'Manukau topics' provides access to brief histories of Counties-Manukau communities, information on selected historic sites and buildings in the area, and essays on a range of other historical topics. These are listed below in the following categories:

• Communities
• Agriculture and industry
• Government and politics
• Maori history
• Names
• People
• Places
• Transport.

Further items are being developed.  Your contributions are welcome. 

Communities

• A history of Manukau City Centre
• Manukau myths and memories
• The origins of the Otara market
• An Otara timeline
• The story of Randwick Park

Agriculture and industry

• The burning and sale of charcoal / Alan La Roche
• Gold mining in the nineteenth century / Alan La Roche
• The gathering and sale of kauri gum / Alan La Roche
• The gathering and sale of pig's ear fungus / Alan La Roche
• Transmission lines in South Auckland 

Government and politics

• Manukau City Council’s first computer
• Hugh Lambie, first mayor of Manukau
• A brief history of local government in Franklin
• A brief history of local government in Papakura
• A history of local government in the Manukau area
• Manukau City Council’s offices
• The first Manukau County, 1876-1912
• The formation of Manukau City in 1965
• Political party leaders from South Auckland
• The southern supercity of 1963 

Maori history

• A Howick tragedy / Alan La Roche
• Naming the Manukau (Manuka) Harbour
• Signing the Treaty in Manukau in 1840
• What happened at Mangere in 1863?

Names

• How Manukau city got its name
• Naming the Manukau (Manuka) Harbour

People

• Christmas in the nineteenth century
• The Clevedonaires: Manukau’s first pop group
• Graffiti: a brief history
• Hugh Lambie, first mayor of Manukau
• Manukau myths and memories
• Massey's South Auckland Cossacks
• A photographer's life / Murray C. Freer
• Political party leaders from South Auckland
• Selwyn’s sermon at Maraetai
• Springbok tours
• Vincent Ward and River Queen

Places

• Beachlands Memorial Hall
• Cambria Park / Jenny Clark
• The Dilworth Trust Board’s bridge to nowhere
• First World War memorials
• The old Wiri hall
• The flight of the Manurewa
• The origins of the Otara market
• Rainbow’s End Adventure Park
• St John’s Redoubt
• Selwyn’s sermon at Maraetai
• The story of the Massey Homestead / Christopher Paxton
• Vincent Ward and River Queen
• The Wiri Trust Hotel
• Woodside Methodist cemetery (brief version)
• Woodside Methodist cemetery (long version)

Transport

• The flight of the Manurewa
• James Stewart and the Auckland to Drury railway / Anne Stewart Ball
• The railway renewed: 150 years of railways in Manukau
• The southern motorway to Wiri in 1955
• Tolls on the Great South Road in the 1860s

Your contributions

Submissions of material for inclusion in 'Manukau topics' are welcome. Please contact the Manager Research Services, bruce.ringer@manukau.govt.nz, to discuss potential contributions.

Material may be previously published or original. Manukau Libraries reserves the right to submit contributions to peer review, to accept or reject submissions, and to undertake minor editing. Authors may retain or waive copyright at their discretion.