Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to

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. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts 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 ...

and is crossed by the

Auckland Harbour Bridge The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote on the North Shore side. It is part of State Highway 1 and th ...

. It is matched on the southern side of the city by the shallower waters of 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 ...

. With an area of , it connects the city's main port and the

Auckland waterfront The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming ...

to the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is sheltered from Pacific storms by Auckland's North Shore,

Rangitoto Island Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The wide island is a symmetrical shield volcano cone, reaching a height of . Rangitoto is the youngest and largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Au ...

, and

Waiheke Island Waiheke Island (; Māori: ) is the second-largest island (after Great Barrier Island) in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is from the central-city terminal in Auckland. It is the most pop ...

Etymology

The oldest

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 ...

name of the harbour was Te Whanga-nui o Toi (The Big Bay of Toi), named after Toi, an early Māori explorer. The name ''Waitematā'' means "Te Mata Waters", which according to some traditions refers to a mauri stone (a stone of Māori religious significance) called Te Mata, which was placed on

Boat Rock Boat Rock is a tiny sandstone island in the Waitematā Harbour of Auckland, New Zealand. Boat Rock is a vanishing island, which is submerged at high tide. Geology The rock is a piece of Waitemata Group sandstone exposed in the Waitematā Harb ...

(in the harbour south-west of Chatswood) by

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka''). A popular translation of ''Waitematā'' is "The Obsidian Waters", referring to

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

rock (''matā''). Another popular translation, derived from this, is "The Sparkling Waters", as the harbour waters were said to glint like the volcanic glass obsidian. However, this is incorrect, as grammatically ''Waitematā'' could not mean this.

Geography

The harbour is an arm of the Hauraki Gulf, extending west for eighteen kilometres from the end of the

Rangitoto Channel The Rangitoto Channel is one of several passes between the islands of the inner Hauraki Gulf, close to the mouth of the Waitematā Harbour to the east of Auckland in New Zealand. The channel is an important stretch of water as it is the only deep ...

. Its entrance is between North Head and

Bastion Point Takaparawhau / Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Ōrākei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitematā Harbour. The area is significant in New Zealand history as the site of protests in the late 1970s by Māori against forced la ...

in the south. The westernmost ends of the harbour extend past

Whenuapai Whenuapai is a suburb and aerodrome located in northwestern Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Waitematā Harbour, 15 kilometres to the northwest of Auckland's city centre. It is one of t ...

in the northwest, and to

Te Atatū Te Atatū (from the Māori : "the dawn") is the name of two adjacent suburbs in West Auckland, New Zealand: ''Te Atatū Peninsula'' and ''Te Atatū South''. They are located next to each other some 10 kilometres to the west of the Auckland city ...

in the west, as well as forming the estuarial arm known as the

Whau River The Whau River is an estuarial arm of the southwestern Waitemata Harbour (rather than a river) within the Auckland metropolitan area in New Zealand. It flows north for from its origin at the confluence of the Avondale Stream and Whau Stream to ...

in the southwest. The northern shore of the harbour consists of North Shore. North Shore suburbs located closest to the shoreline include

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, Northcote and Devonport (west to east). On the southern side of the harbour is

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 l ...

and the

, and coastal suburbs such as Mission Bay, Parnell,

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local governmen ...

and

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 ...

(east to west), the latter of which lies on a short triangular peninsula jutting into the harbour. The harbour is crossed at its narrowest point by the

. To the east of the bridge's southern end lie the marinas of Westhaven and the suburbs of

Freemans Bay Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hist ...

and the

Viaduct Basin Viaduct Harbour, formerly known as Viaduct Basin, is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront that has been turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a former ...

. Further east from these, and close to the harbour's entrance, lies the

Port 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 ...

. There are other wharves and ports within the harbour, notable among them the

Devonport Naval Base Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland's North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and has been in use as a navy base since 1841. The ba ...

, and the accompanying

Kauri Point Armament Depot The Defence Armament Depot, named the Kauri Point Armament Depot until 2010, is a New Zealand Defence Force munitions storage facility in the Auckland suburb of Chatswood which was originally built for the Royal New Zealand Navy. The Depot has ac ...

, and the

Chelsea Sugar Refinery New Zealand Sugar Company Limited is a long-established business and landmark in Birkenhead, New Zealand, Birkenhead, New Zealand, located on the northern shore of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. The company is also known colloquially as "Chels ...

wharf, all capable of taking ships over . Smaller wharves at Birkenhead, Beach Haven, Northcote, Devonport and West Harbour offer commuter ferry services to the

Geology

The harbour is a drowned valley system that was carved through

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

marine sediments of the

Waitemata Group The Waitemata Group is an Early Miocene geologic group that is exposed in and around the Auckland Region of New Zealand, between the Whangarei Harbour in the North and the Raglan Harbour in the South. The Group is predominantly composed of dee ...

. Recent volcanism in the Auckland volcanic field has also shaped the coast, most obviously at Devonport and the

Meola Reef Meola Reef, or in Māori ('toka'='rock', 'roa'='long'), is a lava flow forming a reef peninsula across part of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, New Zealand. The reef extends for over 2 kilometres across the harbour, to within 500 metres of Kauri ...

