Everything about Devonport New Zealand totally explained
Devonport is a seaside suburb of
Auckland,
New Zealand. In 2006 it had a population of 11,142.
It is located on the
North Shore, at the southern end of a peninsula that runs south from near
Lake Pupuke in
Takapuna, extending five kilometres into the
Waitemata Harbour. At the south-eastern end of the peninsula is
North Head, the northern promontory guarding the mouth of the harbour. Directly opposite it on the south shore is
Bastion Point. To the east it's separated from
Rangitoto Island by the
Rangitoto Channel. The suburb hosts the
Devonport Naval Base of the
Royal New Zealand Navy, the main facility for the country's naval vessels.
Character
The Devonport shops contain a fair array of antique & gift shops as well a number of good cafes and restaurants making it a popular destination for tourists and Aucklanders. People often travel over from Auckland on the ferry for dinner, the starry sky and glittering lights of Auckland on the return trip being very beautiful. For its shoreside feel, Devonport has also been compared in feel to
Sausalito, California.
Day trips combining a meal in Devonport with a trip up
Mt Victoria or an exploration of the military emplacements on nearby North Head are also very popular. Devonport is also noted for the popular annual event, the Devonport Food & Wine Festival, as well as for the Devonport Museum located near Mt. Cambria.
The navy base at Devonport features strongly in the local character, with the North Shore City Council having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Navy which recognises the developing partnership between them.
History
Overview
Around 40,000 years ago Devonport consisted of three islands of volcanic origin,
Mount Victoria,
North Head and between them Mount Cambria (now largely quarried away).
The earliest evidence for (
Maori) settlement dates from the mid-
1300s (roughly during the same time as the landing of the Tainui
waka which is commemorated by a stone memorial on the foreshore). The last remaining significant Maori settlement in the area, on
North Head, was wiped out by rival tribes in the
1790s.
Jules Dumont d'Urville, a French explorer, is to have gone ashore in the area in 1827, possibly as the first European. Only a thin strip of land beside the beach at Narrow Neck connected Devonport to Belmont and the rest of the North Shore peninsula. In the late
19th century the
mangrove swamp that stretched from Narrow Neck to
Ngataringa Bay was filled in to form a racecourse, now a golf course. Devonport achieved
Borough status in 1886 and was incorporated into
North Shore City in 1989.
Ferries
The first
ferry services to Auckland city began in the
1840s These were open sailing cutters operated by local seamen running passengers to the foot of
Queen Street Auckland's main road. In
1860 the first
paddlesteamer ferries began operation.
Recently, in July 2007, Devonport was given permission to be excluded from a list of local Auckland growth node centres. The
Auckland Regional Council accepted that while it was encouraging intensified growth (such as higher-density housing) around transport nodes such as Devonport, the character and historical nature of the Devonport Wharf area would make such a designation inappropriate in this case.
Notable people
Members of bands The Veils, The Electric Confectionaires and The Checks grew up in Devonport.
Dove-Myer Robinson, a former Auckland Mayor, attended Devonport Primary School.
Isabel Maude Peacocke, teacher, novelist, broadcaster, born in Devonport in 1881.
Gallery
Image:Auckland_from_devonport.jpg|Auckland City viewed from the top of Mount Victoria, Devonport
Image:Devonport_mist.jpg|Devonport on a Misty Morning
Image:Devonport_waterfront.jpg|Devonport Waterfront with a large Pohutukawa tree
Further Information
Get more info on 'Devonport New Zealand'.
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