Part Four
Buried Under the Tarmac: The ‘Pre-History’ of Auckland International Airport, c.1350-1960.
by Alexandru Cotos*
In 1955, the southern end of Māngere was chosen to be the site of Auckland’s international airport. The location was considered ideal for aviation and for construction, as the area was naturally flat, with plenty of volcanic rock and topsoil available for reclaiming the runway. Seventy years later, Auckland International Airport has endured as New Zealand’s main airport, handling millions of people, dollars, and shipments yearly. As a practical space, Auckland Airport seems disconnected from concerns around heritage or history, yet every place has a history. This begs the question, what is the history of the airport site, what was there before, and what was lost?
The Early History of the Airport Site
The story of the southern end of Māngere begins, like most of Tāmaki Makaurau, with violent volcanic activity. This activity formed three volcanic cones and made the soil of the area rich for cultivation. The volcanoes are associated with Mataaho, a deity whose actions formed much of Tāmaki’s landscape. Over time, different groups inhabited the area, building elaborate gardens throughout the peninsula and pā on the maunga. While largely removed by later European settlers, some of these gardens are still visible in the Ōtuataua Stonefields just a few kilometres away from the Airport. These stonefields were used to incubate crops like kumara, which needed warmth to grow in Aotearoa’s cooler climate. The surrounding waters were also bountiful with sea life along with the rich gardens. In addition, the geography of lower Māngere was ideal for Māori watercraft, with creeks like Pūkaki offering easy movement and access to vital waterways like the Ōtāhuhu portage.
Caption: Cropped section of a map from 1859 showing volcanic activity in the Tāmaki Makaurau region, outlining the three volcano cones of lower Māngere. Reference: ‘The istmus of Auckland with its extinct volcanoes by Dr Ferdinand von Hochstetter 1859’, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Map 5694b.
Te Ākitai Waiohua, an iwi descending from the Tainui waka, occupied the area for the longest time, settling in the mid-1400s until being displaced by the Musket Wars in the 1820s. The raids from Nga Puhi forced them south to Waikato, where they enjoyed the protection of Te Wherowhero. The displacement was temporary, as they returned by the mid-1830s and restored their farms and homes. After this unrest, Te Ākitai Waiohua and other groups also had increasing contact with Pākehā. Part of this included the beginning of negotiations over Pākehā land use. Small numbers of settlers began to move to the region, such as Marmaduke Nixon, who lived on the site that is now Mānawa Bay Mall. Te Ākitai Waiohua and several other regional hapū negotiated with settlers Thomas Maxwell and James Moncur to allow them to use the land, including what is now the Auckland Airport, called the Waimai Block. From the start, this purchase was already marred in controversy, as the buying settlers were expecting a European-style land purchase, selling a list of goods, including clothing and tools, in exchange for 2000 acres of land. In contrast, Te Ākitai Waiohua, with limited experience dealing with Europeans at this stage, expected the purchase to function as a reciprocal agreement to allow Maxwell, Moncur, and their descendants to use the land rather than own it. Nonetheless, the exchange was made on 22 January 1840.
Caption: A list of items traded in the initial Waimai Block purchase, signed by rangatira, including Te Ākitai Waiohua Rangatira Īhaka Takaanini in 1840. Reference: Henry Turton, Māori Deeds of Old Private Land Purchases in New Zealand, From the Year 1815 to 1840, with Pre-Emptive and Other Claims, Wellington, 1888, pp.337.
By late 1840, the newly minted Crown established the Land Claim Commission, which investigated the validity of land purchases before the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Land Claim Commission worked under the modus operandi that any sales to private individuals effectively ended the Māori ownership, meaning the Crown could determine what was to be done with excess land. In 1845, they found the Waimai block to be too large, and with Thomas Maxwell now deceased in a shipwreck, the Commission split Waimai into three, with the area that is now the Auckland Airport going to Thomas Shipherd.
Caption: Map showing the Land Claim Commission’s rulings on two purchases involving Īhaka Takaanini, deeming the majority of lands sold as surplus taken by the Crown and then given to settlers. The Waimai surplus was split between military men Marmaduke Nixon, William Field Porter, and Thomas Shipherd. Reference: Te Ākitai Waiohua Settlement Trust and The Crown, Deed of Settlement of Historical Claims, 2021, p.15.
Settler life between Te Tiriti and the invasion of Waikato was heavily reliant on nearby Māori. The rich soils of the area adapted well to European crops, and Māori in the Ihumātao area quickly became the breadbasket for local settlers. For instance, settlers like Nixon and Henry Weekes received generous help from the Māori at Ihumātao and Pūkaki. Nixon’s home and farms were built by his Pūkaki neighbours, and he bought food and supplies from them regularly. Pākehā settlements in this period were few and far between. As William Westney described, most of the area was fern and flax, with the odd house connected by a clay track.
