Glen Innes: A Century of Community and Change

Image: School children on Apirana Ave, Glen Innnes, 1989. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 273-PAG002-10. Photographer: Stuart Page

In 1990, Auckland Libraries launched a large-scale oral history project to commemorate Aotearoa New Zealand’s sesquicentennial anniversary. The aim was to preserve the voices of Aucklanders and capture the city's history through their lived experiences. This particular series focuses on Glen Innes, highlighting its unique social, cultural, and historical narratives.

The oral history excerpts below highlight key themes such as the everyday social and cultural life of Glen Innes and its surrounding market gardens, mana whenua, and the communities that later moved into the area. These excerpts have been curated for the exhibition 'Glen Innes: A Century of Community and Change,' held at Te Oro Music and Arts Centre from 6 September 2025. More details of the exhibition can be found here.

1. Elizabeth Smith 

Elizabeth was interviewed by Jennifer Andrews on  24th May 1990. She speaks about living in Glen Innes in the 1940s, the lack of shops, her children growing up alongside  the community and friendly neighbours. Elizabeth also talks about joining the planning community to build a marae for Glen Innes which is the Ruapotaka Marae. She talks about the people involved in the project, fundraising efforts and the purpose of a marae for the community.

 

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Elizabeth Smith

2. Francis Edward Leabourn

Francis was interviewed by Megan Hutching on 1st February 1990. He talks about living in Glen Innes in 1940s and 1950s, surrounded by farmlands and dairy farms when he first arrived. He also discusses groceries being delivered to their homes such as milk and meat, small shops being established the area and going to Panmure for the rest of the shopping.

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Francis Edward Leabourn

3. Hazel Mary Rowe

Hazel Mary Rowe was interviewed by Sarah Dalton on 1st March 1990. She talks about moving to Glen Innes in the late 1940s, buying a section of land and building her house and garden. She mentions that during that period, Glen Innes had no street lights, no buses, and the closest bus station was in Panmure. She also recalls the market gardens, the nearest shops in Panmure and travelling grocers and milkmen.

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Hazel Mary Rowe

4. Hine Barbara Kipa 

Hine Barbara Kipa was interviewed by Jennifer Andrews on 1st March 1990. She talks about the Chinese market gardens, travelling long distances to catch public transport and the sparse population in Glen Innes during the 1950s. She also discusses when different ethnic groups began arriving in GI, living on Taniwha street, the early houses and how the community evolved over time.

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Hine Barbara Kipa

      

5. Joyce Manson 

Joyce Manson was interviewed by Sarah Dalton on 23rd April 1990. She talks about life on Tripoli Road Glen Innes, on a poultry farm, and the presence of the Chinese market gardens all around. She describes the area as mostly being market gardens, with mud road and few houses. She also discusses her family's self-sufficiency through growing food, maintaining orchards, raising fowls and cows and making bread and butter.

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Joyce Manson

       

6. Tauiho Puaha

Tauiho Puaha was interviewed by Jennifer Andrews on 11th April 1990. This interview was conducted in te reo Māori. Tauiho talks about working in Chinese gardens in the 1950s and taking her children to these gardens with her. 

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · Tauiho Puaha

Translation:

Tauiho: And... what was the year my first husband died? Time passed, and I married that man Matika, and we lived here. 1952 we moved here. At that time, it was all Chinese gardens. All Chinese gardens – from Pilkington Road, all Chinese gardens there. No roads there, no anything; all Chinese gardens there, all Chinese gardens. There were no Pākehā houses here.

Interviewer: Yes...

T: This house, that one, this one, that one at the corner, the houses here, on this street, were finished.

I: Yes...

T:  Now, only this house had been built. Later, much later that us, Maraea and Te [??] got their house... And, well, we lived here, my children went to school at Point Chev – started at Point Chev, and after we moved here, they went to Point England.

I: Yes...

T: Anyway. It was taken by my child. I was widowed again, and my child started to work on our house. That’s how this house came to look more like this. But if you saw it beforehand, ugh, the floors - ah!

I: Yes...

T: Anyway. My child said, would I agree for this to be done, and I agreed. My child did that, and then I willed the house to my child. It was finished. But the houses – just the houses – all of these houses, while I was living here the new roads were built, the roads there below. It was all Chinese gardens on the other side of the road, from on top here right down to those shops, all Chinese gardens.

I: Mmm...

T: What I did in those days was go to the Chinese gardens to grow potatoes for myself. Because, at the time, until [I?] grew older, [you could] earn money, and by going to work for the Chinese people, I would also earn food –

I: Yes. Were the Chinese people good to work [for?]?

T: Yes – yes. Depending on how hard you worked. If you didn’t work, you didn’t get paid. Depending on how hard you worked. All Chinese people, as far as Panmure, all Chinese people. There were two shops there, that old hotel, a grocery, one grocery there. All fences there below, the whole area – cows, dairy farms, right into Panmure, no houses, no roads, the roads are all new.

I: How long were you working in the Chinese gardens?

T: Ooh – up until – ooh – all those years, the trucks would come to pick us up, and I went to work...

I: Really?

T: I had two babies, and when I went to the gardens, I took my babies to work.

I: Yes. Yes. They came to...?

T: Yes. They came to fetch me on their truck, not only me, they picked up all of the workers. Now, at that time, Māori people also lived on the Chinese gardens. Just below here, Maraea and Maraea’s elder relations lived at the Chinese garden.