBD).

Volcano

The peak, in parkland at the southern end of the suburb, is 135 metres in height, and is one of the many extinct cones which dot the city of Auckland, all of which are part of the

Auckland volcanic field The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse a ...

Suburb

Mount Albert suburb was the second that developed in Auckland, after Remuera. It was mostly settled by well-off families in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Significant growth occurred between the two world wars. It is surrounded by the neighbouring suburbs of

Owairaka Owairaka is a suburb of New Zealand's largest city, Auckland. It is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. Owairaka is home to the Owairaka Athletic Club which is based at the Lovelock Track where five world records have been se ...

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

, Morningside,

Point Chevalier Point Chevalier (; commonly known as Point Chev and an original colonial name of Point Bunbury after Thomas Bunbury) is a residential suburb and peninsula in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located five kilometres to th ...

and Waterview. Its postcode is 1025. Unitec Institute of Technology, a large tertiary educational college, is located towards the northern end of the suburb. The Mount Albert Research Centre (originally established by the

DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industri ...

) houses the Auckland centre of

Plant & Food Research Plant & Food Research (Māori: Rangahau Ahumāra Kai) is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute (CRI). Its purpose is to enhance the value and productivity of New Zealand's horticultural, arable, seafood and food & beverage industries. The inte ...

and other Crown Research Institutes.

Fowlds Park Fowlds Park is a small public reserve in the northern part of Mount Albert, in Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the c ...

lies in the northern area of Mount Albert.

Demographics

Mount Albert covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Mount Albert, comprising the statistical areas of Mount Albert West, Mount Albert North, Mount Albert Central, Mount Albert South and St Lukes, had a population of 15,204 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 720 people (5.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,515 people (11.1%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 4,866 households, comprising 7,626 males and 7,584 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.01 males per female, with 2,877 people (18.9%) aged under 15 years, 3,741 (24.6%) aged 15 to 29, 7,107 (46.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,479 (9.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 60.3% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

, 8.3%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 8.1% Pacific peoples, 31.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 4.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 40.2, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 49.3% had no religion, 31.4% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 0.4% had Māori religious beliefs, 6.5% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 3.5% were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 1.7% were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 2.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 5,154 (41.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 1,077 (8.7%) people had no formal qualifications. 2,850 people (23.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 6,489 (52.6%) people were employed full-time, 1,893 (15.4%) were part-time, and 477 (3.9%) were unemployed.

Government

Mount Albert has been administered by

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

since 2010, and Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010. An early local government body was the Mount Albert Highway District Board, which was formed in 1866 and became Mount Albert Road Board in 1883. The road board became Mount Albert Borough Council in 1911, and then Mount Albert City Council in 1978. It amalgamated with Auckland City Council in a nationwide local government reorganisation in 1989. Mount Albert has been part of the Mount Albert electorate since 1946, except for the 1996–99 term, when it was the

electorate. The electorate has been held by Jacinda Ardern of the Labour Party since 25 February 2017.

Mayors (1911–1978, Mount Albert Borough Council)

*Michael John Coyle, 1911–1914 *Murdoch McLean, 1914–1917 *Thomas Benjamin Clay, 1917–1921 *Alfred Ferdinand Bennett, 1921–1923 *Leonard Edgar Rhodes, 1923–1931 *Wilfred Fosberry Stilwell, 1931–1933 *Raymond Ferner, 1933–1936 *Henry Albert Anderson, 1936–1959 *Francis Gordon Turner, 1959–1968 *Frank Ryan, 1968–1978

Mayors (1978–1989, Mount Albert City Council)

