Onehunga Library (85 Church Street)
Onehunga was home to New Zealand’s first free library, with books initially being housed in the spare room of Major Kenny of the Fencible Corps, a cohort of military settlers who initially founded the Borough of Onehunga in 1847. At a later stage, the books sat in a storeroom in the Borough Council Chambers, with the keys held by members of the library committee of the council. The present structure began to be used in 1970 and is now combined with an Auckland Council-run community space.Before the Fencibles arrived, Onehunga was home to a Māori fishing village belonging to Te Uringutu under Ngāti Whātua protection. This was at the western end of Princes Street. But when they were ordered to take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria in 1863, the inhabitants went south to the Waikato and did not return. As colonists set about establishing institutions to spread Western knowledge, much indigenous knowledge was lost. Cross Church Street at the indicated crossing and then continue to the left. At Selwyn Street, turn right and continue walking along Selwyn Street.
Onehunga School and Community House (83 Selwyn Street)
The Anglican and Catholic churches provided schools for the children of Onehunga until 1872, when the Auckland Province took over the Anglican school. A new building was constructed on Selwyn Street in 1876 and then replaced in 1901. However, the school was still regularly oversubscribed, to the extent that one class in 1936 had to be taught on the porch. Former pupils include the author Jane Mander and the rugby icon Jonah Lomu. The school moved next door and the building was about to be demolished in 1981 before a group of locals saved it and turned it into a community centre.The ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ blocks opposite were not toilets—they were the woodwork and cookery classrooms, respectively. Continue walking along Selwyn Street, crossing the road at the indicated crossing. At Grey Street, turn left.
Jellicoe Park (1 Park Gardens)
This park was an area of green grassland when the Fencibles arrived in 1847, having reverted to grass after the original kumara patch planted by local Māori had been abandoned under threat of Ngāpuhi raids in the early 1820s. The Fencibles were only called into action once: in 1851, a force from Ngāti Paoa landed near Parnell to extract utu for an insult their rangatira had received in an Auckland shop. The Fencibles marched out from Onehunga and the war party retreated without a shot being fired.In 1860, amid perceived threats of a Māori invasion from the Waikato, a number of blockhouses (military fortifications) were built around Auckland. The timber blockhouse would have been occupied by twelve Fencible soldiers and six guns. The building was later used as a school, Borough Council Chambers, and as a private residence. Early tenants were allowed to graze sheep on the property.Immediately after World War I, Onehunga Borough Council proposed developing the 5.5-acre Blockhouse Domain (set aside for military purposes in the previous century) as a war memorial park. Over 460 men from Onehunga took part in the First World War. The local business community also supported the war effort, including the Onehunga Woollen Mills in Neilson Street. As well as making soldiers’ uniforms, they organised social events during the war. A social gathering was held in the large warehouse at the mill in September 1915, attended by over 200 people. The mill also organised an annual ball and an annual picnic day.Although the Borough Council was unable to raise the funds to fully realise its ambitions, Governor-General Lord Jellicoe was invited to open his namesake park on 26 May 1923. The arch of remembrance was unveiled on 20 October 1929. The blockhouse, one of the last of its type, was restored in the 1960s and is now used by the Onehunga Fencible and Historical Society for its meetings. The park also includes a Fencible cottage and the Laishley House, formerly the manse of a congregationalist minister.Feel free to explore Jellicoe Park. When you are finished, return to Grey Street and begin walking east, crossing Selwyn Street and continuing along the south side of the road.
Anglican Vicarage and Church Hall
Most of the block between Arthur Street and Church Street was granted to the Anglican Church by Governor George Grey to form a ‘glebe’ (land providing income for the clergyman). Similar land grants were made to the other denominations represented in the Fencible Corps. Over time, much of this land was sold, and the profits were spent on a new plot of land in 1903. This was on the corner of Grey Street and was intended to host a new vicarage, a new church hall, and eventually a new church to replace the one on Church Street. In December 1904, the builder E. Morton was contracted to build a vicarage for £918 (the vicar’s stipend at the time was £4 a week), and Rev. Hasleden moved in on 17 May 1906. The hall next door was built in the same year for £375 and enlarged in 1910 for another £372.As it turned out, the congregation proved reluctant to move from their original place of worship, so when the new church was built in 1930, it remained on Church Street. The parish hall was later sold to an order of Freemasons: the Grand Lodge of Scotland is distinct from Freemasons NZ and has only eleven lodges in the country. The Grand Lodge of Scotland is not to be confused with the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry or the Royal Order of Scotland.Continue to Onehunga Mall and then turn right. Cross Onehunga Mall at the indicated crossing.
