South Auckland is an imprecisely defined
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
[ 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 ...
, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesia
Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
n and 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 ...
demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though not an official place name, has come into common use[
For example:
]
among New Zealanders. It also appears in the names of some organisations and companies
A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
.
Since the 1970s the term "South Auckland" has developed negative connotations with outsiders, being associated with deprivation, crime and violence.[ When ]street crime
Street crime is a loose term for any criminal offense in a public place. The difference between street crime and white-collar crime is that street crime is often violence that occurs in a public area whereas white-collar crime is non-violent crim ...
occurs in the area, the mass media tend to use the generic "South Auckland" phrase, with its vague and unfortunate stereotypes, rather than a more precise name of a suburb or territorial authority.[ ]Barry Curtis Barry Curtis may refer to:
* Barry Curtis (actor) (1943–2019), American film and television actor
* Barry Curtis (mayor) (born 1939), served as mayor (1983–2007) of Manukau City, New Zealand
** Barry Curtis Park, a park in south Auckland, New Z ...
, mayor of Manukau City
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...
from 1983 to 2007, tried to discourage use of the name "South Auckland" because of its negative connotations.
History
The area between Manurewa
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is b ...
and Clevedon
Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 ...
was historically a large swampland. By the 1890s, this swampland was a major location for kauri gum
Kauri gum is resin from kauri trees (''Agathis australis''), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, be ...
digging, and became known variously as the Ardmore Gumfield or the Papakura Gumfield. By the 1900s, Auckland gumfields and swamps began being converted into farmland and orchards.
Geography
The heart of South Auckland is the low socio-economic suburbs of the former Manukau City
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...
, typified by Ōtara
Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River (actually an arm of the Hauraki Gulf), which extends south t ...
but including 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 ...
, 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 Manurewa
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is b ...
. Broadly speaking, South Auckland is the urban area stretching from at the very least the narrowing of the Auckland isthmus
The Auckland isthmus, also known as the Tāmaki isthmus, is a narrow stretch of land on the North Island of New Zealand in the Auckland Region, and the location of the central suburbs of the city of Auckland, including the CBD. The isthmus i ...
at Ōtāhuhu
Ōtāhuhu is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand – to the southeast of the CBD, on a narrow isthmus between an arm of the Manukau Harbour to the west and the Tamaki River estuary to the east. The isthmus is the narrowest connection between the ...
, southwards through the Manukau City suburbs lying to the west and near east of Auckland's Southern Motorway (State Highway 1). The area does not include the more affluent eastern and northern Manukau City suburbs such as Howick, Dannemora, Botany Downs, Flat Bush
Flat Bush (also known as Ormiston or Flatbush) is a southeastern suburb in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It has recently become one of the city's largest new planned towns after being developed as a rural area of Auckland for several deca ...
and Pakuranga
Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gu ...
or the large rural area of Manukau City. The name does not include Franklin District
Franklin District was a New Zealand territorial authority that lay between the Auckland metropolitan area and the Waikato Plains. As a formal territory it was abolished on 31 October 2010 and divided between Auckland Council in the Auckland Re ...
, which lies south of Papakura.
Prior to the 1970s, South Auckland encompassed the region from Ōtāhuhu south to Mercer, and from the west coast to the Firth of Thames
The Firth of Thames ( mi, Tikapa Moana-o-Hauraki) is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of ...
, including the southern towns of Pukekohe
Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. ...
, Tuakau
Tuakau ( mi, Tūākau) is a town in the Waikato region at the foot of Bombay hills, formerly part of the Franklin district until 2010, when it became part of Waikato District in the North Island of New Zealand.
The town serves to support local ...
and Waiuku
Waiuku is a rural town in the Auckland Region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour, and lies on the isthmus of the Āwhitu Peninsula, which ...
.
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 th ...
is located in South Auckland, as well as several other places of interest, including the amusement park Rainbow's End, the Auckland Botanic Gardens and one of the oldest shopping malls in the country, now called Westfield Manukau City
Westfield Manukau City is a major shopping centre located in Manukau, a southern district of Auckland, New Zealand. Annual sales for the full year 2018 were $293.4 million.
History and development
The Manukau City Centre mall was built in 19 ...
.
Some of the suburbs in South Auckland contain predominantly state housing
State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the ...
and are the poorest suburbs of Auckland. The area also contains the industrial heartland of Auckland (Māngere, Ōtāhuhu, Manukau CBD, and the Port of Onehunga), with workshops, factories and warehouses providing work for many Aucklanders.
