New Lynn | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of New Lynn town centre in 2013 | |
 | |
| Coordinates:36°54′35″S174°41′00″E / 36.90972°S 174.68333°E /-36.90972; 174.68333 | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| City | Auckland |
| Local authority | Auckland Council |
| Electoral ward | Whau ward |
| Local board | Whau Local Board |
| Area | |
| • Land | 636 ha (1,572 acres) |
| Population (June 2024)[2] | |
• Total | 23,910 |
| Railway stations | New Lynn railway station Fruitvale Road railway station |
| Kelston | (Whau River) | Avondale |
| Glen Eden |   New Lynn  | New Windsor |
| Titirangi | Green Bay | Blockhouse Bay |
New Lynn is a residential suburb inWest Auckland, New Zealand, located 10 kilometres to the southwest of theAuckland city centre. The suburb is located along theWhau River, one of the narrowest points of theNorth Island, and was the location ofTe Tōanga Waka, a traditionalwaka portage between theWaitematā andManukau harbours.
The settlement developed in the early 20th century due to the brick and pottery industry, and in 1963 became a major commercial centre for Auckland with the opening ofLynnMall, the first American-style shopping centre in New Zealand. Since 2010, New Lynn has been the focus of large-scale urban development, with the introduction of medium and high density housing close to the town centre and train station.
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The New Lynn area and theWhau River are a part of the traditionalrohe ofTe Kawerau ā Maki, aniwi that traces their ancestry to some of the earliest inhabitants of theAuckland Region.[3][4] The traditional name for the area is Te Rewarewa, referring to a local creek.[5][6] The Whau River was a borderland, marking the division of lands betweenTe Kawerau ā Maki and theTāmaki Māori iwi of theAuckland isthmus:Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and in earlier times,Waiohua.[7][8] The Whau River was one of the narrowest points between theWaitematā Harbour on the east coast of the island, and theManukau Harbour on the west. Te Tōanga Waka, one of the most important portages in the area, allowed forwaka to be transported between the two harbours, along the Whau River, the Avondale Stream (Wai Tahurangi), and a short overland path, marked in modern times by a road named Portage Road.[9][10] Kotuitanga (Ken Maunder Park) marks the point where waka were no longer able to be paddled,[11] and was traditionally a site used for waka construction.[3] The banks of the Whau River were the locations of many seasonal fishing settlements.[12]
When European colonisation of the Auckland Region began, New Lynn was known as a barren scrubland.[13] In 1845, the first wooden bridge was built across the Whau River.[14] New Lynn was named by Frederick Utting, who surveyed the western Whau area in 1863. He named the area afterKing's Lynn inNorfolk, England, as the area reminded him of the countryside of his homeland.[15][16] Land at New Lynn was first auctioned in 1865, but growth in the area was slow until the 1910s.[17]
The first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1850s, primarily farmers and people involved with thekauri logging andgum digging industries.[18] In 1865, New Lynn became a trade centre when the port of New Lynn opened on the Whau River. Boats could only operate in the port during narrow stretches of time at high tide, and otherwise rested in the mud of the river.[9]
New Lynn grew significantly due to the brick and ceramics industries.[17] The first brickyard was established by DrDaniel Pollen on the Whau River atRosebank in 1852. He brought in brickmakers fromStaffordshire in England, four of whom later established their own yards along the river. By 1870 there were 13 brick and clay yards on the local waterways, exploiting the high-quality clay in the area.[19] In the 1870s, the largest yards produced between 10,000 and 15,000 bricks per week.[18] Many of the ceramics companies failed due to the1880s depression, competition, and changing preferences to use wood rather than bricks for construction.[19] The first brick kiln opened in New Lynn in 1861,[9] and of the 39 brick and clayworks of West Auckland, 23 were located on the Whau River, with most concentrated around New Lynn.[19]
In March 1880, theNew Lynn railway station opened, connecting New Lynn to Auckland by rail and stimulating growth in the area.[20][21] Two years later, Alfred Ramsden constructed the New Lynn Hotel on Great North Road,[20] which closed in 1908 due to their liquor license lapsing during the temperance movement in New Zealand. The building was demolished in July 2008, due to deterioration.[22] The first school in the area, New Lynn School, opened in 1888 at the modern site ofKelston Girls' College.[23] The school was relocated to current site in 1914.[20]
A new area of New Lynn was subdivided in 1902, to the south of the railway station. Known as the Hetana Hamlet, this was named after Prime MinisterRichard Seddon, who was known to Māori by the name Hetana.[24][25]