Caption: Map by Colonel Marmaduke Nixon in the early 1860s showing the owners of different land in Māngere. Areas shaded in red are owned by settler families labelled with their surnames. Areas shaded in purple are Māori-owned, and unshaded areas had uncertain ownership. The future airport is labelled ‘Shipherd’. Reference: Marmaduke Nixon, ‘Map showing sections and Native land on Manukau Harbour’, 1860-1863, MapColl-832.12gbbd/[186-]/Acc.427. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
The coexistence of Pākehā and Māori in lower Māngere did not last long. In May 1857, a large hui was called at Ihumātao in part to honour the late rangatira Ēpiha Pūtini, with the additional purpose of discussing the future of Māori. At this meeting, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was asked to become the Māori King, beginning the Kīngitanga movement. Governor Grey distrusted the Kīngitanga and began to prepare for war. This came to a head in July 1863, when Grey ordered all Māori in the region to either pledge themselves to Queen Victoria or be exiled to Waikato. Given this choice, most Māori left for Waikato as their loyalties stayed with Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, who had been their protector. According to the testimony of settler Stephen Westney, only fifteen Māori remained, while the rest were forced to leave all belongings behind and march behind the colonial army to Waikato. Following the war, the Crown confiscated much of the Māori land in Māngere and Pūkaki, arguing that the refusal of the July 1863 ultimatum was an act of rebellion against the Crown. These lands were then sold by the Crown to various Pākehā families, and much of the landscape was transformed into farms.
Caption: Ihumātao area viewed from across the Pūkaki Creek. Auckland Airport is now on the left-hand side, and the hut in the centre is likely Nixon’s. Reference: John Johnson, ‘Manukau Heads from the back of pa at Pūkaki’, 1853, Auckland War Memorial Museum Documentary Heritage Collection, PD-1963-8-40.
Caption: Proclamation declaring that Māori in the Manukau area must pledge allegiance to Queen Victoria over the Kīngitanga or be forcibly evicted. Proclamation requiring Māori to take an Oath of Allegiance, 9 July 1863’, Archives New Zealand, MA 1/1863/186 (Box 835).
The Lost Neighbourhood of Watea
After the war, the land that is now Auckland Airport was primarily owned by Thomas Shipherd. Over the next few decades, the land switched hands a few times. With each successive sale, the price increased until 1919, when William Peacock bought the land for £18,580. Peacock subdivided the bottom portion of his land into a new residential neighbourhood. A new road was built outlining the coastline to create the new neighbourhood. Initially named Ihumātao Parade, this road was then surrounded by 120 new subdivided sections. By late 1927, the new neighbourhood was named the Manukau Beach Estate, and the lots went up for auction by the firm T. Mandeno Jackson.
Caption: Advertisement for lots in the Manukau Beach Estate. Reference: ‘Manukau Beach Estate’, 1927, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Map 25376A.
Those who purchased lots in this new division tended to purchase two in one go. Typically, a younger couple would purchase two lots, build a batch house on one, and leave the other empty. This was with the intention that when said couple retired, they could move into the bach and use the empty lot for cattle, vegetables, or an orchard. The area came to be known as Watea, the Te Reo Māori word for an open space. Watea was an appropriate name, not only for the emptiness of the area before the baches but for the lack of services. At this time, most inhabitants did not have cars, making the nearest town centre in Onehunga a long way away. By all accounts, Watea was self-made and self-reliant. Baches and homes were built by their occupants on the weekends and extended as families grew. Homeowners had to use their own rainwater tanks, raise their own cows, and process food on their own.
Watea was also a place of recreation. The beach was a popular swimming and boating site, with calm and shallow waters advertised as idyllic for children. Additionally, the area was an ideal pipi bed, with the Auckland Star naming it one of the best in the country. People from all over Auckland would come to Watea’s beach to relax, swim, or go boating. The neighbouring Māngere Aerodrome also had a range of recreational activities. Aucklanders could come to various dances and air pageants, play golf, and, of course, fly planes (see previous article, ‘Getting Our Wings: Early Airports in Auckland, 1911-1945’). People could take flying lessons or be piloted on tours around Auckland. Interestingly, the land that was the Aero Club’s golf course is still used for golf by JK’s World of Golf, while the other half is now Mānawa Bay Mall.
Caption: Cartoons from an Auckland Aero Club Pamphlet advertising the range of activities available at the Aerodrome. Reference: MNP MS 026 Box 16 Item 22 Scrapbook – ‘All Aero Club Members do not fly’ Auckland Aero Club.
Caption: A busy day at Watea beach, taken just a year before the area was shut to the public. Reference: Penman, Trevor, ‘Cars on the beach, Māngere, 1950s’, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Footprints 04459.
