Bucklands Beach, New Zealand

Story

Bucklands Beach is a suburb east of Auckland's CBD in New Zealand. The suburb is in the Howick ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland Council.HistoryMaoriThis area of Auckland was populated by Māori of the Ngaitai iwi until the start of the Musket Wars (sometimes called the Potato Wars) which started in 1807. The old pa at Musick point was called Te Waiarohia and was used perhaps as far back as 1450. The last chief to command this pa was Te Rangi-Tauhia from about 1790. The old Maori name for Eastern Beach was Okokino; for big Bucklands Beach Te Komiti and for little Bucklands Beach Waio-otaiki. All these areas show signs of being used for Maori crops of kumara and bracken fern. These same areas had extensive hangi (earth oven) sites.The Auckland area came under regular attack by Taua or war parties from the Ngāpuhi iwi in Northland. In 1821 a large musket armed Ngapuhi war party devastated the eastern area of Auckland attacking Mokoia Pa at Panmure. By the 1830s many of the local Maori had been killed or enslaved by their deadly enemies to the north. In 1926 Geoff Fairfield, the great grandson of Alfred Buckland and a keen historian, drew a detailed scaled map of the Pa. The main isthmus of Auckland was also depopulated by Maori migrating south to avoid the regular carnage. The Tamaki River, to the west of Bucklands Beach, became a main highway for attacking Taua or those seeking revenge (utu) from previous attacks.