It’s official! Our favourite dog-walking park which runs beside the motorway is now known as St Mary’s Bay Park – Ko Takere Haere. Often referred to as The Reserve or Pt Erin Park, this land was once part of the foreshore. In the late 1950s it was reclaimed for a motorway to link with the Harbour Bridge.
Ko Takere Haere means “split canoe hull” which refers to a waka that cracked while being hauled ashore, and is believed to have been the original name of this area.
At a Waitemata Local Board meeting to decide an official new name, a motion to rename it Flora MacKenzie Park was lost. Flora MacKenzie and her Ring Tce brothel were Auckland institutions from World War II until the late 1970s.
At the request of the board, the SMBA invited members to suggest names. These included:
- Okaa Paa, the name of a paa at Pt Erin that was part of a network of fishing stations and strongholds along the Waitemata coastline.
- Tukituki Muka, meaning to prepare flax. The north end of Jervois Rd was once a flax-processing area.
- St Mary’s Bay Beach Reserve
- St Mary’s Bay High Water Walkway
- The Old Bay Walk
- Nga Mahora o te Wai, meaning memories of Water.
The board has allocated $10,000 for new park signage.
For more background see: http://www2.nzherald.co.nz/aucklander/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503378&objectid=12173037