Little Huia

The settlement is found in the lower Waitākere Ranges, where the Marama Stream forms a valley as it flows into the Manukau Harbour.^[3][4] South of the settlement is Te Kā-a-Maki / Jackie Hill, a headland in the Manukau Harbour. At the base of this headland is Kaiteke Point, the western-most opening of the Huia Bay.

The Little Huia area is dominated by a warm lowlands pūriri forest. The coastline between Whatipu and Little Huia is a unique ecosystem in the area as it is semi-exposed to the Tasman Sea, leading to a diverse pūriri/pōhutukawa forest that includes nīkau, Coprosma arborea and Sophora fulvida. Pittosporum ellipticum, otherwise rare in the Waitākere Ranges, is relatively common on dry hillsides sheltered from saltspray.^[5]

The settlement is in the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki, close to the location of Te Komoki, one of the few West Auckland pā to have defensive ditches.^[6] Te Komoki pā site is located at Te Kā-a-Maki / Jackie Hill, a 148-metre hill to the south of Little Huia.^[7] The pā has 12 terrances and five pits, protected by cliff faces on three sides and a ditch on the fourth.^[8] Te Komoki is one of the best preserved pā of the Waitākere Ranges.^[8] The name for the hill, Te Kā-a-Maki ("The Fires of Maki"), refers to Maki, the eponymous ancestor of Te Kawerau ā Maki.^[7]

Kaiteke Point ("feigning eating"), the south-western point of Huia Bay, is named after a traditional story involving a Waikato Tainui chief who visited the northern shores of the Manukau Harbour. Travelling westwards, he was welcomed by the people of Huia with a feast of tarakihi fish. On the other side of the bay, he was welcomed with a second feast. Too full from the tarakihi but too polite to refuse, the chief feigned eating the food from the feast. This legend gave rise to the name of the eastern point of Huia Bay, Kaitarakihi Point, and the western, Kaiteke Point.^[9]

In the early 1860s, the Gibbons family established a dam for kauri logging on the Marama Stream, near modern-day Little Huia.^[10] The stream was named after an early resident, Jackie Marama, a Pākehā Māori settler who lived at the mouth of the stream in the 1860s.^[9] In the 1880s, the Barr family settled at Little Huia,^[11] followed by Edward Turner in 1891.^[12] The Barr family constructed a second dam of the Marama Stream in the early 1900s.^[10] In 1907, a ferry wharf was built at Little Huia.^[13] Members of the Turner family continue to own land near Huia in the present day.^[12]