Papatoetoe Historical Society Museum

Name: Papatoetoe Historical Society Museum
Address: 35 St George Street, Papatoetoe, Auckland, 2025, NZ
Telephone: +6492785447

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Preserving, collecting, and researching, historical information about the Papatoetoe district. Located in the Papatoetoe Chambers building.

08/10/2026

From the Archives: 25 Years of the Papatoetoe Historical Society
In September 2013, the Papatoetoe Historical Society celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Formed in 1988, the Society marked the occasion with members, memories and a special anniversary cake. Hans Dorbeck was also presented with Life Membership in recognition of his years of service to the Society.

Take a look back at this milestone in our history.

Read the story on the Papatoetoe Museum blog: https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/10/04/25th-anniversary/

📸 Jerry Green cutting the 25th Anniversary cake 2013

06/10/2026

What lies beneath the landscape around Papatoetoe and Wiri?

Archaeologist Dave Veart spent years studying the volcanic landscape of South Auckland and the evidence left by generations of Māori gardeners.

At Wiri, archaeologists mapped extensive gardening systems where stone and volcanic soils were used to create productive growing areas. Similar evidence was found at Ōtuataua and Crater Hill.

This information is from a Historical Society talk that Dave Veart gave in 2012.

Read the full story from the Papatoetoe Historical Society archives:

https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/10/04/dave-veart-volcanoes-archaeology-and-the-gardens-of-south-auckland/

📸 Crater Hill (Jenny Clark) 2012

04/10/2026

Do you remember S L Loo & Co at Hunters Corner?

For 44 years, Tom Loo watched Hunters Corner change from behind the counter of his family’s fruit and vegetable shop.

His story begins much earlier, with his father Shick Lung Loo arriving in New Zealand as a 16 year old in 1919.

By 1968 the family had established their fruit and vegetable shop at Hunters Corner, surrounded by names many local people will remember, George Courts, Farmers, Nathans, Bond & Bond, the Starlight Theatre and the businesses along Kolmar Road.

Some customers stayed with the family business for more than 40 years.

Were you one of S L Loo & Co’s customers? Or do you remember Hunters Corner during these years?

Read Tom’s full story here:
https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/10/04/tom-loo-44-years-at-hunters-corner/

📸 Tom Loo at the Fruit and Vege Shop 2012

29/09/2026

What was life like for a family in Wiri a century ago?

In 1997, Jim Livingston shared memories of his family’s farmlet, its orchard, milking cows before and after school, and travelling by train to Papatoetoe Primary School.

His story gives us a glimpse of everyday life in Wiri from the 1920s onwards.

Read the full story on our blog: https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/29/livingston-family

27/09/2026

Kia ora, and welcome to the start of the annual Auckland Heritage Festival.

This year, Papatoetoe Museum is presenting Tastes of Tāmaki - a heritage experience for all five senses. Explore food, memory and community through local stories, kitchen objects, familiar scents and shared memories.

It is also the start of the school holidays, so if you are looking for something to do, pop in and test your senses.

Can you identify the plants, seeds and spices on display? Smell the bags or plants, make your guess, then ask us for the answers.
There are no peanuts or tree nuts in the display.

Our school holiday opening hours are 29 September to 10 October 2026, from 10am to 2pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Free entry | Donations welcome
Papatoetoe Museum
35 St George Street, Papatoetoe

24/09/2026

Building Plaques
There are a number of buildings in Papatoetoe that have in the same location plaques for past and current buildings. Two buildings that come to mind are the Papatoetoe Civic War Memorial which accommodates the Papatoetoe Library and the Manukau City Baptist Church in Lambie Drive.

Read the blog to learn more about the different building’s history. https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/23/building-plaques/

📸 Papatoetoe’s new public library, October 1956

The library occupied the ground floor of the newly opened Civic War Memorial building on St George Street. The space is now occupied by the Papatoetoe Historical Society Museum.

Photographer unknown. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, Footprints 01543.

23/09/2026

How were the huge concrete digesters at Māngere’s wastewater treatment plant built?

In 2019, Noel Newsome spoke to the Papatoetoe Historical Society about his work with Stresscrete, the Mt Wellington firm that made precast concrete panels for the digesters. The panels were cast at the factory, then transported to Māngere at night as they were needed.

Noel’s account gives us a glimpse of the people and practical work behind a major part of Auckland’s infrastructure.