(a lava flow which almost spans the harbour), but also in the explosion craters of Orakei Basin and in western Shoal Bay. Over the last two million years, the harbour has cycled between periods of being a forested river valley and a flooded harbour. In periods of low sea level, a tributary ran from Milford into the Shoal Bay stream. This valley provided the harbour with a second entrance when sea levels rose, until the

Lake Pupuke Lake Pupuke (traditionally known in Māori as Pupukemoana) is a heart-shaped freshwater lake occupying a volcanic crater (or maar) between the suburbs of Takapuna and Milford on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The heart shape is a re ...

volcano plugged this gap. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were significantly lower, the river flowed north-east along the

, meeting the

Mahurangi River The Mahurangi River in northern New Zealand flows through the town of Warkworth and into Mahurangi Harbour, which opens into the outer Hauraki Gulf. The Left Branch of the river rises in the Dome and flows through the Dome Valley, while the Right ...

to the east of

Kawau Island Kawau Island is in the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana, close to the north-eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. At its closest point it lies off the coast of the Northland Peninsula, just south of Tāwharanui Peninsula, and about ...

. The resulting river flowed further north-east between modern day

Little Barrier Island Little Barrier Island, or Hauturu in Māori language (the official Māori title is ''Te Hauturu-o-Toi''), lies off the northeastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. Located to the north of Auckland, the island is separated from the mainla ...

and

Great Barrier Island Great Barrier Island ( mi, Aotea) lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson ...

, eventually emptying into the Pacific Ocean north of Great Barrier Island. The current shore is strongly influenced by tidal rivers, particularly in the west and north of the harbour. Mudflats covered by

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s flourish in these conditions, and

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es are also typical.

History

AucklandHarbourfromPonsonby Johnson (cropped)

Prior to European settlement, the harbour was the site of many

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 ...

pā and

kāinga A kāinga ( Southern Māori ''kaika'' or ''kaik'') is the traditional form of village habitation of pre-European Māori in New Zealand. It was unfortified or only lightly fortified, and over time became less important to the well-defended pā. ...

, including Kauri Point in Chatswood, Okā at Point Erin, Te Tō at

, Te Ngahuwera, Te Rerenga-oraiti at

Point Britomart Point Britomart ( mi, Te Rerenga Ora Iti) was a headland in the Waitematā Harbour, in Auckland (), New Zealand. Located between Commercial Bay and Official Bay,

, and

Ōrākei Ōrākei is a suburb of Auckland city, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on a peninsula five kilometres to the east of the city centre, on the shore of the Waitematā Harbour, which lies to the north, and Hobson Bay and Orakei ...

. Herald Island and Watchman Island were both settled by 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. The Waitematā Harbour was traditionally used as a fishery used by

for sharks and snapper. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, the waters were fished together by

Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

and

Ngāti Pāoa Ngāti Pāoa is a Māori people, Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) that has extensive links to the Hauraki and Waikato tribes of New Zealand. Its traditional lands stretch from the western side of the Hauraki Plains to Auckland. They also settled on Hauraki ...

. In traditional legend, the Waitematā Harbour is protected by a

taniwha In Māori mythology, taniwha () are large supernatural beings that live in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea, especially in places with dangerous currents or deceptive breakers (giant waves). They may be considered highly respected ...

named Ureia, who takes the form of a whale. The harbour has long been the main anchorage and port area for the Auckland region. Well-sheltered not only by the Hauraki Gulf itself but also by Rangitoto Island, the harbour offered good protection in almost all winds, and lacked dangerous shoals or major sand bars (like on the

) that would have made entry difficult. The harbour also proved a fertile area for encroaching development, with major land reclamation undertaken, especially along the

, within a few decades of the city's European founding. Taking the idea of the several Māori portage paths over the isthmus one step further, the creation of a canal that would link the Waitematā and Manukau harbours was considered in the early 1900s. Legislation (the Auckland and Manukau Canal Act 1908) was passed that would allow authorities to take privately owned land where it was deemed required for a canal. However, no serious work (or land take) was undertaken. The act was repealed on 1 November 2010.

Sewage contamination

While the harbour has numerous beaches popular for swimming, the older-style "combined sewers" in several surrounding western suburbs dump contaminated wastewater overflows into the harbour on approximately 52 heavy-rain days a year, leading to regular health warnings at popular swimming beaches, until the outfalls have dispersed again. A major new project, the

Central Interceptor The Central Interceptor is a sewerage infrastructure project in Auckland, New Zealand. The project is being undertaken by Watercare Services and involves boring a diameter wastewater pipe underneath the Auckland central isthmus, to carry wastewa ...

, starting 2019, is to reduce these outfalls by about 80% once completed around 2024. AucklandSkyline3Frames4v102

Demographics

The statistical area of Inlet Waitemata Harbour had a population of 84 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 60 people (250.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 63 people (300.0%) 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 no households. There were 60 males and 21 females, giving a sex ratio of 2.86 males per female. The median age was 25.5 years, with no people aged under 15 years, 54 (64.3%) aged 15 to 29, 21 (25.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 9 (10.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 50.0% European/Pākehā, 10.7% Māori, 3.6% Pacific peoples, 39.3% Asian, and no other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 57.1%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 39.3% had no religion, 50.0% were Christian, and 3.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 9 (10.7%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 3 (3.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $40,200. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 54 (64.3%) people were employed full-time, 6 (7.1%) were part-time, and 0 (0.0%) were unemployed.

References

External links

Photographs of Waitematā Harbour
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections
Photographs of Waitematā Harbour
held at

Auckland Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckla ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waitematā Harbour Ports and harbours of New Zealand Hauraki Gulf Geography of Auckland