Swanson residents bought land after a statutory meeting on 11 December 1926 by raising money through selling shares in Swanson Hall Ltd. The total cost of land, building and preliminary expenses for the hall was £377 and the hall was completed by 23 May 1929. In 1945 the hall was taken over by the RNZAF for training and recreation purposes. Read more...
– build 1939 – todo: why is there a bridge here ? [CHI 3417] [Auckland Regional Council Parks Service: Waitakere Ranges Regional Parkland Management Plan April 1992] [Cameron, Hayward and Murdoch 1997: A Field Guide to Auckland] Read more...
– Build 1926 ? – Also known as DeVines, later Cassels – Named after nearby Cassels stream ? – Now only for pre-booked functions [Rugged Determination, p85] Read more...
Have you ever taken a train north of Swanson? This journey was once commonplace for anyone travelling north of Auckland to Helensville, Wellsford, or Northland, but railway travel north of Swanson is now unusual. Official railway passenger service to Swanson and Waitakēre began on 18 July 1881 and remained uninterrupted until July 2015. But things have become complicated in recent Read more...
The Waitakere Filter Station was built in 1927-1928 by an all-Dalmatian work force on Fletcher Construction’s payroll. Excavations were done by hand. The original compressors used in the filters were made by Sandy Filtration and were still in use in 1991. Auckland City Council employed four men an eight-hour rotating shifts, three on and one off duty. The men and Read more...
On 30 April 1895 a petition by 54 Swanson residents (see appendix in Rugged Determination p.165) was presented to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for five acres to be set aside for a cemetery. The land, gazetted in 1896, was situated a short way up what is now known as O’Neills Road. Trustees were appointed in 1897: John Moul, Edwin Read more...
– aka “Henderson Gum Reserve’ – scheduled UID 260 Read more...
These foundations are a bit of a mystery. There is no overbridge visible in this location in any of the areal photos. The foundations may be visible but it is not clear enough to be sure. Were they relocated there as part of the work to create the park when the park was formed in 2000? Or was it uncovered by Read more...
The Swanson Railway Station Project began at the end of 1993 when Waitakere Community Board members David Harre and Penny Hulse heard that the old Avondale Railway Station (built in 1879) was to be demolished and replaced with a modern corrugated iron shelter. The neglected and vandalised station had been closed since 1986. Since it was well worth saving, NZ Read more...
Arty Strother ran a garage on this site for almost 30 years. After returning from World War II he bought a house (through the rehabilitation programme) next to the present garage and in 1947 accepted the offer of a job from Doug Mattson who had just built a new garage on the corner of Swanson and O’Neills Rd. After working Read more...