Puhinui Reserve

The reserve is the largest area of saltmarsh remaining on the Manukau Harbour, situated on the estuarine transitional zone between the freshwater Puhinui Creek and the saltwater Manukau Harbour.^[6] The sandflats, mangroves and shellbanks support populations of the buff-banded rail and the New Zealand fernbird.^[6]

Similar to Ihumātao located closeby on the Manukau Harbour, the Puhinui Reserve area has been settled by Tāmaki Māori peoples for at least six hundred years, as a gardening and food gathering area.^[2] It is adjacent to the Waokauri / Pūkaki portage, one of the three major points where waka could be hauled between the Manukau Harbour and the east coast,^[7] and the Puhinui Creek, which provided access to much of inland the South Auckland area (and to the Manukau Harbour in turn).^[2] The area is of particular significance to Waiohua iwi, including Te Ākitai Waiohua and Ngāti Te Ata.^[2]

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  Puhinui Reserve

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  Granted to James Reddy Clendon'"`UNIQ--ref-0000002C-QINU`"'

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  Extent of the "Fairburn purchase"'"`UNIQ--ref-0000002E-QINU`"'

In the 1830s William Fairburn, a missionary with the Church Missionary Society, claimed to have purchased most of South Auckland (83,000 acres, stretching from Papatoetoe to Papakura) from Māori. After the treaty signing in 1840, the purchase was examined by the newly formed Colony of New Zealand. Fairburn was allowed to keep a seventh of the land, with the Crown keeping the "surplus lands".^[8]

Puhinui Reserve was part of a 10,000 acre block granted by the Government to the trader James Reddy Clendon in 1840 — known as the Clendon Grant.^[9]

In the 1850s, the land became a part of the McLaughlin family's Puhi Nui estate.^[2]

The reserve was purchased by the Manukau City Council in 1991.^[2] The reserve is managed as a working sheep and cattle farm,^[10] as well as a protected wetland.^[6]