Ōtara

History

The Ōtara area is part of the rohe of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, who descend from the crew of the Tainui migratory waka, who visited the area around the year 1300. The mouth of the Tāmaki River was traditionally known as ("The Waters of Tāiki"), named after the Ngāi Tai ancestor Tāiki. Tāiki settled with his followers along the eastern shores of the Tāmaki River, alongside the descendants of Huiārangi of the early iwi Te Tini ō Maruiwi. The upper reaches of the river near modern was traditionally known as , referring to Mokoikahikuwaru, a protector taniwha of the Tainui waka who is described in legends as taking up residence at the Panmure Basin. The area is close to the portages where waka could be easily taken over land between the Manukau Harbour and Tāmaki River, including Te Tō Waka at Ōtāhuhu and Waokauri / Pūkaki portage at Papatoetoe. Ngāi Tai created extensive cultivations along the eastern shores of the Tāmaki River. occupied up until the early 19th century. While all of these groups hold ancestral relationships to the Ōtara area, Ngāi Tai continue to retain recognised mana whenua status. During the Musket Wars in the 1820s, Ngāi Tai sought temporary refuge in the Waikato. When English missionary William Thomas Fairburn visited the area in 1833, it was mostly unoccupied. In 1836, William Thomas Fairburn brokered a land sale between Tāmaki Māori chiefs covering the majority of modern-day South Auckland and East Auckland. The sale was envisioned as a way to end hostilities in the area, but it is unclear what the chiefs understood or consented to. Māori continued to live in the area, unchanged by this sale. In 1854 when Fairburn's purchase was investigated by the New Zealand Land Commission, a Ngāi Tai reserve was created around the Wairoa River and Umupuia areas,…

Geography

Ōtara is found in South Auckland at the south-eastern headlands of the Tāmaki River, primarily to the north-east of the Auckland Southern Motorway. The Ōtara Creek runs through the suburb, becoming a tidal estuary of the Tāmaki River in the north. There are two features of the Auckland Volcanic Field in the area. Pukewairiki is an estuary of the Ōtara Creek and a volcanic maar that erupted an estimated 130,000 years ago. Ōtara Hill / Te Puke o Tara is a volcano located to the north in East Tāmaki that erupted an estimated 56,500 years ago, Lava flows from the hill flowed as far south as the Ōtara Town Centre.

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,487
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  12,892
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,562
• Kelp Gull

  Larus dominicanus M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823 · Aves
  10,259
• Tui

  Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  10,072
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  9,384
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,028
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  8,010

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2011-07-01
  5 km NNW of Tamaki, New Zealand
• M 4 — 2011-02-20
  9 km NNE of Waihi, New Zealand
• M 4 — 2007-03-13
  26 km NNW of Coromandel, New Zealand
• M 3.8 — 2007-02-21
  31 km NE of Murrays Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2007-02-21
  30 km NE of Murrays Bay, New Zealand
• M 3.8 — 2005-07-08
  16 km SSW of Waihi, New Zealand