The Pūkaki Creek, also known as the Pūkaki Inlet, is an estuarine river of the
Auckland Region
Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...
of
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 ...
's
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
. It flows south from its sources in
Māngere
Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of ...
and
Papatoetoe
Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau Central, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland CBD. Papatoetoe has the unofficial title of Auckland ...
, entering into the
Manukau Harbour
The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea.
Geography
The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...
. The creek is adjacent to
Auckland Airport
Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airport Oaks, a service hub suburb south of the ...
and
Pūkaki Marae.
Geography
The Pūkaki Creek is fed by various waterways in South Auckland, including the Tautauroa Creek, the Waokauri Creek (also known as the Waiokauri Creek)
and the Otaimako Creek. Adjacent to the creek is the volcanic
Pukaki Lagoon
Pukaki Lagoon, located in the suburb of Māngere, New Zealand, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. The lagoon, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Crater Hill, Kohuora and Robertson Hill, is one of the volcanic features co ...
. At the mouth of the Pūkaki Creek is
Wiroa Island, which is connected to the
Auckland Airport
Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airport Oaks, a service hub suburb south of the ...
complex by road.
History
Tāmaki Māori
Tāmaki Māori are Māori ''iwi'' and ''hapū'' (tribes and sub-tribes) who have a strong connection to Tāmaki Makaurau (the Auckland Region), and whose rohe was traditionally within the region. Among Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the M ...
peoples were present along the
Māngere
Māngere () or Mangere is one of the largest suburbs in Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of ...
-
Ihumātao
Ihumātao is an archeological site of historic importance in the suburb of Māngere, Auckland. Once a pā site, it stands on the Ihumātao Peninsula, at the base of Ōtuataua, part of the Auckland volcanic field. Its scoria cone reaches above ...
-Pūkaki coastline from at least 1450, establishing settlements later in the 15th century. The creek formed an important part of the
Waokauri / Pūkaki portage, connecting the
Manukau Harbour
The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea.
Geography
The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...
and
Tāmaki River
The Tāmaki River or Tāmaki Estuary is mostly an estuarial arm and harbour of the Hauraki Gulf, within the city of Auckland in New Zealand. via
Papatoetoe
Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau Central, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland CBD. Papatoetoe has the unofficial title of Auckland ...
, and was often used by Tāmaki Māori to avoid the
Te Tō Waka and
Karetu
Karetu ( mi, Kāretu) is a community in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Kawakawa is to the west, and Waikare is northeast. The Karetu River flows from the Russell Forest in the southeast through Karetu, and joins the ...
portages, controlled by the people who lived at
Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond. The creek formed a part of what was known as Ngā Tapuwae a Mataoho ("The Sacred Footprints of Mataoho"), referring to the volcano God who was said to have created 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 ...
.
During the
Waiohua
Te Waiohua or Te Wai-o-Hua is a Māori iwi (tribe) confederation that thrived in the early 18th century. The iwi's rohe (tribal area) was primarily the central Tāmaki Makaurau area (the Auckland isthmus) and the Māngere peninsula, until the 1 ...
confederation era of the 17th and 18th centuries, the area was farmed.
After the defeat of Waiohua paramount chief
Kiwi Tāmaki
Kiwi Tāmaki (died ) was a Māori warrior and paramount chief of the Waiohua confederation in Tāmaki Makaurau (modern-day Auckland isthmus). The third generation paramount chief of Waiohua, Kiwi Tāmaki consolidated and extended Waiohua power ...
circa 1740, many Waiohua people fled the region. When the Waiohua people began to re-establish themselves in the Tāmaki Makaurau area in the later 18th century, most settled around the
Manukau Harbour
The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea.
Geography
The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...
and
South Auckland
South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though not ...
. Those who settled along the Pūkaki Creek became known as
Te Ākitai Waiohua
Te Ākitai Waiohua is a Māori iwi of the southern part of the Auckland Region of New Zealand.
History
Te Ākitai Waiohua are descended from Kiwi Tāmaki, the grandson of Huakaiwaka, himself the ancestor of the Waiohua iwi, who lived in Tāmak ...
.
In the 1850s, Lieutenant-Colonel
Marmaduke Nixon
Marmaduke George Nixon (1813 or 1814 – 27 May 1864) was a notable soldier in the New Zealand Wars. Born at Malta, he joined the British Army in 1831, spending most of his career as an officer in British India with the 39th Regiment of Foot. H ...
lived on the western shores of Pūkaki Creek, while
Te Ākitai Waiohua
Te Ākitai Waiohua is a Māori iwi of the southern part of the Auckland Region of New Zealand.
History
Te Ākitai Waiohua are descended from Kiwi Tāmaki, the grandson of Huakaiwaka, himself the ancestor of the Waiohua iwi, who lived in Tāmak ...
lived on the eastern shores. In 1863 immediately prior to the
Invasion of the Waikato
The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...
, Te Ākitai Waiohua and other iwi in the
South Auckland
South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though not ...
area were made to evict the area, or swear fealty to the New Zealand Government. Nixon arrested his neighbour, the Te Ākitai Waiohua rangatira
Ihaka Takanini, who later died on
Rakino Island. Following the war and land confiscations, much of the land adjacent to the Pūkaki Creek was sold to British immigrant farmers. Te Ākitai Waiohua began returning to the area in 1866, settling to the west of Pūkaki Creek and at Ihumātao.
In the 1890s, Te Ākitai Waiohua built a marae on the land, which was used until the 1950s, when the
Auckland International Airport
Auckland Airport is the largest and List of the busiest airports in New Zealand, busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airp ...
was developed on the land.
In the 1950s, the area adjacent to the Pūkaki Creek became market gardens, run by
Chinese New Zealand gardeners
Fay Gock
Fay Gock (25 March 1933 – 21 December 2018) was a New Zealand horticulturalist. With her husband Joe Gock, she made numerous innovations in the growing and selling of fruit and vegetables, for which they jointly won the Bledisloe Cup in 2013. Th ...
and
Joe Gock Joe (Moo Lock) Gock QSM (1928 – ) is a New Zealand horticulturalist. With his wife Fay Wong Gock, he made numerous innovations in the growing and selling of fruit and vegetables. Their contributions received multiple awards, most notably Hortic ...
.
The Gocks began to cultivate
kūmara
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoot ...
(sweet potatoes), using plant donated to them by their neighbours at Pūkaki Marae. In the 1950s, the Gocks developed a disease-resistant variety of kūmara that became the modern Owairaka Red variety.
In 1993, Pūkaki Creek became a Māori reservations under the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993.
Te Ākitai Waiohua's principal
marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
,
Pūkaki Marae, opened in 2004, adjacent to the Pūkaki Creek.
opened in 2004
Panorama
See also
*
List of rivers of New Zealand
This is a list of all waterways named as rivers in New Zealand.
A
* Aan River
* Acheron River (Canterbury)
* Acheron River (Marlborough)
* Ada River
* Adams River
* Ahaura River
* Ahuriri River
* Ahuroa River
* Akatarawa River
* Ākiti ...
References
Print references
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pukaki Creek
Te Ākitai Waiohua
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Area
Manukau Harbour catchment
Rivers of the Auckland Region