Onehunga: Difference between revisions

For other uses, see Onehunga (disambiguation).

Onehunga
Suburb
Onehunga Mall from near the southern end.
Location of Onehunga in Auckland.
Country	New Zealand
City	Auckland City
Established	1840s-1850s (European)
Population  (????)
• Total	18,000
Train stations	Onehunga Train Station (to be reopened), Onehunga Wharf Train Station (possibly to be reopened)

Royal Oak	One Tree Hill	Oranga
Hillsborough	Onehunga	Te Papapa
(Manukau Harbour)	(Manukau Harbour), Mangere Bridge	(Manukau Harbour)

1859 map of Onehunga and nearby volcanoes.

Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie.

The residential and light-industrial suburb, with its approximately 18,000 residents and almost 1,000 commercial and industrial businesses, stretches south from Royal Oak to the north shore of the Manukau Harbour. To the east are the areas of Oranga and Te Papapa; to the west, Hillsborough. On the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and linked to Onehunga by two bridges is the suburb of Mangere Bridge. Secondary schools located conveniently are Penrose High School, Marcellin College and St Peter's College.

Geography

Onehunga is slightly unusual in that it has a substantial underground freshwater source, the Onehunga aquifer, which it owes to rainwater soaking through the lava flows around One Tree Hill. While most of drinking water of the Auckland area is drawn from reservoirs in the Hunua and Waitakere Ranges, around 5% is drawn from the Onehunga aquifier. The up to 20,000 m³ that are daily drawn from the source receive treatment in a local plant before being fed into the freshwater supply network. In contrast, while the waters of Western Springs also seep through the city's lava fields, they are no longer used as a source of drinking water.

The port area of Onehunga is now much smaller than Auckland's east coast port on the Waitemata Harbour, although in the 19th century it was the larger. The wharves are located on reclaimed land bordering a low volcanic crater called 'Hopua', once occupied by a tidal lagoon opening to the southwest, but which was also reclaimed.

History

Māori origins

The name Onehunga is Māori and probably means 'burial place', referring to the Māori burial caves in the area, probably among the lava flows issuing from One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie). However, an alternative possibly meaning is 'one' meaning 'beach' or 'sand' and 'hunga' meaning 'people', the word being pronounced 'Onehoonga' with soft 'g'. Onehunga was close to one of the richest areas of the Auckland Isthmus, and saw many battles in pre-European times.

Early European town

With the arrival of the Europeans, settlement of the Manukau Harbour area was begun from and long focused on Onehunga. Raiding of enemy settlements also occurred from here as a base during the Māori Wars. During the 19th century most shipping between New Zealand and Great Britain came via South Africa and Australia. While some shipping entered the Waitemata Harbour and docked at Auckland, much of it entered the Manukau Heads and docked at Onehunga, thus saving several days sailing around North Cape. Onehunga was also the main route south. Until 1908 the steamer from Onehunga was the fastest means of travel from Auckland to Wellington, the capital of the colony (direct until 1886, to New Plymouth, then by train onwards to Wellington until 1908).

In 1874 the town had 2,044 inhabitants, compared with Wellington's 10,547, reflecting the importance of the smaller port towns during an age when New Zealand was booming, but internal transport links were still rudimentary.

In 1893 Elizabeth Yates became mayor of Onehunga. While she was defeated at the polls only one year later, she was the first woman in the British Empire to hold such a post.

Merging with Auckland

Even with the increasing role of railways, Onehunga still retained an important role in southbound travel. From 1886 to 1908 the fastest route to Wellington was still by steamer from Onehunga to New Plymouth, then by the New Plymouth Express. In 1909 a typical coastal freight connection was a steamer from Onehunga to Raglan, Kawhia and Waitara, with passenger shipping declining after the North Island Main Trunk Railway connected all the way from Auckland to Wellington in 1908.

The decline was to a big part due to the treacherous shifting sandbars near the Manukau Heads and these, combined with the often heavy weather of the Tasman Sea, resulted in many shipwrecks over the years and terrible losses of life. Towards the turn of the century the relatively shallow depth of the Manukau also excluded the increasingly larger ships of the period. At the same time the completion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway meant a decline in shipping down the west coast of New Zealand, while faster international shipping reduced the West Coast advantage compared to the Waitemata Harbour side.

