Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau Central, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland CBD.
Papatoetoe was traditionally an important area for Tāmaki Māori, who used a waka portage between the Tāmaki River and Waokauri Creek to reach the Manukau Harbour, as an alternative to the Ōtāhuhu portage to the north. The area developed as a farming community in the 19th century, and grew significantly in the 1950s and 1960s after the Auckland Southern Motorway was constructed. Papatoetoe is now known for its significant population of Indian New Zealanders.
Etymology
Papatoetoe means "grounds where toetoe grows", referring to species of Austroderia grasses that traditionally grew in the area. The name Papatoetoe was first used by English settlers from the 1850s onwards. The spelling Papatoitoi was common in English in the 19th Century, and was gradually replaced with Papatoetoe after the local post office began using this spelling.
Geology
Papatoetoe is low-lying flat area in South Auckland, located south of the Auckland isthmus and east of the Māngere peninsula. Some features of the Auckland volcanic field can be found around Papatoetoe, including Kohuora, a tuff ring that erupted an estimated 34,000 years ago, becoming a wetland after the crater gradually filled with water and sediment, and Crater Hill, which erupted an estimated 30,000 years ago. The low-lying volcanic features of South Auckland were collectively known by the name Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho ("The Sacred Footprints of Mataoho") to Tāmaki Māori peoples, referring to the deity who was involved in their creation.
Papatoetoe is a flat area between the catchments of the Manukau Harbour in the west and the Tāmaki River to the north-east. Major waterways in the area include the Waokauri Creek, the Puhinui Creek to the south, and the north-flowing Tāmaki River and Ōtara Creek.
The area was forested before human occupation, and by the 1840s was covered in a mix of fern and scrub, including plants such as kānuka, mānuka and toetoe.
History
Māori history
The first evidence of Tāmaki Māori in the coastal Manukau Harbour area comes from the 14th century, with evidence of the first settlements later in the 15th century. Papatoetoe formed an important part of the Waokauri / Pūkaki portage, connecting the Manukau Harbour and Tāmaki River, and was often used by Tāmaki Māori to avoid the Te Tō Waka and Karetu portages, controlled by the people who lived at Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond. Papatoetoe is within the traditional rohe of Waiohua, including the modern Tainui/Waiohua iwi Te Ākitai Waiohua. A Te Ākitai whakatauki (proverb) defines the boundaries of Papatoetoe:
Compared to other parts of Tāmaki Makaurau (the Auckland Region), there are few fortified pā sites in Papatoetoe due to the flat land. There is one known pā in the Papatoetoe area, at Cemetery Crater (Hillside South Park). The pā is known by the name Te Pā-o-te-tū-tahi-atu, a name that describes the pā as temporary, due to the surrounding flat landscape not being ideal for fortifications.
The Waokauri / Pūkaki portage was actively used during the early colonial era until the 1860s, as a way to transport goods to Papatoetoe.
Colonial era
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.