Politics and governance
Local government
South Auckland was formerly a part of Manukau City
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...
, which was amalgamated into the new 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 ...
in 2010, being roughly covered by the extreme southernmost portion of the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board, as well as the entirety of the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Manurewa Local Boards. On the Auckland Council Governing Body, South Auckland is represented by Alf Filipaina
Alfred Meredith Filipaina is a New Zealand politician who is an Auckland Councillor.
Biography
From the mid 1980s until 1997, Filipaina worked as a community constable in Māngere Bridge.
Political career
Filipaina was a Manukau City ...
and Lotu Fuli
Lotu Fuli is a New Zealand politician who is an Auckland Councillor. In 2022, Fuli was elected as one of the two councillors for the Manukau ward.
Early life
Lotu was born in Samoa and came to New Zealand with her family in the 1970s, origin ...
(Manukau Ward); and Daniel Newman and Angela Dalton (Manurewa-Papakura Ward)
National government
South Auckland has traditionally strongly supported the Labour Party in national elections. The general electorates of 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 ...
, Panmure-Ōtāhuhu
Panmure-Ōtāhuhu is an electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first contested at the .
Population centres
The electorate consists of the mid-eastern part of the Manukau Ward, and a long strip of suburbs along the west ...
, Manurewa
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The suburb is b ...
, and Takanini
Takanini is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, 28 kilometres southeast of the Auckland CBD.
The suburb is home to a Fonterra Brands milk plant (part of the dairy compan ...
and the Māori electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau
Tāmaki Makaurau is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . The electorate covers the Auckland area and was first held by Labour ...
cover the area commonly referred to as South Auckland. All are currently represented by a Labour MP in the New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
, and the strong support for this party was underlined by these electorates recording strong party vote majorities for Labour in the 2014 election, despite Labour's support falling to a record low nationally.
Candidates from the National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
, Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
, New Zealand First
New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
and a range of minor parties also stand in the general electorates of South Auckland, though none has been won by a party other than Labour since 1975. The Māori electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau was held by the Māori Party
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 Co ...
co-leader Pita Sharples
Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...
from 2005 until 2014.
Demographics and culture
The area has a multiracial population including 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 ...
(European New Zealanders) and Asians as well as a high proportion of Polynesians
Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...
and 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 ...
. This gives it a very cosmopolitan feel and a thriving culture, especially at street level, most often seen by visitors at the Saturday markets at Ōtara, Manurewa and Māngere.
Manukau City, before its amalgamation, used the slogan "Face of the Future" to reflect its youthful demographic, having one of the highest proportion of people under 18. South Auckland is also a major centre of hip hop culture
Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntablis ...
and music in New Zealand.
Notable people
People who hail from South Auckland include Olympic champion John Walker, mountaineer Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reache ...
, and former Prime Minister David Lange
David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989.
Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...
. Many successful sportspeople are South Aucklanders; including rugby players Jonah Lomu
Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...
and Eric Rush
Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965 in Kaeo) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and rugby sevens legend, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until past his 39th birthday in 2004. Ru ...
, rugby league player Ruben Wiki
Ruben James Wiki (born 21 January 1973) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative centre-turned-prop forward, he retired with the record for most ...
, heavyweight boxers David Tua
Faumuina To'aletai Mafaufau David Tua (born 21 November 1972), best known as David Tua, is a Samoan-New Zealand former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. A highly ranked heavyweight contender for most of his career, Tua was kno ...
and Joseph Parker, cricketer Daryl Tuffey, kickboxer Mark Hunt
Mark Richard Hunt (born 23 March 1974) is a New Zealand former mixed martial artist and kickboxer of Samoan descent, currently living in Sydney, Australia. Hunt competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) until 2018 and was the wi ...
, IndyCar racer Scott Dixon
Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...
, Shot-putter Valerie Adams
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly Vili; born 6 October 1984) is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF ...
and hip hop music artists Young Sid, Savage
Savage may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land
* Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Savage Ridge, Victoria Land
United States
* Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community
* Savage, Minnesota, a city
* Savage, Mi ...
, and P-Money
Peter Wadams, better known by his stage name P-Money, is a New Zealand hip-hop DJ and producer. One of his best-known works is "Everything", featuring New Zealand R&B singer Vince Harder, which reached number one on the New Zealand Singles ...
.
References
{{Auckland
Auckland
Māori culture in Auckland
Polynesian-New Zealand culture in Auckland
Geography of Auckland