HOONING IN HUNUA

once provided timber, food and refuse for local Māori. Around 1870 onwards, early settlers logged the massive kauri, rimu, totora and kahikatea and cleared the hilly terrain for pasture. But the poor soil proved difficult to farm. Manganite was mined for a short time around the turn of last century but the area’s true potential was eventually realised as a water supply catchment for a rapidly growing Auckland City. From 1950,