Grafton, New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Auckland City
Auckland City
Auckland City was the city and local authority covering the Auckland isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, in the North Island of New Zealand. On 1 November 2010 it was amalgamated into the wider Auckland Region under the authority of the new Auckland Council...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The suburb is named for the Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for his 2nd illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland, Henry FitzRoy...
, a patron of the first Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson
William Hobson
Captain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
, and was once known as 'Grafton Heights', denoting it's history as a well-off suburb in Auckland's earliest decades. According to the 2001 census, Grafton has a population of 2,052.
The suburb is characterised by its many historic buildings, many of them essentially unchanged from the early decades of the 20th century. While the extents of the suburb have shrunk with the motorway and arterial road construction of the middle 20th century, the remaining smaller suburb thus has a highly cohesive structure, which is recognised, for example, in the residential zoning which discourages demoliton of existing buildings.
Grafton has a local resident's association, abbreviated as the GRA.
Landmarks
- Grafton BridgeGrafton BridgeGrafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland City, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD with the Grafton suburb...
: Grafton Bridge is an iconic Auckland bridge spanning Grafton GullyGrafton GullyGrafton Gully is a deep and very wide gully cutting northwards through the volcanic hills of the Auckland Volcanic Field in Auckland, New Zealand. It divides the CBD of the city from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in the east.Grafton Gully is crossed by Grafton Bridge near its south end...
and connecting the AucklandAucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
CBDCentral business districtA central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
with Grafton and parts further east. Built in 1910, it was the largest reinforced concreteReinforced concreteReinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
bridge of its time, spanning almost 300 metres.
- Auckland City HospitalAuckland City HospitalThe Auckland City Hospital is Auckland's main hospital and the largest hospital in New Zealand, as well as one of the oldest medical facilities of the country. It is a publicly funded hospital, run by the Auckland District Health Board since 2001...
: As early as 1842 this area was seen as an ideal spot for the colony's hospital; a sunny, north facing location a short distance from town but fairly isolated should there be an epidemic of any kind. The first buildings of the 1850s and 1860s were wooden and have long disappeared. The main building was designed by Philip Herepath in 1878 in the Italianate style. It was demolished in the early 1960s and replaced by a 10 story modernist block which still stands on the hill. In the 1880s and 1890s new brick buildings of some size were built including the Costley block (now demolished) which was the legency of local benefactor Edward Costly. Close by are several other specialist blocks from before and after the first world war. In 2003, a new hospital was completed adjacent to the existing one. This new hospital amalgamated services of the old hospital's Acute Adult care, as well as Greenlane Hospital's Cardiothoracic services and National Women's Obstetric, Gynaecological and Neonatal services. Acute Paediatric services are delivered by the adjoining Starship Children's HospitalStarship Children's HealthStarship Children's Health, opened in 1991, is one of the first purpose-built children's hospitals in New Zealand, and the largest such facility in the country...
. By bringing all these services on to one campus, Auckland City Hospital gained the status of being the largest hospital in New Zealand.
- On the other side of Park Road, the large grey brutalist bulk of the 1967 Auckland Medical School buildings (Stevenson & Turner architects) complements the hospital.
- Auckland DomainAuckland DomainThe Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park, and at 75 hectares one of the largest in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park contains all of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano....
: This park, established in the 1840s, is one of the city's greatest assets. The Auckland War Memorial MuseumAuckland War Memorial MuseumThe Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history , natural history, as well as military history.The museum is also one of the most iconic Auckland buildings, constructed in the neo-classicist...
and CenotaphCenotaphA cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
are perhaps its most dominant features.
- Outhwaite ParkOuthwaite Family, AucklandThe Outhwaite family were early settlers in Auckland and were an important family in the first eighty five years of the city's existence. Their influence still continues, especially in respect of two areas of land in central Auckland which are now Outhwaite Park and the site of St Peter's College,...
lies on the corner of Park Road and Carlton-Gore Road. This was the residence of Auckland's first Registrar of the Supreme Court, Thomas OuthwaiteOuthwaite Family, AucklandThe Outhwaite family were early settlers in Auckland and were an important family in the first eighty five years of the city's existence. Their influence still continues, especially in respect of two areas of land in central Auckland which are now Outhwaite Park and the site of St Peter's College,...