Read the blog to learn more about Noel’s talk and the history of the Māngere wastewater treatment plant: https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/23/noel-newsome-on-building-the-mangere-wastewater-treatment-plant-digesters/

📸 Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant, 2010. Photograph Watercare Services Ltd. The circular structures are reactor clarifiers which cleans the liquid effluent

21/09/2026

Kia ora koutou,

You are warmly invited to the opening of Are You Prepared? Local Extreme Weather Exhibition at Papatoetoe Museum.

The exhibition brings together local flood and weather stories from Ōtara and Papatoetoe, alongside practical information and resources to help our communities prepare for future extreme weather events.

EXHIBITION OPENING:
Date: Thursday 24 September 2026
Time: 11.30am to 12.30pm
Venue: Papatoetoe Museum, 35 St George Street, Papatoetoe

The exhibition will now run until Saturday 21 November 2026.

Entry is free. The Museum is open Thursdays from 11am to 3pm, every third Saturday from 1pm to 4pm, and has extended opening hours during the school holidays:

Tuesday 29 September 2026 10am-2pm
Wednesday 30 September 2026 10am-2pm
Thursday 1 October 2026 10am-3pm
Saturday 3 October 2026 10am-2pm
Tuesday 6 October 2026 10am-2pm
Wednesday 7 October 2026 10am-2pm
Thursday 8 October 2026 10am-3pm
Saturday 10 October 2026 10am-2pm

We look forward to welcoming you at the opening, or to the exhibition during its run.

17/09/2026

As part of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2026, we are sharing some of the Māori history of Papatoetoe.

This year’s theme is “Ake, Ake, Ake, A Forever Language”, with a focus on Te Reo Towns and the communities that have kept te reo Māori alive.

A brief history of Papatoetoe

Extract from the Papatoetoe Heritage Trail 2013, an Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board publication.

Kohuora ki te uru, Tāmaki moana ki uta he toetoe hei tīpare ki waenganui.

Kohuora to the west, the shores of the Tāmaki river, and a headdress of toetoe in the middle.

Te Ākitai whakataukī (proverb) describes the boundaries of Papatoetoe, with the Kohuora Crater to the west, the shores of the Tāmaki River to the east, and Papatoetoe in the middle as the garland headdress.

Papatoetoe was a portage area for early ancestors of the Tainui canoe and Te Waiohua, and an important trade link for many Māori on the east and west coasts until the 1860s. Goods such as vegetables, dried fish, and flax were transported by canoe via Papatoetoe for trade in the wider Tāmaki Makaurau area.

However, the flat narrow terrain was not ideal for pā (fortified settlements) because of the numerous war parties passing through during the 1700s and early 1800s. One pā site of which remnants survive (Kohuora Pā) is now part of the Hillside South Park.

The name Papatoetoe, ‘flat land where the toetoe grows’, came into use in the late 1850s. The misspelled version ‘Papatoitoi’ was more common until 1897, when the name of the local post office was changed to ‘Papatoetoe’.

📸 Toi Toi Artwork 2024, creator unknown.

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/content/dam/ac/docs/arts-culture-heritage/papatoetoe-heritage-trail.pdf

15/09/2026

A Local Politician’s Memoirs, Ian McGechie

For 30 years, Ian McGechie represented Papatoetoe through major changes in local government, from Papatoetoe City Council to Manukau City Council and the Ōtara Papatoetoe Local Board.

In his memoirs, first published in the Papatoetoe Historical Society Newsletter in October 2013, Ian recalls the Allan Brewster Recreation Centre, Papatoetoe’s heated swimming pool, Hunters Plaza, the Sports Centre, rail improvements and more.

Read the full story on our blog:
https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/13/memoirs-of-a-local-politician-ian-mcgechie/

📸 Members of the final Papatoetoe City Council, 1987 to 1989. Ian Christopher McGechie is second from left in the back row. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, Footprints 02179. Reproduced courtesy of Papatoetoe Historical Society.

Group portrait of the members of the final Papatoetoe City Council, 1987 - 1989 (before Papatoetoe amalgamated with Manukau City in 1989). Back row, left to right: Kenneth David Mahon, Ian Christopher McGechie, Robert Neil Ballingall, Brian Roberts Harkness, Graham Murray Jones, Stephen Grey, Steven Alan Rogerson, Norman Eric Taylor. Front row: Cushla Mavourneen Wren, Patricia Oliver, Allan Walter Brewster (mayor), Colleen McMurchy-Pilkington, Gwendoline Audrey Smith. This photograph was taken in the Council chambers.

Address

35 St George Street, Papatoetoe
Auckland
2025

Opening Hours

11am - 3pm

Telephone

+6492785447

Website

https://papatoetoemuseumblog.wordpress.com/

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