Blockhouse Bay

Story

Blockhouse Bay is a residential suburb of Auckland, in New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the northern coast of the Manukau Harbour, and is also close to the administrative boundary that existed between Auckland City and Waitakere, two of the former four cities of what was the Auckland conurbation before amalgmation into Auckland Council.The suburb is located 11 kilometres to the southwest of the city centre, and is surrounded by the more central suburbs of Lynfield and New Windsor, and the Waitakere suburbs of New Lynn and Green Bay.The Blockhouse Bay Library is located in the town centre, as is the Blockhouse Bay Community Centre, located 200 metres from the library.According to the 2013 census, Blockhouse Bay has a population of 6132.HistoryPortage Road is the location of one of the overland routes between the two harbours, where the Maori would beach their waka and drag them overland to the other coast, thus avoiding having to paddle around North Cape. This made the area of immense strategic importance in both pre-European times and during the early years of European occupation.