Whau River

Story

The Whau River is an estuarial arm of the southwestern Waitemata Harbour (rather than a river) within the Auckland metropolitan area in New Zealand. It flows north for 5.7km from its origin at the confluence of the Avondale Stream and Whau Stream to its mouth between the Te Atatu peninsula and the long, thin Rosebank Peninsula in Avondale. It is 800m at its widest and 400m wide at its mouth.The estuary extends past the suburbs of Glendene and Kelston, between Auckland City to the east and Waitakere City to the west. It has one small estuarial tributary arm, the Wairau Creek in the southwest. The tide flows up the Wairau Creek as far as Sabulite Road in Kelston, and up the Rewarewa Creek to Clark Street and Wolverton Road in New Lynn. The area at the mouth of the estuary is legally protected as the Motu Manawa (Pollen Island) Marine Reserve.The Whau River is named after a native tree, the whau (Entelea arborescens).HistoryIn earlier times, Maori used the Whau for travel between the Waitemata Harbour (on the Pacific east coast) and the Manukau Harbour (on the Tasman west coast). They paddled canoes up the Whau River and the Avondale Stream and then carried the canoes over a short stretch of land to Green Bay on the Manukau. This is remembered in the name for Portage Road, which runs alongside the Avondale Stream, and it is known that seasonal Maori settlements existed at the mouth of the river. For many years after European settlement, there was talk of making a canal between the Whau and the Manukau. Plans for a 6900ft long canal, with a cutting up to 131ft deep, were made in 1907, but dismissed as too costly in 1921.