Bucklands Beach
| Bucklands Beach | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Local authority | Auckland Council |
| Electoral ward | Howick |
| Population | 2,370 (2001) |
| Surrounds | |
| North | Musick Point |
| Northeast | Hauraki Gulf |
| East | Eastern Beach |
| Southeast | Eastern Beach |
| South | Highland Park, Howick |
| Southwest | Half Moon Bay |
| West | Tamaki River |
| Northwest | Tamaki River |
Bucklands Beach is a suburb 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of Auckland's CBD in New Zealand. The suburb is in the Howick ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland Council.
This 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.
In 1835 minor conflict had occurred in the area and threatened to erupt into full-scale war. William Thomas Fairburn, the CMS missionary, attempted to solve the issues for nearly a year. With the agreement of local Maori at a meeting at Puneke on the Tamaki River on 22 January 1836, he purchased the entire Bucklands Beach, Howick and Pakuranga area of 40,000 acres (160 km2). The price paid to 3 local chiefs was 10 blankets, 24 axes, 26 hoes, 14 spades, $80, 1,900 lb (860 kg) of tobacco, 24 cobs and 12 plane irons. The value of the goods was about 907 pounds and 17 shillings and 6 pence. The 3 hapu who sold the land were Ngatitawaki, Urikaraka and Matekiwaho. The principal chiefs who signed the sale were Herua, Te Waru, Hauauru and Te Tara. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed at Karaka Bay on the Tamaki River opposite Big Bucklands Beach in 1840 by Capt Hobson and Ngati Paoa. After the treaty signing the Fairburn purchase was examined by the government, who determined that Fairburn could keep 1/7 of the land, with the rest being claimed by the government, who later sold it on in smaller blocks.
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