Transmission troubles
The origin of South Auckland’s multitudinous rows of power pylons.
Bruce Ringer
Perhaps one of South Auckland’s most distinctive visual features is its numerous power pylons. These metal giants can be seen marching in multiple rows towards the horizon as you approach the city along the southern motorway. How long have they been there? The first line was erected in October 1927 to bring power from Arapuni to Penrose. In 1952 the pylons of this 110kV line were dwarfed by those of a 220kV line between Maraetai on the Waikato River and Otahuhu. A second 220kV line was completed in 1953.
The Whakamaru to Otahuhu line was built in 1959. About this time Hugh Watt, Minister in charge of the State Hydro Department, rejected a protest from the Great South Road Beautifying Council about the aesthetic effect of building pylons alongside the southern motorway. Some people, he suggested, considered that pylons had artistic merit.
In June 1980 the overhead line from Huntly was completed. South Auckland thus had its fifth row of power pylons. The original Arapuni line has since been removed, but over the years a number of branch transmission lines have also been built: between Bombay and the Glenbrook steel mill, across the Mangere inlet in 1964, between Otahuhu and Pakuranga in 1977.
In 2004 Transpower announced plans for a massive 400kV line between Whakamaru and Otahuhu that would have pylons of up to 70 metres high in rural areas. After objections from landowners, and a protracted legal struggle, a modified proposal gained final approval in May 2009. This time, the final nine kilometres through Otara and Flat Bush will go underground.
For more information: see 
Manukau’s Journey.
Publication record: first published in Connexions, no. 102, June 2009, p. 6. Revised for publication on the Manukau Libraries website in September 2009.
Copyright © Manukau Libraries. This text may be freely used for the purposes of private study or research and for non-commercial publication provided that the author and Manukau Libraries are duly acknowledged.