Heritage et AL

We have to announce that the Merrilands Garden Suburb, Auckland’s most glorious heritage, situated on the green, grassy slopes of One Tree Hill is at last thrown open to the public and the choice of this, the finest and largest subdivision, ever offered in Auckland is now to be yours.” (Advertisement, Auckland Star, 7 December 1923) Merrilands! It was the name given to a 500-section subdivision on the slopes of Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill, that ran down towards Mt Smart Road, and was promoted by its developers as a Garden Suburb. With visions of green spaces and healthy living it would have tapped into the awareness of overcrowding and unsatisfactory housing conditions that were ripe not only in Auckland but in other parts of the country, too.  Image: Backyard of the same houses at the head of Blind Lane, Wellington, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19110719-0021-02 In the 1920s, Merrilands wasn’t the only new subdivision to be promoted as a garden suburb. In 1922 adverti...

For many years it was assumed that this well known series of maps covering the Auckland area was just confined to the Auckland isthmus and the Birkenhead Point to Devonport area of the North Shore. However, Auckland Libraries has now received and made available additional sheets that dramatically extend the reach of this map series to the North, West, East and South. The maps are accessible through a link on the  Auckland Libraries heritage collections website Kura   by entering the terms 'Auckland and environs' into the keyword search box. Ref: NZ Map 7934, Sheet 12, part  of Takapuna Parish, vicinity Lake Pupuke/part Hauraki Gulf, 1930, Sir George Grey Special Collections These maps were compiled in the late 1920s and early 1930s and give a dramatic picture of the development of Auckland’s outer suburbs at that time.   Author:  David Verran, Central Auckland Research Centre