Te Atatū Peninsula

The destruction of the Henderson Brick and Tile Syndicate chimney in 1920

The peninsula is within the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki, and has traditional significance to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.[3] During pre-European times, there were two Te Kawerau ā Maki kāinga at the mouth of Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek on the peninsula, known as Ōrukuwai and Ōrangihina, named after ancestors Rukuwai and Rangihina.[6][7] Rangihina was the wife of Te Au o Te Whenua, a prominent paramount chief of Te Kawerau ā Maki.[3] To the south-east of the peninsula is Te Tōanga Waka, the Whau River portage, which allowed canoes to pass between the Waitematā Harbour and the Manukau Harbour.[8][3]

Thomas Henderson, a Scottish immigrant who purchased land from Ngati Whatua in 1844, and established a timber mill on the banks of Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek circa 1847 (at the modern suburb of Henderson) to process kauri logs.[9] Te Atatū Peninsula was known as Henderson Point during this period.[10]

In the 1880s, Te Atatū Peninsula was cleared of vegetation, and developed into farmland.[3] The north-western side of the peninsula was a site where Māori farmers grew potatoes, kūmara (sweet potatoes), and dug for kauri gum during the 19th century.[11] The rua (storage pits) made by the farmers for potatoes gave rise to the name "The Pits", a colloquial name given to the peninsula by European settlers.[11]

On 12 March 1894, Henderson Point was subdivided and sold as the Henderson Mill Estate.[10] Many of the purchasers of the land parcels were the Māori families who had lived in the area.[10] In the early 1900s, the area was renamed Te Atatū ("the dawn") by Reverend Thomas Jackson Bennett (father of Frederick Bennett), referencing the morning sunrise views of the Waitematā Harbour seen from the peninsula.[6][12] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Te Atatū was the location of two brick and pottery yards adjacent to Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek and one on the Whau River, however the major brick industries in West Auckland were located to the south, closer to New Lynn.[13] The Henderson Brick and Tile Syndicate operated between 1903 and 1912 at end of Wharf Road, and produced distinctive bricks with backwards "S" design.[14] The other brickworks on the peninsula were Hartshorn Brickworks (1895–1917) and the Auckland Brick and Tile Company on the Whau River (1884–1886).[14]

After the closure of the brickworks, the peninsula was primarily used as farmland, producing dairy, pigs, poultry and fruit from small orchards for the city of Auckland.[15] During World War II, gun emplacements were installed on the eastern side of the peninsula, to protect the RNZAF Base Auckland at Hobsonville from attack.[16]

Aerial view of Te Atatū in 1951, prior to the construction of the Northwestern Motorway

During the 1940s, the Auckland Harbour Board proposed that a new port be constructed in the central Waitematā Harbour, to relieve pressure from the Port of Auckland. In the early 1950s under the Public Works Act, the board acquired Motumānawa / Pollen Island, and 162 hectares of eastern Te Atatū.[16] During the same period, the construction of the Northwestern Motorway led to suburban development of the peninsula,[17] beginning with the Ramlea Park Estate, which was constructed in the early 1950s on the former farm of John Thomas.[18] The motorway split the peninsula into two areas: Te Atatū North (now known as Te Atatū Peninsula) and Te Atatū South.[18]

The population of the area boomed, as the area was seen as inexpensive and accessible to the rest of Auckland.[15] The peninsula was split into two major areas: the west, which became suburban housing, and the east, which was land earmarked for industrial land and the development of the port.[19] Between 1945 and 1960, Te Atatū was the second fastest growing area in Auckland. During this period, the area gained the nickname Nappy Valley, referring to the large number of young families who settled in the area.[19] The new working class suburb was a popular place for Urban Māori, Pākehā and Pasifika families, however the area had poor infrastructure to serve the area's new inhabitants.[19] Low and medium-income housing continued to be built on the peninsula during the 1960s and 1970s.[17]

In the late 1960s, Te Atatū Peninsula was the proposed site for Auckland Thermal No. 1, a large gas-fired power plant that was intended to make the Auckland power grid more resilient. There was wide-scale opposition to the plan, with over 1,000 people present at a meeting at Te Atatū Intermediate School in 1973, after which Prime Minister Norman Kirk announced that the project would be abandoned.[20]

In the early 1980s, the Auckland Harbour Board abandoned its plans for a port or industrial park on the peninsula.[20] This was formalised by an act of parliament, the Auckland Harbour Board and Waitemata City Council (Te Atatu) Empowering Act 1983, which freed up use of the land for non-industrial purposes.[21] In 1982, Leisureland (later known as the Footrot Flats Fun Park) opened, alongside other ventures such as the Te Atatu Grand Prix Minicar Park.[21] The mayor of Waitemata City, Tim Shadbolt, was a fan of the complex, and wanted the Waitemata City Council to further develop the peninsula into a major entertainment district in order to attract more rates for the council. This scheme included conference centres and Kiwidome, a proposed stadium adjacent to Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek.[22] Due to financial difficulties, the park stopped operating in 1989,[23] and was formally shut down by the Waitakere City Council in 1991.[24]

The name "Te Atatū Peninsula" was officially adopted by the New Zealand Geographic Board on 5 May 1994,[25] and was formally adopted by the Waitakere Council in 1997. "Te Atatu North" is still commonly used, particularly by older generations.

Te Atatū Peninsula saw a second major period of growth during the late 2010s, after changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan led to major intensive townhouse developments in the suburb.[26] In 2024, construction will begin on the Te Atatū busway station, a planned stop on the Northwestern Busway, connecting Westgate to the Auckland City Centre along the Northwestern Motorway.[27] An urban marae is planned to be developed at the Harbourview-Orangihina Park.[3][28] The Auckland Council plans to revegetate the Harbourview-Orangihina Park with native plants, and to create a network of walking and cycling paths along the western shores of the Whau River.[3]

• Cole, Grant (2015). "Peninsular Dreams". Te Atatu Me: Photographs of an Urban New Zealand Village. Auckland, New Zealand: Turner PhotoBooks and PhotoForum Inc. p. 152-171. ISBN 978-0-9597818-7-8.
• Flude, Anthony G. (2008). Henderson's Mill: a history of Henderson 1849-1939. West Auckland Historical Society. ISBN 9781877431210.
• Reidy, Jade (2009). "How the West Was Run". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). West: The History of Waitakere. Random House. pp. 237–256. ISBN 9781869790080.