Wattle Farm Reserve

Were those really sewage ponds? Welcome to Wattle Farm Reserve. This tranquil spot in Auckland was once something quite different. Before it became the beautiful reserve we see today Wattle Farm was a dairy farm. It was a 457-acre farm. The name Wattle Farm? That comes from a rather ambitious project. A farmer named Mr White planted a 200-acre grove of blackwood and silver leaf wattle trees in 1884. He wanted to extract the bark for tanning leather. It was a failure. The wrong trees were planted. But the name stuck. Wattle Farm it remained. The land changed hands several times. In 1933 during the Great Depression the Kimptons Campbells and Clements families bought it. Residential development started around 1970. This followed the rapid growth of nearby suburbs. Dairy farming finally ended in 2006. But the story doesn’t end there. Before the farm even existed this land held significance for the Waiohua people. Their pu0101 Takirangaranga meaning upraised land was located here. The area also has a rich history of Kauri trees. Te Waiohua tribes harvested Kauri resin. They used it to make the tattoo pigment for tu0101 moko traditional Mu0101ori tattoos. The ponds you see now were once sewage treatment ponds. They served Manurewa until 1967. The Mangere Treatment Plant replaced them. Today the ponds filter water. They cleanse silt from the Papakura and Waimahia streams before it flows into the Manukau Harbour. The Wattle Farm Ponds Reserve was improved in a project that cost 3.5 million dollars. This was between 2017 and 2018. The improvements included better water quality and sediment management. New recreational facilities were also added. So next time you visit Wattle Farm Reserve remember its layered past. It’s a place where history nature and recreation intertwine. A place that shows the change over time from a working farm to a thriving community space. It is a testament to Auckland’s growth and the enduring spirit of its people.