While in 1891 Onehunga was one of the "25 most populous urban areas/towns of New Zealand", with approximately 5,000 inhabitants, by the First World War it had ceased to be a port of any importance. It did pick up a new role as a shopping and service centre as it was engulfed by the suburban development of Auckland, and was amalgamated with Auckland City in 1989.

Onehunga had for a short time Auckland's first zoo. However, the zoological garden that John James Boyd created near today's Royal Oak did not meet with local approval - mainly due to concerns about the smells and crowds. Ten years after its 1912 opening, the animals were bought and transferred to the new Auckland Zoo at Western Springs.

The area was considered a poorer community during the second half of the 20th century, but has undergone some gentrification in the last decade as economic growth increased, and many of the villas in the area are now being restored.

The hit TV show Back Of The Y was filmed in 'Auckland's beautiful Onehunga'.

Transport

The Onehunga branch railway line opened in 1873 and was one of the first railways in New Zealand, built by the provincial government. Passenger services ran on the line for 100 years until April 1973. A limited number of freight services continued to use the line until 2006 when the line was mothballed. In late 2006 the Government announced that it has given approval for $10 million to be spent on reopening the line, expected to be for freight in 2008 and passengers in 2009. The Campaign for Better Transport is currently campaigning to have the line extended south across the proposed new SH20 Manukau Harbour second crossing bridge to Auckland International Airport.

Queen St, named after Queen Victoria and renamed Onehunga Mall in the early 1970s, led onto the 1920s Mangere Bridge and thence to the suburb of the same name. This was one of the main land routes south out of Auckland and the usual route to the airport until the motorway & regional road system in the 1970s diverted the through traffic away from the Onehunga and Mangere Bridge.

Notable buildings

• Former Post Office, 1902 John Campbell Government Architect. Princes Street & Onehunga Mall. One of the earliest examples of the work of this prolific architect.

• Anglican Church of St Peter, Onehunga Mall & Church Sts. The Selwyn church built in 1848 has been relocated, the existing building dates from the 1980s and incorporates a gothic revival tower from the 1930s. The churchyard contains the graves of many of Onehunga's early settlers.

• The Carnegie Free Library in Princes Street opened in 1912. It was one of several in New Zealand built with funds from the American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Its services were eventually absorbed into the public library system and the building has recently been renovated as a restaurant.

• Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption Church & Galway Streets 1889, Thomas Mahoney architect. Once standing in open countryside this is a handsome example of a masonry Gothic church. The cemetery contains the graves of may of Onehunga's early settlers.

• War Memorial Arch, Jellicoe Park, Quadrant Road & Grey Street. Opened in 1923 by the Governor General, Lord Jellicoe, Jellicoe Park is the site of Onehunga's Public Swimming Pools. Near the War Memorial Arch is located the splendid John Park Memorial Fountain which is illuminated on special occasions.

Also in Jellicoe Park is a collection of buildings illustrating the early history of the area:

• The Blockhouse 1859, a brick building relocated from Princes St.

• Journeys End a replica of a wooden 1850 house, relocated here in 1968,

• Laishley House 1859, relocated from Princes St in 1985,

• Selwyn St Settlers Cottage 1850.

Across Grey Street from the park is

• St Peter's Scout Den. This is the 1848 Selwyn Church, relocated here in 1980.

Nearby in Selwyn Street is

• The former Onehunga Primary School 1901, now a community centre this building has been recently restored.

• The former Onehunga railway station building, relocated to 38 Alfred Street, headquarters of the Railway Enthusiasts Society Inc.

See also

• Onehunga Branch
• Port of Onehunga

References

• The Lively Capital, Auckland 1840-1865. Una Platts. Avon Fine Prints Limited New Zealand 1971.
• Onehunga Art & Heritage Walks, Onehunga Mainstreet Programme 2003.

External links

• Onehunga timeline