Manukau City

Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is also referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does not encompass areas such as East Auckland, which was within the city boundary. It was a relatively young city, both in terms of legal status and large-scale settlement – though in June 2010, it was the third largest in New Zealand, and the fastest growing. In the same year, the entire Auckland Region was amalgamated under a single city authority, Auckland Council.

The name Manukau, originating from the Manukau Harbour to the west, is of Māori origin, and means "only birds" ("manu kau"), although it has been suggested that the original name of the harbour was Mānuka, meaning a marker post with which an early chief is said to have claimed the area.

In 1965, the name "Manukau" won a public poll of the residents of Manukau County and Manurewa Borough as the new district's name, which the New Zealand Geographic Board approved for "Auckland's new southern city".

Manukau City was formed by the amalgamation of Manukau County and Manurewa Borough in 1965. The council originally housed their offices at the Nathan Estate (now the Auckland Botanic Gardens, until permanent offices were constructed. The initial proposal for amalgamation included the boroughs of Otahuhu, Papatoetoe, Howick, and Papakura but the aforementioned boroughs opposed amalgamation.

Manukau County was reduced in size on the 1st April, 1912, with the southern portion of the county forming the new Franklin County.

In 1923, Manukau County covered 195 sq mi (510 km²) and had a population of 6,146, with 163 mi (262 km) of gravel roads, 90 mi (140 km) of mud roads and 115 mi (185 km) of tracks.

The Manukau City area is concentrated immediately to the south of the Ōtāhuhu isthmus, the narrowest connection between Auckland City and the Northland region and the rest of the North Island. At its narrowest, between the Otahuhu Creek arm of the Tamaki River (itself an estuarial arm of the Hauraki Gulf) in the east and the Māngere Inlet (an arm of the Manukau Harbour) to the west, the isthmus is only some 1500 metres across.

The area to the south of the isthmus contains the heart of Manukau, sprawled on either side of state highways 1 and 20, the latter of which approaches from the west after crossing Māngere Bridge. The area known as Manukau Central is located close to the junction of these two highways, some 20 kilometres southeast of the centre of Auckland city.