Wiri

History

The area has been inhabited since at least the 13th century. the volcanic cones of Matukutūreia and Matukutūruru were home to two hilltop pā, collectively known as Matukurua. The area has significance for Waiohua iwi, especially Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua and Te Ākitai Waiohua. In January 1836 missionary William Thomas Fairburn brokered a land sale between Tāmaki Māori chiefs, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero and Turia of Ngāti Te Rau, covering the majority of modern-day South Auckland between Ōtāhuhu and Papakura. 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 South Auckland, unchanged by this sale. Fairburn was criticised for the sheer size of the purchase, and in 1842 the Crown significantly reduced the size of his land holdings, and the Crown partitioned much of the land for European settlers. Clendon never lived in or visited the area. The Woodside School began operating from the mid-1850s in Wiri, then known by the name Woodside. It operated from the Methodist church, until school buildings were built on the corner of Kerrs Road and Great South Road in 1873. In 1875, the Manurewa railway station opened, causing the township of Woodside to slowly decline while Manurewa grew. After years of debate, the school moved to its current site, which opened on 8 September 1906. who extended it from Penrose. The Wiri railway station originally opened on 7 August 1913 as a tablet station, and fully on 9 December 1913 as a siding and for staff and work trains (not a public station). The station closed in 2005. The small station building, completed in 1914, was donated to MOTAT in 2022. Wiri developed as a large industrial area during the 1960s and 1970s due to the suburban expansion…