Mount Roskill

Mount Roskill is a suburban area in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is named for the volcanic peak Puketāpapa (commonly called "Mount Roskill" in English).

Mount Roskill / Mt Roskill
Suburb
Mount Roskill from Big King. The Waitākere Ranges in the background.
Location of Mount Roskill in Auckland.
Mount Roskill / Mt Roskill
Location of Mount Roskill in Auckland.
Coordinates: 36.912594°S 174.737259°E / -36.912594; 174.737259
CountryNew Zealand
Local authorityAuckland Council
Owairaka, Sandringham Balmoral, Eden Valley Mount Eden
New Windsor, New Zealand, Wesley
Mount Roskill / Mt Roskill
 Three Kings
Lynfield Waikowhai Hillsborough

Description
A Maori carved gate at the Winstone Park on the road to Mount Roskill

The suburb, named after the Mount, is located seven kilometres to the south of the city centre, and is surrounded by the neighbouring suburbs of Three Kings, Sandringham, Wesley, Hillsborough and Mount Albert. The Mount Roskill shops are located at the intersection of Mount Albert and Dominion Roads.

In the 1920s, a new subdivision off Dominion Road was established. It was named the Victory Estate after notable First World War personnel.[1]

One of the city's larger suburbs, it was largely farmland until after the Second World War. It was a separate borough from 1947 until local government reorganisation in 1989 amalgamated it with Auckland City.

In the past, Mount Roskill was referred to as the Bible Belt of Auckland,[2] as it contained the highest number of churches per capita in New Zealand.[3] The electorate was one of the last in the country to go "wet", in 1999, having formally been a dry area where the selling of alcohol was prohibited.[4]

Mount Roskill is one of the most ethnically diverse suburbs in New Zealand with a mix of Indians, Pacific Islanders, Europeans, and various East and South Asian peoples residing in the community and representing at least 54 different nationalities. The area has also begun attracting people of African and Latin American origin.

The local secondary school is Mount Roskill Grammar.

Local government

Mount Roskill had a local government like other suburbs of Auckland at the time. The local government was called Mount Roskill Borough Council, which started in 1947 and merged into Auckland City Council in 1989 and then eventually merged into Auckland Council in 2010.

Mayors (1947–1989)
  • Charles M. McCullough, 1947–1950
  • Philip Ernest Potter, 1950–1953
  • Keith W. Hay, 1953–1974
  • Richard Noel Fickling, 1974–1987
  • David J. Hay, 1987–1989

Library

Mt Roskill Library[5] was built and opened to public in August 1977. It was refurbished and the floor area extended in November 2011. Mt Roskill Library has English, Maori, Chinese, Tamil, Arabic and Somali collections.

Sport and recreation

Mount Roskill Rugby Football Club, Bay Roskill Vikings, and Eden Roskill District Cricket Club are based in the suburb.

Dominion Road School
Dominion Road School
Address
14 Quest Terrace,
Mt Roskill,
Auckland,
New Zealand
Coordinates36.904472°S 174.743460°E / -36.904472; 174.743460
Information
TypeState, Co-educational, Primary
MottoOnward and Upward
Ministry of Education Institution no.1261
PrincipalLesley Mitchell
School roll284[6] (March 2020)
Socio-economic decile3
Websitedominionrd.school.nz

Dominion Road School - He Maunga Teitei is a multicultural decile 3 primary school on Quest Terrace with a roll of 284 students (as of March 2020).[6] The principal is Lesley Mitchell, who started at the end of 2017. The school caters to students from Year 0 to Year 6. It is located close to the central city.

People

Mount Roskill has been home to many successful New Zealanders who attended the local schools. Among them are:

In 2007, the Mount Roskill Community Board commissioned a 176-page book titled Just Passing Through: A History of Mt Roskill (Jade Reidy) which covered the growth of the district from 1840 up until the present time. It identified the significant input of Mount Roskill residents internationally, such as athletics coach Arthur Lydiard in the chapter "How Sport Put Mt Roskill on the World Map."

References
  1. Graves, Joanne. "Mt Roskill's Victory Estate". Heritage et AL. Auckland Libraries.
  2. "Mt Roskill". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  3. "God and money: Interactive map shows rich suburbs have most atheists". New Zealand Herald. 13 May 2015. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  4. "Tawa ditches prohibition a century after banning alcohol - 150 years of news". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 26 April 2020.

Bibliography
  • Nicola Legat:"In God We Trust? The Mount Roskillisation of Auckland" Metro 152 (February 1994): 58–67.
  • David Craig: "Thin Topsoil: Queer Blokes, Moral Modernity and Real Estate Politics in New Zealand's Biggest Borough" in Ian Carter, David Craig and Steve Matthewman: Almighty Auckland? Palmerston North: Dunmore Press: 2004: ISBN 0-86469-452-0
  • Jade Reidy Just Passing Through: The Making of Mt Roskill (c) 2007 Auckland City Council ISBN 978-1-877362-18-7
  • City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland - Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. ISBN 0-582-71784-1.
  • Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide. Hayward, B.W., Murdoch, G., Maitland, G.; Auckland University Press, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.