. From the 1840s onwards Outhwaite and his French wife Louise established a beautiful garden with many interesting specimen plants. In 1927 the last of their four children gave this land to the city as a park. The house does not survive but the basic layout of the grounds and many of the mature trees date from the Outhwaite family's time. Other nearby land of the Outhwaite family, on the other side of Khyber Pass Road, forms the main site of St Peter's CollegeSt Peter's College, AucklandSt Peter's College is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys . The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the Government of New Zealand in...
and Outhwaite park offers an expansive view of St Peter's CollegeSt Peter's College, AucklandSt Peter's College is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys . The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the Government of New Zealand in...
, Auckland Grammar SchoolAuckland Grammar SchoolAuckland Grammar School is a state secondary school for years 9 to 13 boys in Auckland, New Zealand. It had a roll of 2,483 in 2008, including a number of boarders who live in nearby Tibbs' House, making it one of the largest schools in New Zealand...
and of Mt Eden.
- Grafton Campus: The Medical School of the University of AucklandUniversity of AucklandThe University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
is located on Park Road, opposite Auckland Hospital. Close by is Grafton Hall of Residence.
- In 1861 the Auckland Bowling Club in Stanley Street was established, with its fields in the Auckland DomainAuckland DomainThe Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park, and at 75 hectares one of the largest in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park contains all of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano....
. This club still exists and was the first bowling club established in New Zealand.
- Geologist located a 'forgotten volcano', Grafton VolcanoGrafton VolcanoGrafton Volcano is a buried volcano in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field that underlies much of the Auckland suburb of Grafton. First recognised in 2010, it includes the Outhwaite Park scoria cone that was first mapped by Hochstetter and inferred by later geologists to be a late phase vent of...
, under the suburb in 2011. While it had long been known that the nearby Auckland DomainAuckland DomainThe Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park, and at 75 hectares one of the largest in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park contains all of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano....
was underlain by an approximately 50,000 year old crater, it was only now found out that most of the area of the current Grafton suburb was formed on a slightly older volcanic crater.
Famous people
During the late 1840s Chief Putatau Te Wherowhero resided in the lower part of the Auckland Domain in a house provided for him by the Government, [somewhere on the slopes of Grafton GullyGrafton Gully
Grafton Gully is a deep and very wide gully cutting northwards through the volcanic hills of the Auckland Volcanic Field in Auckland, New Zealand. It divides the CBD of the city from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in the east.Grafton Gully is crossed by Grafton Bridge near its south end...
below the Hospital and above the Bowling club in Stanley Street, probably in the vicinity of Centennial Drive]. Here he was visited by the then Governor, George Grey
George Grey
George Grey may refer to:*Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet , British politician*George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent *Sir George Grey , Governor of Cape Colony, South Australia and New Zealand...
.
Another famous resident of the area was Gustavus von Tempsky
Gustavus von Tempsky
Major Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky was a Polish-Prussian adventurer, artist, newspaper correspondent and soldier in New Zealand, Australia, California, Mexico and the Mosquito Coast of Central America...
(1828–1868) who lived on Grafton Road in the early 1860s. The early settler Outhwaite family
Outhwaite Family, Auckland
The Outhwaite family were early settlers in Auckland and were an important family in the first eighty five years of the city's existence. Their influence still continues, especially in respect of two areas of land in central Auckland which are now Outhwaite Park and the site of St Peter's College,...
resided in their Grafton house for nearly eighty five years.
Pauline Kumeroa Kingi
Pauline Kumeroa Kingi
Pauline Kumeroa Kingi, CNZM is a well-known Māori community leader.-Biography:Pauline Kingi received an LL.M. from Harvard and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1980 and is also a Corporate director, with membership of both the Institute of Directors and the New Zealand Institute of...
CNZM is a notable current resident.