Onehunga Cooperating Church (317 Onehunga Mall)
This plot of land on the corner of Grey Street was bought by the Presbyterian Church from a Fencible settler in 1854. His former cottage was the first home of the congregation. However, no permanent place of worship was constructed until 1862. Both of these buildings were shifted to the back of the lot to form the current Sunday School hall, while the current church dates from 1890. The first minister, George Brown, also had charge of the Avondale and Hobson Street (city) congregations and would walk the full circuit every Sunday in a time before formed roads existed. Since 1943, combined services have been held with the Methodists and other denominations, and the church is now a ‘co-operating parish’ of Presbyterians, Methodists, and the Church of Christ. Even the organs of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches were amalgamated in 2002.Continue south along Onehunga Mall.
Annendale and the Onehunga Club
Now the Heritage House Café, this historic home was built in 1884 and given the name ‘Annendale’, and later as ‘Scotlands’, by its first resident, Dr William George Scott. Scott was a medical doctor and became mayor in 1883 on his quest to ensure a safe, clean water supply for typhus-wracked Onehunga. In 1948, the house was turned into a rest home for the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers. However, it was bought by New Zealand Railways in 1953 since the property was on the proposed route of a rail line between Penrose and Avondale. This railway would have provided a bypass for freight traffic to avoid the city and suburban passenger service, however it never moved beyond the planning stage. In 1974, the Onehunga Club—a social group of local businessmen—was allowed to buy the land after renting it from the Railways years earlier. Part of the building was subsequently leased to Royal Oak Traders Ltd., both of which have now been replaced by the café.There are lava caves in the back garden remaining from the eruption of Maungakiekie One Tree Hill. These were once used by the hotel next door (now a vacant lot) as a naturally chilled cellar. During the Second World War, the Auckland Art Gallery stored paintings in the caves as they were thought to be bombproof.Continue along Onehunga Mall.
Onehunga Mall
Originally known as Queen Street, the main commercial road of Onehunga was made by Fencible labour during the 1840s and 1850s. In 1902, the tram line from Auckland started running down this road and reached the wharf in 1903. This was the only coast-to-coast tramway in the world.Generations of aspirational locals have made improvements to the street over time. In December 1956, the rickety trams stopped running and were replaced with a trolleybus in July 1959. The unsightly overhead wires were removed in March 1973. In 1987, the street was narrowed to become Onehunga Mall, a more pedestrian-friendly shopping precinct, and artistic additions have cropped up in the area: the yellow ceramic seat in front of the Anglican church was handcrafted by Karen Kennedy in 1999 and the Art Nouveau public toilet at number 207 was added in 2002 by Dave Vazey.Continue along Onehunga Mall.
St Peter’s Anglican Church (184 Onehunga Mall)
The first church on this site was constructed in 1848 for a community of sailors and Fencible soldiers described by the bishop as ‘living in open and notorious sin’. Part of a Fencibles’ duty was to attend church every Sunday, and most of them were Anglicans. Initially built of wood, St Peter’s Anglican Church had a tower that was moved from the centre to the side of the building in 1853 by the vicar and a group of volunteers in the space of one week. The current tower dates from 1931, while the rest of the building was rebuilt in 1980.Continue along Onehunga Mall and then turn left at Church Street.
Catholic Church of the Assumption (130 Church Street)
The first priest appointed for Onehunga in 1847 was a Frenchman, Father Seon. He is reported to have preached from a storage shed by the coast and he partitioned his raupo whare to serve as a confessional. In 1849, he was transferred to Akaroa.Construction of a permanent church in Onehunga was undertaken in the 1850s. This was replaced by the current building in 1889. The steeply pitched roof was an architectural feature borrowed from Irish churches, where they had to withstand heavy snow falls. The consecration of the new church was marked by a choral performance, including a particularly talented bass singer. However, the man was an unreliable performer due to his tendency to drink, so the priest invited him over the previous night to keep him sober. Monsignor William Mahoney, who took over the parish in 1905, was the first New Zealander to be raised to the priesthood. Continue along Church Street. Cross the road at the indicated crossing.
St Joseph’s School (125 Church Street)
A convent school for the Catholic population of Onehunga was established in 1864 in a double-unit Fencible cottage on Church Street. The teaching staff slept in the attic. The current St Joseph’s School was opened in 1924, initially able to cater for 250 children. In 1877, Father Paul applied to the Onehunga Borough Council for permission to set up a telegraph line along the southern side of Church Street to teach the children the newly-adopted Morse Code. The Councillors gave permission so long as they wouldn’t be held responsible if anybody died of an electric shock. Continue along Church Street and then turn right onto Spring Street. Continue along Spring Street.
Dolphin Theatre (12 Spring Street)
The Onehunga Repertory Players, an amateur dramatics society, began performing in 1962, initially at the high school to the west of the town on Pleasant Street. They were gifted this plot of land by the Onehunga Borough Council in 1966 and built the ‘Little Dolphin Theatre’ with the manual labour of the players themselves. During the first week of opening, a dolphin was seen in the Manukau Harbour, which they considered an indication of good fortune. The community outgrew the theatre quite rapidly: one plan mooted in the late 1970s was to extend the old Carnegie Library to form a new theatre building. An expansion and renovation of the theatre in 1981 increased the seat count from 94 to 121, which was judged to be sufficient to drop the ‘Little’ from the name. The members and volunteers continue to put on six shows per year.Continue along Spring Street.
Old Pump House (2 Spring Street)
The water supply for Onehunga was originally discovered by a Tainui warrior named Hau at what became known as Te Puna-o-Hau (‘The springs of Hau’), which were blessed by a tohunga to ensure that they would possess health-giving properties. By the late nineteenth century, there was a dire need for a clean water system in order to reduce the numbers of people falling sick to typhus and scarlet fever. But local voters did not want to spend the money, electing Laurence Gerraghty of the ‘No Rates Party’ as their first local government chairman in 1868. The water reticulation scheme was completed twenty years later after the election of a medical doctor as mayor. However, the expense of the project inspired Elizabeth Yates, the British Empire’s first female Mayor, to enter politics in protest.Continue to the end of Spring Street and then turn right along Princes Street. Cross Princes Street at the protected crossing just beyond Waller Street. Follow the sign to the Onehunga Train Station platform.
Onehunga Train Station
The Auckland-Onehunga railway line, the first Government-owned rail line in New Zealand, opened on 20 December 1873. The journey between the two termini took 45 minutes and a ticket cost one shilling. Initially, all travel from Auckland to Wellington went via boat from Onehunga, so this line was an important route. However, the section going up to the wharf was closed in 1927 and passenger trains to Auckland ceased in 1950, although commuter shuttles to Penrose continued until 1973. The original station building was relocated to 38 Alfred Street, where it now houses the Rail Enthusiasts Society. The current station was built for the reopening of the railway in 2008. There are display panels towards Onehunga Mall with more information on the history of the station.Follow the platform to Onehunga Mall. Cross Onehunga Mall at the protected crossing. Continue north along Onehunga Mall and then turn left onto Princes Street.
Old Carnegie Library (55 Princes Street)
Onehunga possessed the first free library in New Zealand, with books worth £100 sent with the Fencibles in 1847. In 1911, the Library Committee approached American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for funds to erect a new library building, and he ended up contributing £2,000 out of the £2,665 required. The classical façade reflects the stylistic influences of the Carnegie libraries in America, while the ‘triumphal arch’ is unusual and owes more to British Edwardian eclecticism. The architect, John Park, later became Mayor of Onehunga. The library was moved to its present site in 1970 with this building subsequently being used for community activities. It is now a gastropub. Turn around and return to Onehunga Mall. Cross at the protected crossing.
Old Post Office (120 Onehunga Mall)
This former post office was built in 1902 on the site of a former police station. The structure was originally erected in Russell in 1852 and was shipped in pieces and re-erected here. It is now serves as a pub. The first licensed hotel near here was located across Onehunga Mall in 1865, although it burned down three years later. A replacement structure was built and the hotel received a new lease of life when the railway arrived in 1873. The licensee at the time, James Sullivan, was known for his mysterious knowledge of Latin and Greek, which some said made him “too academic to mix easily with the hoi polloi of Onehunga”. Sullivan was also involved in politics, sponsoring the campaigns of Maurice O’Rorke for Parliament and Elizabeth Yates for the mayoralty. On one occasion, he was taken to court for keeping his billiards room open after 10pm. His response was that his guests were not there to drink or play but to discuss local body politics. The magistrate knew him well enough to believe him. Continue north along Onehunga Mall and then turn left on Pearce Street.
Elizabeth Yates Mural (136 Onehunga Mall)
This mural, installed in 2019, depicts Elizabeth Yates, who was elected as Mayor of Onehunga in 1893. She was the first women elected to the office of mayor within the British Empire, taking her oath on 16 January 1894. Several male councillors, as well as the Town Clerk, resigned rather than serve under a ‘lady mayor’, and large crowds came to spectate at council meetings during her tenure, with their rowdiness causing difficulties in keeping order. The remaining councillors were also quite disorderly, with meetings descending into shouting matches with the mayor. Yates opposed spending money on piped water systems and campaigned to reopen Waikaraka Cemetery, which had been closed due to concerns about its proximity to the town’s springs. Unfortunately, during her term of office, an outbreak of typhoid was linked to the springs, and the controversy over this meant that the cemetery remained closed for another few years. She was defeated for re-election in November 1894.Return to Onehunga Mall and continue north.
Gordon Sai Louie & Co (171 Onehunga Mall)
From the late 1929 until 1988, this shop belonged to the Sai Louie family. They had a market garden plot in Newmarket and sold fruit and vegetables from this shop, selling to locals and to coastal ships in the port of Onehunga. The family owned a ginger plantation in Fiji and exported muk yee (wood ear fungus) from Taranaki to China. In 1890, almost half of New Zealand’s exports to China were in the form of muk yee. In return, the Sai Louie family imported Chinese delicacies such as thousand-year eggs and the raw ingredients of bird’s nest soup.Continue along Onehunga Mall and then turn left at Church Street. Continue along Church Street until you return to the Onehunga Library.
