Puketutu Island

Gazing across the shimmering expanse of Manukau Harbour, have you ever noticed that intriguing island? That’s Puketutu Island. Puketutu Island also known as Te Motu a Hiaroa. Puketutu Island is a volcanic island, a remnant of Auckland’s fiery past. Let me transport you back 18,000 years, to a time when the world was gripped by the icy fingers of the Last Glacial Maximum. Sea levels were dramatically lower. The Manukau Harbour, now a vast body of water, was then a river valley. Puketutu Island stood as a prominent hill within this landscape. As the ice age loosened its grip, the seas began to rise, slowly transforming the river valley into the harbour we see today. Around 7,000 years ago, the waters continued to claim the land, eventually isolating Puketutu Island and creating the island form we know today. Puketutu Island is steeped in Māori tradition and history. The name Te Motu a Hiaroa translates to “the island of Hiaroa,” honoring an ancestor who arrived on the island after a journey aboard the Tainui waka. The name “Puketutu” refers to one of the many hills and mountains on the island. It translates to “tutu shrub hill.” Māori legends link Puketutu Island to Mataaoho, the deity of volcanic activity. The island once boasted numerous volcanic cones and hills, serving as sites for pã (fortified villages) and tuahu (altars). The fertile volcanic soils were ideal for cultivating kūmara and other crops. This practice echoes the traditions found at the Otuataua Stonefields in Ihumātao. The island is believed to be protected by taniwha, mythical water guardians. It also holds significance as a place associated with the arrival of the Tainui waka around the 14th century. From its earliest days, Puketutu Island was home to tohunga (priests) and rangatira (chiefs). It became renowned as an island of tohunga and a whare wānanga, a place for learning traditional Māori knowledge and customs. The island is considered sacred to Tainui and Te Waiohua iwi (tribes). In the mid-19th century, during colonization, the customary owners were alienated from the island. Fast forward to the 1950s. Several of Puketutu Island’s scoria cones were quarried to provide fill for the expansion of Auckland Airport. This also led to the construction of the Mangere wastewater oxidation ponds which now border the island. Remarkably, the island’s highest point, the 65-meter Te Taumata a Rakataura (Pinnacle Hill), was spared. Today, a unique partnership is working towards restoring Puketutu Island. Watercare holds a long-term lease and has transferred ownership to the Te Motu a Hiaroa (Puketutu Island) Charitable Trust. The trust, representing Waikato-Tainui, Te Kawerau a Maki, and Makaurau Marae/Te Ahiwaru Waiohua, plans to re-establish a whare wānanga. They collaborate with Auckland Council to rehabilitate the island and transform it into a cultural park accessible to the people of Auckland. Puketutu Island stands as a testament to the resilience of nature, the richness of Māori culture, and the potential for restoration and renewal.