Changing Waiheke

A look at Waiheke Island’s history as one of Auckland City’s favourite island getaway locations

Jane Groufsky is Project Curator History for our upcoming Tāmaki Herenga Waka: Stories of Auckland exhibition, where we will share the story of Waiheke and some of the objects pictured in this blog.

Waiheke today brings to mind sunny vineyards and beachy weekend getaways. The image of Waiheke as an “island paradise” has its origins in 1920s marketing, but the island has long been desirable even as its character has changed over the past centuries.

Situated in the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana, Waiheke’s strategic position, abundant kai moana (seafood), and extensive kauri forests made the island appealing for human habitation. These natural assets also caused it to be hotly contested, and therefore several different iwi have ancestral connections to the island. These include Ngāti Huarere, Ngāti Maru and Ngāti Pāoa, and it remains a central part of the latter’s rohe (territory) today.

The desirable qualities of the island made it similarly attractive to Pakeha, and from the mid-19th century, large blocks of land were sold to the Crown. Private owners were also eager to purchase land for settlement or for profit through speculation, benefiting from Governor Hobson’s establishment of Auckland as the new capital of the colony in 1840. By 1870, Māori-owned land was limited to the 2100-acre Ngāti Pāoa block at Te Hurihi, the west end of the island. (1)

As the new town of Auckland expanded, residents began to see the recreational potential in the Hauraki Gulf islands. Waiheke’s role as a seaside resort emerged in the 1880s when shipping companies offered occasional trips to the island which would later become regular excursions. An 1886 notice in the NZ Herald noted the growing popularity of the island and advertised a New Year’s Day trip which promised “boating, fishing, dancing on the lawn etc…a pleasant day’s outing may be expected”. (2)

The subdivision of Waiheke land, beginning with the newly named town of Ostend in 1915, offered Aucklanders the chance to buy an affordable piece of paradise. Land agents leaned heavily on marketing language which presented the island as a summery haven from city life. A 1920s pamphlet advertising properties in the Surfdale subdivision promised that a mother “…free from the drudgery of housework…can sit under a shady tree for hours watching with shining eyes the delight of her bare-legged, brown and healthy brood”.(3) The new names of these communities reveal how beach life was now central to the island’s identity. The 1922 subdivision Palm Beach was named for its single large Phoenix Palm tree, and Surfdale received its name via competition - with the winner awarded a section of land near the beach. At 8 pence a day on top of a small deposit, a Surfdale section was also promoted as a sound investment – so close to downtown Auckland that “values must go up and up and up”. (4)

Despite the “endless holiday” message pushed by developers, life on Waiheke required a level of self-sufficiency and tenacity, with the island only getting electricity in 1954. For much of the twentieth century, one of the main ways to get to and from the mainland was via the infamous Baroona ferry. Island residents had a love-hate relationship with the slow and noisy ferry which was built in 1904 in Australia.

Perhaps due to this semi-isolation, the island has long had a thriving arts community. Ceramicist and artist Denis O’Connor has lived in Putiki Bay, Surfdale, since 1970. O’Connor has invited fellow artists to fire ceramics at his kiln, and has even used clay dug from a local swamp in some of his work. Acclaimed jeweller Christine Hafermalz-Wheeler makes unique pieces which are sold from her gallery The Artist Goldsmith in Oneroa.

It was in 1987 that a pivotal development led to another change in the character of Waiheke. The Quickcat was the first new catamaran ferry of a fleet which provide efficient access to and from the mainland, in a journey of just 40 minutes each way. A daily Waiheke commute was more viable than ever before, and property prices rose accordingly. At around the same time that the new fast ferries took off, the island’s wine industry was also picking up speed. In 1977 the Goldwater family planted the vines that would become Waiheke’s first vineyard, taking advantage of Waiheke’s moderate climate. Goldie Estate is now just one of the dozens of vineyards that have made the island a destination for “wine tourism”.

Today Waiheke is New Zealand’s third most populous island, although population numbers fluctuate highly with the coming of summer holidaymakers and seasonal vineyard workers. The lure of a laidback seaside lifestyle continues to draw people to the island, making it as sought-after as ever.

(1) Monin, Paul. Waiheke Island; a History. The Dunmore Press: Palmerston North, N.Z. (1992). p145.

(2) “Advertisements”, New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7834, 31 December 1886. p1.

(3) “Surfdale; Auckland's big new seaside resort” Oneroa Beach Estates: Auckland, N.Z. (1921)

(4) Ibid.

Image credits:

Cowes Bay. Waiheke Island, George Bourne, circa 1905. PH-ALB-328-p1-2

Pamphlet, Surfdale: Auckland's big new seaside resort, 1921. DU436.118 SUR

Map, Palm Beach Estate, Waiheke: a popular marine resort, 1920s. G9082.W2

Blog Changing Waiheke by Jane Groufsky, Auckland Museum Project Curator, History.

Published Monday 25 May 2020.