Whitford's Local History

The Ngaitai tribe, a hapu (branch) of Ngatipaoa of Tainui descent, settled our area long before European explorers arrived but there were few Maori in Whitford when the first settlers arrived because of intertribal wars and introduced European diseases. For those who survived, the surroundings offered rich harvests of eels, wood pigeons, shellfish and flounder, a local flatfish still fished on Seafields’ shores. There were three major fortified settlements (pa in Maori) in the area; behind the present Whitford Quarry, in the Maungamaungaroa and on the Turanga-Maungamaungaroa peninsula.

Whitford was once called Turanga, the Maori name of its river and which is said to mean the ‘standing up place’, referring to the shallowness of the estuary and the many channels in the mud. It wasn’t until 1900 and after considerable discussion that the settlement was renamed Whitford.

 

Broomfields Road is named for William Broomfield, a sailor on Minerva who settled here in 1847 aged 25 years. In 1857 he married Elizabeth Stevens in All Saints Church, Howick (which you can visit), and they went on to have 12 children. The Broomfields built a cottage at the Waikopua, probably in 1858. They buried their treasures before retreating to Howick in late 1863 fearing a Maori attack. When they returned, a slip had covered their valuables and they were never found. In 1864 William became ferryman at the Maungamaungaroa to Trices Landing. The Marine Department paid to have a crate of burning candles in their cottage window, the light identifying the entrance to the Turanga River.

 

The Broomfields scratched out a living on their 70-acre farm growing wheat and oats, as well as farming a few sheep, pigs, poultry and a house cow. Potatoes and fish were the staple diet and cockles, mussels, mullet, sprats, kingfish, parore, flounder and sharks were plentiful. Broomfields Landing, at the bottom of Broomfields Road is now a reserve. Most landings were natural sandstone rock which at high tide made natural wharves. William Broomfield had another landing beside a big flat rock near a large pohutukawa tree, which is also known as the NZ Christmas tree for its magnificent December flowering.

 

Water transport was the preferred method in the Turanga, Waikopua and Maungamaungaroa districts for early settlers’ farm produce, firewood, charcoal and bricks. Clay roads, rough scoria and swamps made land transport to Auckland slow and hazardous and thus most travel and transport was done by sea; a regular passenger service operated from 1848 until 1927. Whitford’s hills were heavily forested with noble kauri trees from which many houses and schools were built. The timber was also used for furniture, boat building and as spars on sailing ships. Early farmers supplemented their income by digging for valuable kauri gum, which was used in the manufacture of varnish.