Te Rau Pūriri Regional Park is a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

situated in the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is owned and operated by Auckland Council.

Geography

The regional park is located on the east coast of the

Te Korowai-o-Te-Tonga Peninsula Te Korowai-o-Te-Tonga Peninsula, also known as South Head and by its former name of the South Kaipara Peninsula, is a long peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand, extending north along the western edge of the Kaipara Harbour for some from ...

(also known as Kaipara South Head). Primarily run as a working farm, the area has patches of introduced trees such as ''

Eucalyptus botryoides ''Eucalyptus botryoides'', commonly known as the bangalay, bastard jarrah, woollybutt or southern mahogany, is a small to tall tree native to southeastern Australia. Reaching up to high, it has rough bark on its trunk and branches. It is found ...

'' and ''

Populus deltoides ''Populus deltoides'', the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States as well as the southern Canadian prairies, the southernmo ...

'', with sections of regenerating kanuka and

rewarewa ''Knightia excelsa'', commonly called rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand's North Island and Marlborough Sounds (41° S) and the type species for the genus ''Knightia''. ...

forest to the north, and coastal

pūriri ''Vitex lucens'', or pūriri, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. History Pūriri was first collected (by Europeans) at Tolaga Bay by Banks and Solander during Cook's first visit in 1769. The plant was excellently described by Solan ...

forest to the east. To the south of the regional park is the Wairotoroto wetland.

History

The land the modern park is located on was purchased by Auckland politician

Daniel Pollen Daniel Pollen (2 June 181318 May 1896) was a New Zealand politician who became the ninth premier of New Zealand, serving from 6 July 1875 to 15 February 1876. Early life The son of Hugh Pollen, a dock master, Pollen was born in Ringsend, Dublin ...

in 1870, alongside a local farmer, William Young. In 1882, the pair sold the land to

Alfred Buckland Alfred Buckland (17 December 1825 – 12 June 1903) was a New Zealand landowner, auctioneer, farmer, pastoralist and businessman. His house, Highwic, is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure, with registration number 1 ...

, who developed it as a part of his cattle run found on most of the peninsula. The cattle run was subdivided into individual farms in the 1920s, and the future park land was primarily used for running deer. The land was purchased by the Auckland Regional Council and

Rodney District Rodney District was a local government area in the northernmost part of New Zealand's Auckland Region from 1989 to 2010. It included Kawau Island. It was created from the amalgamation of Helensville Borough and Rodney County in 1989. The seat ...

councils in 2006, who developed the area as a regional park. Te Rau Pūriri is not a traditional name, instead was a name gifted by the elders of Haranui Marae, who named the park after the regenerating coastal

forest.

References

Rodney Local Board Area Parks in the Auckland Region Regional parks of New Zealand Tourist attractions in the Auckland Region {{Auckland-geo-stub