Point Britomart (Māori:Te Rerenga Ora Iti) was aheadland in theWaitematā Harbour, inAuckland (Tāmaki Makaurau), New Zealand. Located betweenCommercial Bay andOfficial Bay,[2] the point was laterquarried away to producefill forland reclamation inMechanics Bay, and almost no physical trace remains at street level in what is today an area of theAuckland CBD and theAuckland waterfront.
Te Rerenga Ora Iti (‘the leap of the few survivors’) was the site of at least one Māoripā, and was considered an important site inTāmaki Makaurau (Auckland isthmus), with several known battles fought over it, such as by theNgāti Whātuaiwi in the 17th and 18th centuries. The name commemorates an incident around 1680 when Ngāti Whātua drove Ngāti Huarere over the cliff to either their freedom or deaths.[3][4]
After signing theTreaty of Waitangi, Ngāti Whātua paramount chiefĀpihai Te Kawau, gave land for British settlement on the Waitematā. It wasTe Rerenga Ora Iti where theUnion Jack was first raised in Auckland on 18 September 1840 byFelton Mathew, and the point soon became the site of one of the first British military fortifications in New Zealand,Fort Britomart.[2][5] It was also the site of Auckland's first church,St Paul's, founded within a year of the foundation of Auckland in 1841, and one of the city's best known landmarks for 40 years.[6] The point received its European name in 1848 fromHMS Britomart, the crew of which undertook a detailed survey of the harbour of the new capital.[3]
From 1842, Point Britomart became the first major military barracks in Auckland.[7] This was supplemented by the construction of the largerAlbert Barracks in 1846.[7] Fort Britomart and the Albert Barracks were closed in 1870.[7]
In the 1870s and 1880s, the point was quarried away for fill in Mechanics Bay, its spoils providing the land for a new railway station. The removal also made Official Bay more easily accessible by foot.[2] Despite being set back from the excavations, on what is now known as Emily Place, the original St Paul's had to be demolished.[6] The western half of the city block currently bound by Tangihua Street, Beach Road, Quay Street and Britomart Place, now occupies the site of what was once the northern tip of Point Britomart.
In 2018Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei andPorts of Auckland createdTe Toka o Apihai Te Kawau, a memorial commemorating the founding of Auckland that includes a rock which marks the spot whereRerenga Ora Iti met the water, and where the city began.[5]
36°50′39″S174°46′20″E / 36.844049°S 174.772178°E /-36.844049; 174.772178