Puketutu Island

The island of Motu Ohiaroa (currently known as Puketutu) is situated in the Manukau Harbour, near the township of Mangere Bridge, and is separated from the mainland by a tidal estuary about a mile in width. It was formerly accessible, except at high water, by a hard shell-bank spit, but this old-time pathway has now been replaced by a two lane causeway.

The island's current Maori name was probably derived from "hill of the tutu" (bush) as Pukekohe is "hill of the kohe tree".

Acknowledgements:
Most of the information on Puketutu's early history has been sourced from F G Fairfield's Extracts from Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume XLVII, 1938; with assistance from the Waiohua Chieftainess, Kahupake (of Pukaki), Tukumana Te Taniwha (of Ngati-Paoa and Ngati-Whanaunga), George Graham and other members of Te Akarana Maori Association.

Aerial photograph of Puketutu Island with the Auckland Isthmus and Rangitoto Island in the background; 1957.

"Since my first acquaintance with Robinson Crusoe I have wanted to own an island, and here it is… Puketutu in the Manukau Harbour"

Sir Henry Kellilher
18 February 1966