Grafton Gully is a deep (about 50 m) and very wide (about 100 m)

gully A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...

running northwards towards the sea through the volcanic hills 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 ...

in New Zealand. It divides the CBD from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in the east.

History

The Grafton Gully was formerly home to the Waipārūrū Stream, known to early European settlers as the Graveyard Spring. One of early Governors of New Zealand was

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

, whose grandfather was the third Duke of Grafton. The suburb that developed next to the Government Domain and Hospital was called Grafton. Eventually the adjoining gully became known as Grafton Gully although many people continued to call it Cemetery Gully for some years. Grafton Gully is crossed by

Grafton Bridge Grafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD and Karangahape Road with Grafton. It spans about 97.6 metres (320 feet), rises 25.6 metr ...

near its south end.

Symonds Street Cemetery Symonds Street Cemetery is a historic cemetery and park in central Auckland, New Zealand. It is in 5.8 hectares of deciduous forest on the western slope of Grafton Gully, by the corner of Symonds Street and Karangahape Road, and is crossed by th ...

lies on its western slope.

Usage

The gully is of the few areas in central Auckland that has not been claimed by buildings or for recreation (mostly due to the steepness of its sides), though prior to the construction of the motorway part of the gully was occupied by the

Blandford Park Blandford Park, in Auckland, New Zealand, was the home of association football in Auckland for much of the 20th century, and one of the country's main football grounds. Located in Grafton Gully, northeast of Grafton Bridge, roughly between the ...

sports facility until the mid-1960s. Large parts of the gully are still mostly covered with bush, though the bottom of the gully carries multiple motorway lanes of State Highways 16 into the city further north (such as to

Ports of Auckland Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...

). SH16 (Stanley Street) carried an average of 34,000 vehicles per day in 2003.The Project
(from the Grafton Gully project website at

Transit New Zealand Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

, retrieved 2007-07-28) The Grafton Gully motorway project included two stages (with a third planned for when future traffic reaches trigger levels) and was built for NZ$68 million during 2001-2003. In 2014 the

Grafton Gully Cycleway Grafton may refer to: Places Australia * Grafton, New South Wales Canada * Grafton, New Brunswick * Grafton, Nova Scotia * Grafton, Ontario England * Grafton, Cheshire * Grafton, Herefordshire *Grafton, North Yorkshire * Grafton, Oxfordshire ...

was opened through the gully to Beach Road with links to the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

campus areas in the eastern

Auckland CBD The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson. It is New Zealand's lea ...

References

{{coord, -36.858712, 174.766678, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Transport in Auckland Valleys of New Zealand Geography of Auckland Landforms of the Auckland Region

History

Usage

See also

References