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In the early 1900s, a group of citizens led by Archibald Grandison lobbied theWaitemata County for New Lynn to become an independent town district. Grandison and his supporters felt that New Lynn would grow as an outer city suburb of Auckland in the future, and had very different needs to the majority of the rural communities in the county.[26] The population grew five times between 1900 and 1910, and in August of the following year, New Lynn became a town district. By 1 April 1919 it had grown enough to become a borough,[26] allowing the council to take out larger loans to invest in the infrastructure of the area.[27] Many of the street names in New Lynn are named for commissioners of the town and borough, as well as indigenous tree species.[28] During the early 20th century, a significantScottish immigrant population moved to New Lynn.[29]
The Astley Tannery, which first opened in 1888, became one of the largest employers in New Lynn duringWorld War I when demand for leather goods significantly increased.[17][30] The business was greatly successful in the 1930s, closing in the 1990s.[17] Industrial waste from the tannery and neighbouring abattoir was discharged directly into the Whau River, becoming a major source of pollution for the waterway.[31]
In 1925,Rice Owen Clark moved his large clay pipeworks factory fromHobsonville to New Lynn. Due to the pressures of theGreat Depression, the various brick and ceramics businesses of West Auckland merged to form the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Compan in 1929, who focused operations at New Lynn.[32][33] The company were able to produce up to 30,000 red facing bricks per fortnight at their Ambrico kiln.[22] The brickworks was known for its 46-metre-high chimney in central New Lynn.[17]
In 1926, the Delta Theatre opened in New Lynn, becoming a focal point of the community, holding a range of events including film showings, live entertainment and dances. The theatre was demolished 1986.[17][34] A new bridge crossing the Whau River was completed in December 1931, replacing the older wooden structures on Great North Road. The bridge was a point of contention between the New Lynn borough council and the Waitemata County andAuckland City, who wanted a bridge of a significantly smaller size to what the borough council proposed.[35] By 1935, the population of New Lynn had grown to 3,500.[16]
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DuringWorld War II, New Lynn was considered a vulnerable area by the government, due to the brickworks and its proximity to the border of Auckland City. Because of this, concrete machine gun posts and barbed wire were installed along the railway between Portage Road and St Georges Road, tank traps were built in the area, and air raid shelters were built at the corner of Margan and Seabrooke Avenues.[36] Due to restrictions on the importation of British goods during the war, the Amalgamated Brick and Pottery began mass-producing crockery for the New Zealand market,[37] growing to become one of the largest brick and ceramics companies in the Southern Hemisphere, known for theirCrown Lynn pottery range.[38] The ceramics industry led to widescale immigration ofPasifika New Zealanders to the area during the 1960s and 1970s, many of whom were employed at the Crown Lynn Potteries factories.[29]
The port of New Lynn closed for commercial operations in 1948, when a final shipment of bricks andmānuka were transported from the port on theRahiri.[9]
In 1963,LynnMall, the first modern American-style shopping centre in New Zealand was opened in New Lynn.[17][39] It immediately became a retail hub for Auckland, and influenced the nearbyHenderson borough to create a similar mall, the Henderson Square (now known asWestCity Waitakere).[31] In September 1974, New Zealand's firstPizza Hut restaurant opened in New Lynn.[40]
In 1978, a new bridge across the Whau River was built along Rata Street, acting as a bypass to divert traffic away from New Lynn and Great North Road.[17] On 17 July 1981, the Jack McCorquindale Community Centre opened in New Lynn, named after a former borough mayor.[41]
In 1989, the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company (then known asCeramco) closed down operations.[38] In the same year, New Lynn ceased being an independent borough, merging with other local governments of West Auckland in the local body reforms of 1989 to become a part of theWaitakere City.[16]
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In 2010, the New Lynn railway station was redeveloped as a transport hub, with a new station constructed and the existing tracks moved into an underground trench.[42][43] This was the start of an urban revitalisation project for New Lynn, where the New Lynn town centre was redeveloped as a commercial centre and mid to high density residential hub.[44][43] The first stage of the Merchant Quarter, immediately adjacent to the train station, was completed in 2013,[45] and the Merchant Quarter Apartments, one of the tallest buildings in West Auckland, was opened in 2015.[46][47] As of 2020, New Lynn is the major commercial centre of theWhau local board area,[48] and one of the major commercial hubs of West Auckland.