*Frank Ryan, 1978–1989

Notable buildings and landmarks

* Mt Albert War Memorial Park. 773 New North Road. * Mt Albert War Memorial Hall. 773 New North Road. Large modernist single span shell auditorium. Built in 1960 by the citizens of the borough of Mt Albert in memory of those who gave their lives in the service of their country. On 24 September 1989 the last civic function of the City of Mt Albert was held which marked the final act of 122 years of autonomous local government in Mt Albert. * Mt Albert community and recreation centre. 773 New North Road. * Rocket Park. Early 1960s children's playground with metal jungle gym shapes formed like planets, stars, comets, space ships & flying saucers. * Mount Albert Baptist Church. 732 New North Rd. Modernist church from the 1950s. * St Mary's Catholic Church. 10 Kitenui Ave. Roman Catholic Church attendant on the adjoining churches. * Marist School. Alberton Avenue. Roman Catholic School. * Marist College. 31 Alberton Ave. Roman Catholic Secondary School. * Ferndale House. 830 New North Road. A wooden Carpenter Gothic house near the main shopping area. This was built by Jonathon Tonson Garlick as a four-room cottage in 1865 and extended in 1881. His widow sold it to Mount Albert Borough Council in the 1940s. The family firm 'Tonson Garlick' manufactured furniture. The property is distinguished by several enormous

Norfolk pine ''Araucaria heterophylla'' (synonym ''A. excelsa'') is a species of conifer. As its vernacular name Norfolk Island pine (or Norfolk pine) implies, the tree is endemic to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific ...

trees planted in the 1860s. The house is now a community venue. * Mt Albert Methodist Church. 831 New North Road. Across the road from Ferndale is the wooden Gothic Mt Albert Methodist Church. The land for this building was donated by local resident Mr Stone. * Mr Stone's House. 4 Alexis Avenue. Large masonry house in the Italianate style. * Former Post Office. 911 New North Road. 1970s brick building with distinctive cylinder turrets. *

Mount Albert Railway Station Mount Albert railway station is in the suburb of Mount Albert on the Western Line of the Auckland railway network in New Zealand, near Unitec, a local tertiary education provider, and is popular with Unitec students. It has an island plat ...

. Opened in 1880, significantly upgraded 2013–16. * Former Deluxe Cinema. 960 New North Road. 1920s building. * Mt Albert Presbyterian Church. 14 Mt Albert Road. * Alberton. 100 Mt Albert Road. A large wooden house with distinctive turrets, was built as the residence of

Allan Kerr Taylor Allan Kerr Taylor (30 December 1832 – 14 April 1890) was a notable New Zealand landowner and businessman. He was born in Negapatam, India in 1832. His second wife was Sophia Taylor (née Davis). His father was General William Taylor. Personal ...

. This two-storied wooden house has wrap-round verandahs and turrets in the Anglo-Indian style, possibly due to the family having spent time in India before coming to New Zealand. Originally this property commanded a view towards Auckland across a thousand-acre (4 km²) farm. Over the years the family sold off land for suburban development leaving only one acre around the house. Allan Kerr Taylor's wife Sophia was an outspoken advocate of the vote for women, as well as a singer, gardener and mother of 10. She ran the estate for 40 years after her husband's death, with her three unmarried daughters running it for a further 40 years, the last of whom left the house to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1972. Allan Kerr Taylor had three brothers who lived in Auckland near the Tamaki River: Charles John Taylor at Glen Orchard (now

St Heliers Saint Heliers is an affluent seaside suburb of Auckland with a population of as of This suburb is popular amongst visitors for the beaches, cafés, and views of Rangitoto Island, the distinctive volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. St. Helier ...

), William Innes Taylor at Glen Innes, and Richard James Taylor at Glen Dowie. The names of their properties later became the names of the suburbs. Claims of paranormal activity have been reported at the well-known homestead. * Crown Research Institute.120 Mt Albert Rd. The main building is a modernist highrise block from the 1960s. (Former DSIR – Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) * Mount Albert School. Primary School on Taylor's Road. School built in its current location in 1940 on the site of Wilson's Quarry. *

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

. Alberton Avenue. Main building from the 1920s was designed by Walter Arthur Cumming this school is unusual for an urban facility as it has an agricultural department - this is the last open ground left from the Alberton Farmlands. * Mt Albert Aquatic Centre. 38 Alberton Ave, Mt Albert. * Winstone House. 29 Summit Drive. Late 19th century Italianate style house located on the slopes of Mt Albert. Built for George Winstone in Upper Symonds Street and relocated here around 1910. George Winstone founded the well known Transport firm. * Caughey House. 15 McLean Street. Distinctive house with turret. Moving to Mt Albert in 1888, Andrew Caughey (of Smith & Caughey's Department Store) built this two storied wooden house on 4-acres of Edward Allen's land. Architect Arthur White designed a 16-room house where Caughey, his wife and seven children lived until 1923. The property is now run as part of the private school, Hebron Christian College * Former St Helens Hospital. 28a Linwood Ave. Officially opened on 15 February 1968. One of a number of St Helens Hospitals built around New Zealand since 1905 and named by Prime Minister Rt Hon Richard J Seddon after the town of St Helens in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, near which he was born. The hospital closed on 12 June 1990 following a formal closing ceremony. The property was purchased by

