Just as the surrounding ridgelines are a link to the way of life before the arrival of the Europeans, it is the gully’s roads that forge the link to the lives of Auckland’s early colonial settlers.

More than 160 years ago, a “Newtonian” wrote to the newspaper suggesting that a road be built to:

“... lead from the Khyber-Pass Road, at Mrs Fairburn’s, to the North Road at Mr Probert’s made passable ... It would connect the East and West Newton, bring the Cabbage tree people nearly a mile nearer to town, and cut off a long road from Mount Eden for the scoria carts, a very great advantage now that so many improvements are being made in the Western portion of the city.” (Jan 1862, New Zealander, issue 1642)

The writer continues, “If the Newton Road be made, the metal carts that were leaving the Maungawhau (Mt Eden) quarry for Ponsonby Road and the lower streets of the City would no longer have to go via the windmill, and along Karangahape Road.”

This Newtonian offers us a glimpse into a time when colonial Auckland was at a crossroad (no pun intended!). This letter in 1862 reveals that Auckland was “on the make”, building an infrastructure to meet the demand to house the many migrants disembarking at the Queen Street wharf. It also appears that the Karangahape Road and the Upper Symonds Street ridgelines had, over the past 20 years, retained their importance as major routes to access Auckland’s town centre and port. But this simple letter also hints at the mindset of an early European settler, whose focus is on expansion, bypassing the old way for the sake of efficiency.

Up until 1862, Māori had continued to use these ridgelines to access Auckland’s town. During the 1850s, wheat that was grown by the Waikato tribes was transported by river, sea and cart to be ground at Partington’s windmill. In an article written about the mill, a quote from an old Waikato rangatira who knew the mill well stated:

“Te Mira Hau held great mana ... Did not Te Mira Hau grind wheat impartially for both (Pākehā and Māori), and if the grain was of equal quality, turn out as good flour for the Māori as it did for the Pākehā?”

The article interpreted his thoughts further: “Such fair dealings in the days of land grabbers and cheating traders deeply impressed the Māori ...”

This old rangatira’s simple but profound statement addresses the reasons that many Māori had lost trust in their Te Tiriti o 

Waitangi partners. As successful farmers and traders with the Auckland settlers, Māori had believed that the 1840 treaty would protect them as rangatiratanga (sovereign rulers), and that they would retain their land and their autonomy. But, in 1852, when the British Crown recognised New Zealand as a colony separate from Australia, passed the NZ Constitution Act and, in 1854, opened the first parliament in the capital city of Auckland, Māori were

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ot represented. In fact, few Māori met the criteria to vote as few individuals owned land in a single title. Imagine their concern as the waves of migrants settling in Auckland wanted to acquire more land. Imagine, too, their dismay as many of their whānau (family) were dying of the diseases that had been brought into the country by these immigrants. By the late 1850s, the European population in New Zealand outnumbered Māori and something had to be done.

At this time, Māori resisted pressure from the Crown to part with more land. This resistance was solidified in 1858 when many of the North Island tribes agreed to unite together under a monarch. After many years of consultation between these tribes, the Ngāti Mahuta chief Pōtatau Te Wherowhero agreed to be King. The tribes that joined the Kingitanga movement gave Te Wherowhero the authority to be the “one voice” to settle land disputes, maintain law and order, and to keep the peace with the Pākehā. The settlers, however, considered this Māori King a direct challenge to British Imperial authority. By 1859, tensions between the races were growing, and it was in this climate that the owners of Newton East gully’s paddocks saw an opportunity and answered the settlers’ demands to own a piece of land. Situated only one mile from the Auckland town centre, blocks of the steeply sloping land were surveyed one by one ready for sale.

In 1862,

 only one month after the Newtonian letter suggesting that Newton Road be created, Auckland’s Superintendent called for contractors to submit a tender to, “Cut, Form, Metal the Roadway and to construct a Culvert” so that Newton Road would join Upper Symonds Street and Karangahape Road.

(Feb 1862, Daily Southern Cross #1476)

What prompted the wheels of bureaucracy to respond so quickly is unknown. However, it is important to note that in 1860, the Daily Southern Cross advertised that, “seventy choice allotments that fronted onto Newton Road, sown in clover and fully fenced” were for ready sale. These allotments were first offered as early as March 1859. According to the Newtonian letter, Newton Road had been built, but did not connect one ridgeline to the other.