The Costs of the Airport
From the period after the Second World War, the Government began to eye southern Māngere up as a proper airport site, as discussed in my previous article. In 1949, the Ministry of Works investigated the site, sending workers to test the soil and weather. In October 1949, men from the Public Works Department made the rounds to farmers in the proposed airport area to survey the site. These visits terrified the local farmers, such as Gordon Kirkbride, who feared the airport construction would disrupt their farms and uproot them from their homes. Kirkbride and his neighbour Hugh Lambie flew to Wellington in an attempt to negotiate with the Labour Minister of Aviation Fred Jones and Battle of Britain veteran turned airport planner Sir Keith Park. These meetings were not fruitful, and they confirmed both farmers’ fears as they received what appeared as empty sympathies and promises that they would find good land elsewhere.
Caption: Map of the original proposed Auckland Airport runway, which would have almost completely covered Kirkbride’s farm. Reference: Wright, J., ‘Some Problems Associated with the Siting of an Airport for Auckland’ in NZ Engineer, July 1955, p.211.
This spurred Kirkbride, Lambie, and the other families impacted by the proposed airport to band together and form the Airport Protection Society to have the airport site changed. In the end, the Society did not do much, and the funds raised by each neighbour remained unused in a savings account. This was, in large part because the 1949 election brought in the sympathetic National Party, who opted to change the design so that most of the proposed runway was in the Manukau harbour, the design that stands today. The savings account was emptied in the 1990s, with its proceeds plus accrued interest donated to Middlemore Hospital.
Caption: A comic criticising the proposed Māngere site for interfering with local farmers. Reference: Auckland Star, 25 June, 1949, p.2.
In 1956, the Government made its first moves to buy up the properties of Watea. Over the next four years, families slowly trickled out of Watea until the last left in January 1960. Many of these families moved into the newly developed neighbourhoods at Māngere Bridge, keeping close to their former homes. Some of the newer homes of the estate were moved just outside of the airport site for construction staff and their families to live in. This temporary community, too, faded with the completion of the project.
Caption: Photo of demolished homes in Watea to make way for the airport. The Ministry of Works commissioned local photographer Trevor Penman to document the journey of the airport, with his collection spanning from the final days of Watea to the opening of the airport seven years later. Reference: Penman, Trevor, ‘Demolished houses, Māngere, 1961’, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Footprints 04463.
The estate was not the only feature bulldozed to make way for the airport. The reclamation of 64 hectares required 250,000 cubic metres of topsoil. This was sourced from the local area, which was flattened for its dirt, as well as to make landing easier. Reclamation is an intense process. It first required the construction of a stone wall around the perimeter. The stones for this runway were quarried from the Ōtuataua Volcano cone, which, at that point, was named Quarry Hill. Before colonisation, Ōtuataua was one of many pā sites. Today, Ōtuataua is completely quarried, standing as a crater in the ground, rather than the 64-metre-tall mountain that once was.
Caption: Ōtuataua Volcano during quarrying, 1964. Reference: Volcanos Ōtuataua and Puketapapa, Māngere, Auckland WA-62288-G 30 Jun 1964 Whites Aviation Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.
The airport’s development also greatly impacted Te Ākitai Waiohua members, who moved back into the Pūkaki area in the 1890s. A new Pūkaki Marae was built, and up to 200 families lived in the area until the late 1950s. With the arrival of Auckland Airport, authorities began to deny permits for renovations or new builds in the Pūkaki area, as it was on the flight path for a proposed second runway. As more of the buildings encountered issues, many members of the iwi left the area. Along with these restrictions, members of Te Ākitai Waiohua allege through Wai 8, the Manukau Claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, that the environmental impacts of the airport have made it impossible to harvest seafood in the Pūkaki Creek and surrounding areas. The pipi beds are closed off to the public, boats are banned from the area, and sewerage from the airport, including fuel spills, was found to significantly reduce the ability of Te Ākitai Waiohua to access a traditional source of food. Fortunately, the proposed second runway project was moved, freeing up the Pūkaki Marae to develop housing for members.
The arrival of Auckland Airport is a stark reminder that nothing lasts forever. It required the demolition of an entire neighbourhood, the desecration of a sacred site, and the destruction of endless habitats in the Manukau Harbour. These all speak to how Auckland is a place of change and the consequences of growth over time. Interestingly, Auckland Airport may join the Ōtuataua cone, and Watea ranks in the coming decades. Sitting on reclaimed, low-laying land may prove risky as extreme weather events and coastal flooding become increasingly more likely. During the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend Floods, Auckland Airport experienced severe inundations that grounded many flights and left many travellers stranded. Could this flooding be a precursor of what is to come?
Caption: Map from a flooding risk assessment report showing that much of Auckland Airport is vulnerable to flooding events. Reference: Auckland Council, ‘Shoreline Adaptation Plan: Manukau Harbour East’, April 2024, p.7.