Auckland Institute of Studies Auckland Institute of Studies (AIS) (formerly ''AIS St Helens;'' Māori: ''Te Whare Wānanga ki Hato Herena'') is the leading privately owned tertiary institute in Auckland, New Zealand. AIS was established in 1990, in Auckland's Downtown shopp ...

in 1992, refurbished and reopened the following year as the institute's St Helens Campus. MtAlbert

Notable residents

Rugby player

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

and actress Lucy Lawless both grew up in Mount Albert. Former Prime Minister

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

, famous acoustician Sir Harold Marshall and the former

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

's ''

Breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or "t ...

'' presenter

Petra Bagust Petra Bagust is a New Zealand television presenter, podcaster and media chaplain, perhaps best known for her role as co-presenter of TVNZ's morning show ''Breakfast (TVNZ programme), Breakfast''. Career Bagust grew up in Christchurch and atten ...

are current residents of the area. Famous New Zealand athlete, Sir

Peter Snell Sir Peter George Snell (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964. Snell ...

(triple Olympic gold medalist and world mile record holder and NZ's athlete of the 20th century), was educated in and a long-time resident of Mt Albert as was Bryan Williams, an

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

great and president of the

NZRFU New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

Education

is a high school (years 9–13) with a roll of . Opened in 1922, it was a single-sex boys' school until 2000, when it became co-educational. Marist College is a Catholic state-integrated girls' college (years 7–13) with a roll of . The college was founded in 1928, and originally called Marist Sisters College, changing its name to Marist College in 2000. Marist School is a Catholic contributing primary (years 1-6) school on the same site as Marist College. It has a roll of . Mount Albert School and Gladstone Primary School are contributing primary schools (years 1-6) with rolls of and , respectively. Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Nga Maungarongo is a full primary school (years 1–8) with a roll of . It is a

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

-immersion school. All these schools apart from Marist College are coeducational. Rolls are as of Tertiary education providers in the area include

and Unitec.

Sport

Association football

Mount Albert is the home of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club Metro F.C., who compete in the

Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Premier The Northern League is a semi-professional New Zealand association football competition. It is a top-tier competition during the winter season, and sits at step two overall. The Northern League includes football clubs located in the northern p ...

, and Mount Albert-Ponsonby, who compete in the

Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2 The Northern Regional Football League Division 2, currently known as Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a New Zealand amateur football league. The league is run by the Auckland Football Federation and includes foot ...

Rugby league

Mount Albert is home to both the

Marist Saints The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership. History Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...

and the Mount Albert Lions, who split from Marist in 1927. Both clubs compete in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

's top division, the Fox Memorial.

Transport

Mount Albert is well served by trains and buses, and is only 7 km from Auckland's CBD. The railway station is centrally located, near the intersection of New North Road and Mt Albert/Carrington Road.

is a part of the Western Line; trains run regularly into the city and the western suburbs beyond. The centre of all the shopping and business activities in the suburb of Mt Albert is New North Road, roughly between Richardson Road and Lloyd Avenue.

References

*''City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland'' - Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. . *''Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential guide'' - Hayward, B.W., Murdoch, G., Maitland, G.; Auckland University Press, 2011.

External links

Mt Albert Inc for community news and information

Mount Albert Historical Society

* [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?AC=SEE_ALSO&QF0=Subjects&QI0

%22Mount+Albert%22&XC=/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll&BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2Fheritageimages%2Findex.htm&TN=heritageimages&SN=AUTO18556&SE=852&RN=0&MR=20&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=HIOReport&EF=&DF=HIORecord&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=2&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=1305&NR=1&NB=0&SV=0&SS=1&BG=&FG=&QS=index&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1 Photographs of Mount Albert] held in Auckland Libraries, Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{Albert-Eden Local Board Area Suburbs of Auckland