The South Head district is located in the northern part of the
South Kaipara peninsula with the Tasman Sea and Rangatira beach
on the west and the sheltered waters of the harbour to the east.
Geologically young, the peninsula had its origins about two million
years ago when vast quantities of sand and ash from the volcanic
eruptions of the Taranaki area and the central North Island were
swept up the west coast. Rapidly increasing amounts of sand were
thrown up on to the beaches and blown inland forming a series of
dunes. These high coastal dunes became barrier arms between the
rocky promontories at Muriwai and Waipoua creating the Kaipara Harbour.
During the Ice Age sea levels fluctuated. At times, when it was
cold, the land stretched far out into the Tasman and the harbour
was replaced by forested river valleys. As the temperature warmed
7000 years ago sea levels rose and the harbour became the vast inland
waterway that we know today.
The series of small lakes in the dune hollows are called Nga Tapuwae
o Kawharu “the footprints of the famous ancestor Kawharu”.
In 1820 the missionary Samuel Marsden was taken on to the sandhills
behind Rewiti to Rangatira Beach and this is his journal description
of the scene:
“The sandhills are very high, and command a wide prospect
on the sea and in the interior. There is no vegetation upon them
and the sands shift with the contending winds. They are several
miles broad, and extend along the coast both to the left and to
the right as far as the eye can see.”
How surprised he would be if he could revisit the dunes with pine
forests as far as one can see.
It was the threat to the Helensville/Auckland railway that provided
the need for stabilisation, using a succession of marram planting
followed by pinus radiata. During the 1930s, relief workers lived
in camps along the peninsula’s dune boundaries. After WWII
the planting was continued up to the Waionui Inlet.
For Maori the rich resource of the South Kaipara peninsula provided
a favourable living environment. The visible and varied archaeological
landscape of South Head is a constant reminder of this more populous
Some Maori names are still used in the district and are a memory
of those lives.
The small bay near South Kaipara Head, Matahaorua, commemorates
Kupe’s canoe and was the site of Alfred Buckland’s 1885
wharf. Turi sailed around North Cape and brought his canoe, Aotea,
into the Kaipara to retie its lashing and he named the place now
called Shelly Beach after his canoe.
In the 14th century the Arawa chief, Kahumatamomoe, travelled to
the Kaipara to visit his nephew at Poutu. At a feast given by Taramainuku
he was so impressed with the cooked root of the fern, para, that
he gave the name Kai-para to the district. He and his party remained
in the area for some time probably living on the shores of the Waionui
Inlet. In recent years his Arawa descendants visited South Head
to commemorate the past.
In 1820 Samuel Marsden stayed at Te Kawau near the end of the
peninsula, and it was there that he was taken to the vantage point
at Okaka to assess the harbour’s potential for shipping.
At this time there was the threat of war parties raiding from the
north and the unease was apparent. He noticed canoe coming from
the north bringing pigs for safe keeping. These were the progenitors
of the large numbers on South head by the 1860s.
A few years later, after the disastrous battle at Te-Ika-a-Ranganui,
the once prosperous communities were decimated and many fled the
area. Other missionaries in the Kaipara held services for Maori
in their small chapels at Omokiti and other settlements.
In 1839 the New Zealand Company’s ship the Tory
made a perilous entry into the Kaipara, heralding far reaching change.
The worst incident was at the end of August 1841 when the Sophia
Pate floundered attempting to enter the Kaipara Harbour with
the loss of 21 years (Bryan Byrne pg 172
The Unknown Kaipara).
By the mid 1840s the increasing numbers of settlers arriving in
New Zealand created a demand for land. After negotiations Kaipara
Maori agreed to sell some of the South Head land. Surveys were authorised
and in 1858 the young surveyor S Percy Smith, was sent to the Kaipara.
He and his party worked with Maori to define boundaries and ownership
in the northern part of the peninsula and in time these were put
up for sale. Maori sold some blocks, leased others and retained
others, Te Kawau, Omokoiti, Paihawanui, Aotea, Otakanini.
Otakanini has never been sold and now, running from the shores
of the Kaipara to the Tasman Sea, it is the largest farm on the
At the same time the Government was being pressured to establish
a pilot station. Unable to buy land at Poutu, the decision was made
to build on the most northerly block, Okaka. The South Head Pilot
Station was commissioned in 1865 overlooking, but distant from,
the harbour entrance. Ten years later, when Poutu land became available,
it was moved to this more practical site.
While the northern blocks were large, those at Mairetahi were smaller
providing for more intensive settlement in area with easy access
to the sea at the Mairetahi creek mouth. Occupations were varied.
There were gum diggers, men like Shine and Potts, who worked the
kauri gum reserves (KGR). Others grew grapes, cut firewood, grew
flowers as well as having a few animals.
