Ōrākei is a suburb 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 ...
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
Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, 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 easter ...
, which lies to the north, and Hobson Bay and
Orakei Basin, two arms of the Waitematā, which lie to the west and south. To the east is the suburb of
Mission Bay. The mouth of the Waitematā is to the immediate north of Ōrākei, lying between
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 Ōrākei, and
North Head, in Devonport on the North Shore.
Overview
The New Zealand
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government on ...
gives a translation of "place of adornment" for Ōrākei.
Ōrākei is home to some of Auckland's most expensive real estate. House prices on Paritai Drive street start at $3m and range to $12m. The local secondary school is
Selwyn College.
Bastion Point is the location of the Savage Memorial, the tomb and memorial garden for
Michael Joseph Savage
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940.
Savage was born in the Colony ...
, the first
Labour Party prime minister of New Zealand
The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017.
The prime minister (inform ...
and one of the country's most popular prime ministers, who died in office in 1940. This magnificent Art Deco ensemble by
Tibor Donner
Tibor Donner (19 September 1907 – 11 March 1993) was Chief Architect for the Auckland City Council from 1947-1967.
Personal life
Tibor Karoly Donner was born in Szabadka, Austria-Hungary (now known as Subotica and part of Serbia), on 19 Septe ...
and Anthony Bartlett was officially opened in March 1943 and affords remarkable views of the Waitemata Harbour.
History
Ōrākei was the first location where the
New Zealand Flying School
The New Zealand Flying School was formed in 1915, by the Walsh Brothers, Leo and Vivian, to train pilots for the Royal Flying Corps. The school flew a fleet of home-built and imported flying boats from Mission Bay on Auckland's Waitemata Harbo ...
operated from between October and November 1915, before moving to
Mission Bay, and a permanent location at
Kohimarama
Kohimarama is a coastal residential Auckland suburb, located to the east of the city. Kohimarama is situated between Mission Bay and St Heliers and has an accessible beach with a boardwalk and green recreational spaces located amongst resident ...
in 1916.
In 1936-37
John A. Lee
John Alfred Alexander Lee (31 October 1891 – 13 June 1982) was a New Zealand politician and writer. He is one of the more prominent avowed socialism in New Zealand, socialists in New Zealand's political history.
Lee was elected as a me ...
proposed to evict the 120 Māori living in the foreshore pa at
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 ...
and to include the land in the proposed Ōrākei state housing scheme; the proposal (seen as using Māori land as a park ''for white children'') attracted many local objections (including
Robin Hyde
Robin Hyde, the pseudonym used by Iris Guiver Wilkinson (19 January 1906 – 23 August 1939), was a South African-born New Zealand poet, journalist and novelist.
Early life
Wilkinson was born in Cape Town to an English father and an Australia ...
in ''No More Dancing at Orakei'') and was reversed by Prime Minister
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 ...
on his return from overseas.
Again, the suburb achieved national attention in 1977 when
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 ...
protestors occupied vacant land at Bastion Point, which had formerly belonged to the
Ngāti Whātua
Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te ...
iwi
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 ...
but had been acquired cheaply for public works (defence) in the 1880s. Members of the tribe occupied the land and demanded its return. The land was largely returned to the iwi after a long and not entirely bloodless occupation.
Demographics
Ōrākei, comprising the statistical areas of Ōrākei West and Ōrākei East, had a population of 5,625 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 150 people (2.7%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 273 people (5.1%) 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 2,073 households. There were 2,676 males and 2,946 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female, with 909 people (16.2%) aged under 15 years, 1,089 (19.4%) aged 15 to 29, 2,673 (47.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 954 (17.0%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 70.3% European/Pākehā, 18.8% Māori, 6.9% Pacific peoples, 13.9% Asian, and 3.6% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).
The proportion of people born overseas was 30.4%, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people objected to giving their religion, 45.9% had no religion, 37.8% were Christian, and 10.4% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 1,890 (40.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 450 (9.5%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,394 (50.8%) people were employed full-time, 663 (14.1%) were part-time, and 189 (4.0%) were unemployed.
Education
Ōrākei School is a full primary school (years 1–8) with a roll of .
St Joseph's School is a state-integrated Catholic full primary school (years 1–8) with a roll of .
Both schools are coeducational. Rolls are as of
Marae
Ōrākei Marae and its Tumutumuwhenua meeting house is a traditional tribal meeting ground for the
iwi
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 ...
of
Ngāti Whātua
Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te ...
and
Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori culture, Māori society. In Māori-language, Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and ...
, and their
hapū
In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...
of
Ngā Oho
Ngā Oho, also known as Ngā Ohomatakamokamo-o-Ohomairangi, is the name of a historical iwi (tribe) of Māori who settled in the Auckland Region. In the 17th century, Ngā Oho and two other tribes of shared heritage, Ngā Riki and Ngā Iwi, form ...
,
Te Taoū
Te Taoū is a Māori iwi (tribe) of Northland and the Auckland Region in New Zealand. Together with Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei, it comprises the iwi (tribe) of Ngāti Whātua. The four iwi can act together or separately ...
and
Te Uri.
In the 1940s, the Ōrākei Pa was one of the last places where traditional pre-European
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 ...
cultivars (either hutihuti or rekamaroa) were grown.
See also
*
Orakei Train Station
References
* ''Colonial Architecture in New Zealand''. John Stacpoole. A.H & A.W Reed 1976
* ''Decently And in Order, The Centennial History of the Auckland City Council''. G.W.A Bush. Collins 1971.
External links
Photographs of Orakeiheld in
Auckland Libraries' heritage collections.
{{coord, 36, 51, 11, S, 174, 48, 41, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Suburbs of Auckland
Populated places around the Waitematā Harbour
Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei