Kaurilands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaurilands | |
|---|---|
 Kaurilands Domain | |
 Interactive map of Kaurilands | |
| Coordinates: 36°55′46″S 174°39′17″E / 36.9294°S 174.6548°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| City | Auckland |
| Local authority | Auckland Council |
| Electoral ward | Waitākere ward |
| Local board | Waitākere Ranges Local Board |
| Area | |
| • Land | 146 ha (360 acres) |
| Population (June 2025)[2] | |
• Total | 3,230 |
| • Density | 2,210/km2 (5,730/sq mi) |
| Oratia | Glen Eden | New Lynn |
| Konini |
  Kaurilands  |
Titirangi |
| Waima | Titirangi | Titirangi |
Kaurilands is a suburb of West Auckland, which is under the local governance of Auckland Council. The area was subdivided and developed in the 1920s.
Kaurilands is located in the Waitākere Ranges foothills north of Titirangi, in the upper catchment of the Waikumete Stream, which flows north through the suburb. Kaurlands forms a part of the Waitematā-Waitākere foothills ecological zone. Sheltered from the Tasman Sea by the Waitākere Ranges, the area was originally dominated by forests of kauri, Phyllocladus trichomanoides (tānekaha or celery pine) and rimu, with abundant nīkau palm and silver fern. The soils are a mix of Miocene Waitākere volcanic soil and Waitemata Group sedimentary rock.[3]
History
The area is within the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki, an iwi that traces their ancestry to some of the earliest inhabitants of the Auckland Region.[4] West Auckland was known as Hikurangi, and the upper catchments of Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek were known as Ōkaurirahi, a reference to the mature kauri forests of the area.[5]
During the early colonial days of Auckland, much of modern Konini and Kaurilands was owned by Liverpool immigrant Hibernia Smythe, who aggregated 550 acres of land between 1854 and 1857 north of Titirangi. Smythe used the land for wood and logging, as well as farming sheep and cattle. Smythe had a reputation for being miserly, and after passing left his property to his nephew.[6] In 1925, a company named Kaurilands Limited was formed, to administer the land north of Scenic Drive (then Exhibition Drive) in Titirangi.[7] The Kaurilands Estate was subdivided and sold from 1926 onwards.[8] In the early 20th century, Kaurilands was various described as a part of Titirangi or Waikumete (modern Glen Eden).
During the 1920s and 1930s, the area was the site of a large daffodil farm.[9] Kaurilands School was opened in 1954,[10] and the area's first post office was built on Withers Road in 1964.[11]