In the past the peninsula had bush clad gullies, coastal forest,
kanuka shrubland, fern and native grasses. The Ototoa bush reserve
from the lake across the South Head Road toward the harbour is vulnerable
to the effects of feral deer and pigs and possum. Little remains
of the shrublands, except on roadsides and along coastal cliffs,
that were characterised by plants like manuka, kumerahou, mingimingi
and Dracphyllum sinclairii. It was this relatively open land that
made it suitable for grazing.
In 1865 Daniel Pollen and William Young became the first European
farmers on the peninsula when they took up a depasturing lease.
Cattle were driven up Rangatira Beach and roamed the unfenced land
until the mid 1870s. At that time there was a change in the partnership
and Alfred Buckland, a farmer and founder of the stock and station
business of Alfred Buckland & Sons Ltd, and with interests in
coastal shipping, took over the Pollen’s share.
Farm development began. Land was cleared, ploughed and a mix of
new grasses introduced and by 1886 it was running 500 head of cattle,
50 horses including Clydesdales and over 3000 sheep.
The work was hard and the small communities based at Ototoa and
at Okaka were self sufficient. It was the era of horses and bullock
teams, boats and barges. The sea and Rangatira were their means
South of the Bucklands and adjoining them at Lake Kereta was Judge
F D Fenton’s property Crosland.
In the early 1900s James McLeod established a tramway in Karukaruhui
swamp as a part of his thriving flax cutting business centred in
surrounding swamps and streams.
By the end of the century rabbits were in plague proportions. Rabbit
fences were built from the sandhills to the harbour. Men were employed
solely for rabbit control and thousands were killed.
Pigs and deer also increased rapidly and feral populations roamed
free. Pigs were eradicated in the 1920s but reintroduced again in
Late in 1880s fallow deer were released and number monitored by
the Acclimatisation Society, but by the 1920s they had increased
to the extent that they were becoming pests.
In the 1970s, when Roy Monk found feral deer outnumbered his cattle
on his property, he obtained a licence and fenced hundreds in to
become the first deer farmer at South Head. Many followed and a
processing plant was built at Waioneke.
Possum, another pest, were first seen at the northern end of the
peninsula in the late 1930s and at first were just regarded as a
curiosity. However, it soon became apparent that with the population
explosion they were devastating our native bush, and, at South Head,
were carrying the disease TB and infecting cattle and deer. Very
successful control methods have been taken by the Regional Council’s
ongoing possum eradication program and by farm testing of cattle
As the years went by the road gradually improved and as South Head
became more accessible more people moved to the district. Land was
subdivided and dairy farms established.
In 1930 Mrs Rita Sanson started a school in her home at Waioneke.
A few years later a site nearby was bought and the first building
of the present school was built. For many years this was the hub
of the district for social occasions, for tennis, and during WWII
it was the Home Guard training ground.
After the end of WWII returned servicemen were settled on newly
developed “rehab” farms at Crosland Block, round Ototoa
and further out at Te Kawau. A few were sheep and cattle properties,
but most were dairy units.
With a much larger community, better facilities were needed and
the locals banded together and built the community hall on Donohue
Road. This then became the focal point for church services, meetings,
dances and games. Badminton and indoor bowls were popular. In the
1960s the McMurdos built a small golf course on their property.
It was a great success. Later land was bought across the road and
South Head golf course is now a thriving club.
With its backdrop of huge old pohutakawa trees, Shelly Beach is
a popular recreational beach with a wharf and boat launching, a
shop and the headquarters of the local fire brigade.
In 1884/85 Aotea, as it was formerly called, was the venue for
an important meeting between Ngati Whatua and King Tawhiao of the
Waikato. The issue was whether or not the local people should join
the King movement. After much discussion they did not. At this meeting
the Council Hall, Te Tiriti, was opened and a four sided memorial
with a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi set under glass on two sides
was erected with Government funds. It was surmounted by a likeness
of Queen Victoria. It stood there for many years and was regarded
with great reverence by Maori. Later the buildings and memorial
were barged to Batley near Maungaturoto.
Gradually the South Head Road improved and as it did more people
moved into the district, bringing with them a wealth of new skills.
There has been diversification into goats and alpaca, into semi
tropical fruit like macadamia and avocado, persimmon and tamarillo.
Beautiful gardens often open to the public. With farm stays, horse
trekking, and multisports in the forestry a wide range of recreational
opportunities are opening up. There is an ever increasing diversity
- A Field to Auckland – Exploring the Region’s Natural
and Historic Heritage by Ewen Cameron,
Bryce Hayward and Graeme Murdoch
- Men Came Voyaging by Colleen Sheffield
- The Unknown Kaipara by Bryan Byrne