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- Otuataua volcano erupted about 30 000 years ago.
- Evidence that Maori were gardening in the area by the 13thCentury (1200
A.D.).
- Nga Oho, descendants of the crew of the Tainui canoe, settled the area in
the 1400s (15thCentury).
- In 1575 Te Wai O Hua iwi got their name after the death of their great
leader Hua Kai Waka.
- In the early 18thCentury the Wai O Hua chief Kiwi Tamaki had pa
throughout the Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) region, including Ihumatao,
Mangere and Onehunga.
- Late 18th Century, Ngati Whatua invaded from the north defeated te Wai O
Hua.
- Up until about 1840 the smaller pa at Ihumatao were used only seasonally
as the people spread out from the main pa at Mangere to gather resources
during the summer months.
- Nga Puhi invaded during the period 1820-35 and drove te Wai O Hua and
Ngati Whatua out of the area.
- 1836 te Wai O Hua returned to the Mangere-Ihumatao area.
- 1847 the first Christian Mission on the Manukau was built at Ihumatao.
- Maori in Mangere-Ihumatao grew crops for the Mission and for the new
settlement of Auckland.
- In 1863 (during the New Zealand Wars) Governor George Grey gave the
people of Mangere-Ihumatao the option of declaring their loyalty to the
Crown and fighting against their relatives in the Waikato or leaving their
lands. Most left.
- In 1865 in their absence, te Wai O Hua's land was confiscated, divided
up and sold to European settlers.
- Dairy farming was established in the Ihumatao region in the 1870s,
mainly by four settler families, the Elletts, Rennies, Mendelssohns and
Wallaces.
- The European farmers built dry stonewalls and established creameries and
butter companies in the area.
- During the 1930s some Aucklanders had holiday homes along the coast of
the Manukau Harbour.
- In the mid 1950s the sewage works and oxidation ponds were established
between the coast and Puketutu Island.
- From the 1950s onwards, the volcanic cones have been quarried for scoria
to built Auckland's roads and building foundations.
- In 1999 the Manukau City Council purchased the Otuataua Stonefields.
- In 2001 the Otuataua Historic Reserve was opened by Prime Minister Helen
Clark in a bicultural ceremony.
(Adapted from: Manukau City Council Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve
Draft Management Plan)
This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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