Te Toi Uku: Crown Lynn Clayworks Museum opened in May 2015.[45]
On 3 September 2021, seven people were injured ina stabbing attack at the Countdown supermarket in LynnMall.[49]
New Lynn covers 6.36 km2 (2.46 sq mi)[1] and had an estimated population of 23,910 as of June 2024,[2] with a population density of 3,759 people per km2.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 17,268 | — |
| 2013 | 18,231 | +0.78% |
| 2018 | 20,214 | +2.09% |
| 2023 | 20,877 | +0.65% |
| Source:[50][51] | ||
New Lynn had a population of 20,877 in the2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 663 people (3.3%) since the2018 census, and an increase of 2,646 people (14.5%) since the2013 census. There were 10,329 males, 10,452 females and 93 people ofother genders in 7,428 dwellings.[52] 4.0% of people identified asLGBTIQ+. The median age was 35.6 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 3,945 people (18.9%) aged under 15 years, 4,101 (19.6%) aged 15 to 29, 10,332 (49.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 2,496 (12.0%) aged 65 or older.[51]
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 37.5%European (Pākehā); 11.6%Māori; 17.7%Pasifika; 43.5%Asian; 3.7% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.4% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 90.2%, Māori language by 2.5%, Samoan by 5.5%, and other languages by 34.7%. No language could be spoken by 2.8% (e.g. too young to talk).New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 48.6, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 32.4%Christian, 11.3%Hindu, 5.3%Islam, 0.8%Māori religious beliefs, 2.4%Buddhist, 0.3%New Age, 0.1%Jewish, and 2.6% other religions. People who answered that they hadno religion were 38.7%, and 6.1% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 5,469 (32.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 6,549 (38.7%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 4,911 (29.0%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $42,000, compared with $41,500 nationally. 1,605 people (9.5%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 9,126 (53.9%) people were employed full-time, 1,818 (10.7%) were part-time, and 690 (4.1%) were unemployed.[51]
| Name | Area (km2) | Population | Density (per km2) | Dwellings | Median age | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Lynn North | 0.74 | 3,162 | 4,273 | 1,059 | 35.4 years | $40,100[53] |
| New Lynn North West | 0.69 | 3,219 | 4,665 | 1,167 | 35.6 years | $41,400[54] |
| Fruitvale | 0.85 | 3,087 | 3,632 | 1,086 | 35.6 years | $44,000[55] |
| New Lynn Central | 1.18 | 498 | 422 | 234 | 37.3 years | $43,100[56] |
| New Lynn Seabrook | 0.72 | 2,931 | 4,071 | 1,041 | 35.3 years | $40,400[57] |
| New Lynn Central South | 0.74 | 3,312 | 4,476 | 1,239 | 36.5 years | $38,400[58] |
| New Lynn South | 0.64 | 2,640 | 4,125 | 882 | 35.7 years | $45,800[59] |
| New Lynn South East | 0.79 | 2,028 | 2,567 | 717 | 34.9 years | $46,300[60] |
| New Zealand | 38.1 years | $41,500 |
From 1876 until 1929, New Lynn was administered by theWaitemata County, a large rural county north and west of the city of Auckland.[27][20] In 1929, the area split from the county, forming the New Lynn Borough Council. Between 1929 and 1989, 78 councillors (also known as commissioners) served on the borough council.[79] In 1989, the borough was merged into theWaitakere City. Waitakere City Council was amalgamated intoAuckland Council in November 2010.[80]
Within the Auckland Council, New Lynn is a part of theWhau local government area governed by theWhau Local Board. It is a part of theWhau ward, which elects one councillor to the Auckland Council.
Between 1929 and 1989, eight people held the position of Mayor of New Lynn Borough. The longest standing mayor of the borough was Stanley William Rickards, who held the position for 14 years.[81]
| Name | Term | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Gardner | 1929–1931 |
| 2 | George Lawson | 1931–1938 |
| 3 | Tony Reimann | 1938–1941 |
| 4 | Stan Rickards | 1941–1955 |
| 5 | Hugh Brown | 1955–1959 |
| 6 | Sam Noall | 1959–1965 |
| 7 | Jack McCorquindale | 1965–1974 |
| (5) | Hugh Brown | 1974–1977 |
| (7) | Jack McCorquindale | 1977–1980 |
| 8 | Bruce McNaughton | 1980–1989 |
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New Lynn Railway Station, located next to the bus transport centre and theLynnMall shopping centre, was upgraded in 2008–2010 to cater for the increased frequency of trains expected on the Auckland regional network after itselectrification. The section of track on the Western line between Portage Road and Titirangi Road was trenched to allow trains to pass beneath the New Lynn town centre. A twin-platform station was built below road level near the site of the existing station.[42][82] As part of the redevelopment projects for the area, part of Totara Avenue, in the New Lynn town centre, was transformed into ashared space.[83]
New Lynn has had ready road access to theAuckland CBD since theNorthwestern Motorway and an expressway through Waterview were completed in the late 1970s.[84]
TheNew Lynn to Avondale shared path, acycle path that connects to the Auckland cycle path network, was opened in 2022.[85]
Arahoe School, Fruitvale Road School and New Lynn School are coeducational contributing primary (years 1–6) schools with rolls of 465, 373 and 490 respectively.[86] New Lynn School opened in 1888,[87] Arahoe School opened in 1958.[88][89] Fruitvale Road School opened in 1962, however has its origins in the Fruitvale School, which opened in the late 19th century at the current site of the Fruitvale Community Hall.[89]
Oaklynn Special School is a coeducational school with a roll of 225. It is a special school for students with intellectual impairments.[90] The school runs ten satellite classes at nearby primary, intermediate and secondary schools.[91]
New Lynn has no secondary schools but is serviced by large school campuses in surrounding suburbs, includingKelston Boys' High School,Kelston Girls' College,Avondale College (co-ed), andGreen Bay High School (co-ed).
