Editing Mount Roskill (section)

===Early history and colonial era===
[[File:Maori carvings at the Winstone Park.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Māori culture|Māori]] carved gate at Winstone Park on the road to [[Puketāpapa]]/Mount Roskill]]

The area has been settled by [[Tāmaki Māori]] [[iwi]] [[hapū]] and since at least the 13th century.<ref name="Waikōwhai Coast">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/how-auckland-council-works/local-boards/all-local-boards/puketapapa-local-board/docsheritagestudies/waikowhai-coast-heritage-study.pdf |title=Waikōwhai Coast Heritage Study |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Pishief |first2=Brendan |last2=Shirley|date=August 2015|publisher=[[Auckland Council]]|access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref> The [[Oakley Creek]], traditionally known as Te Auaunga,<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/how-auckland-council-works/local-boards/all-local-boards/whau-local-board/Documents/whau-neighbourhood-greenways.pdf |title=Whau Neighbourhood Greenways |date=August 2015 |author=[[Whau Local Board]] |access-date=21 July 2022}}</ref> was a [[crayfish]], eels and [[weka]] for [[Tāmaki Māori]]. Harakeke ([[Phormium tenax|New Zealand flax]]) and [[raupō]], which grew along the banks of the creek, were harvested here to create [[Māori traditional textiles]].{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=12–17}} By the early 18th century, the area was within the [[rohe]] of [[Waiohua]].<ref name="Waikōwhai Coast"/> In this period, Puketāpapa was the site of a fortified [[pā]].{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=19}} After the defeat of [[Kiwi Tāmaki]], the paramount chief of the iwi, the area became part of the rohe of [[Ngāti Whātua]] (modern-day [[Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei]]).<ref name="Waikōwhai Coast"/><ref name="Kāwharu_lecture">{{cite speech |title=Land and Identity in Tāmaki: a Ngāti Whātua Perspective |first=Hugh |last=Kāwharu |author-link=Hugh Kāwharu |event=[[Edmund Hillary|Hillary]] Lecture |location=Auckland, New Zealand |institution=[[Auckland War Memorial Museum]] |date=2001 |url=http://tekakano.aucklandmuseum.com/images/common/landandidentitylecturenotes.pdf |access-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102043426/https://tekakano.aucklandmuseum.com/images/common/landandidentitylecturenotes.pdf |archive-date=2 November 2021}}</ref> During the early 19th century, the focus of life for Ngāti Whātua was at [[Onehunga]] and [[Māngere Bridge (suburb)|Māngere]],<ref name="OnehungaHeritageReport">{{Cite web| first=Malcolm |last=Patterson | title = Ngati Whatua o Orakei Heritage Report for State Highway 20; Transit Manukau Harbour Crossing  |url=https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/FileAPI/proposal/NSP000038/Evidence/8168b606f5/EWL-Rebuttal-Ngati-Whatua-O-Orakei-Onehunga-Report-MPatterson.pdf |date=21 March 2008 | publisher = [[Environmental Protection Authority (New Zealand)|Environmental Protection Authority]] | access-date = 21 October 2021 |pages=6–7}}</ref> and the Mount Roskill area was used seasonally.<ref name="Kāwharu_lecture"/>

Mount Roskill formed a part of a land sale between Ngāti Whātua and the [[New Zealand Government|Crown]] on 29 June 1841.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=19}} In 1845, Alexander Kennedy of the Union Bank of Australia, purchased much of the area from the Crown, on-selling this to Joseph May in 1849.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=19}} The Crown sold further parcels of land to settlers in 1848 and 1849,{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=28}} and the area developed into farmland by the late 19th century.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=59–60}} A number of large country estates owned by wealthier families were found in the Mount Roskill farmland, such as Joseph May's estate, which was redeveloped into the Akarana Golf Clubhouse.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=29, 32}} The area was known to early settlers as a good location for raising ducks and geese, and as a source of water for cattle.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=12}} While the area close to [[Three Kings, New Zealand|Three Kings]] in the north had fertile farmland, the southern area of Mount Roskill along the Hillsborough ridge was not as profitable.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=59–60}}

In the early 1910s, Mount Roskill became known for its strawberry farms, primarily those operated by William Johnston and Teddy Edwards. After [[World War I]] and the return of servicemen, a number of unprofitable strawberry farms were set up in the area, crashing the strawberry market only a decade later.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=59–60}} During the 1920s, [[Chinese New Zealander]]s Quong Sing and Wong Key developed [[market gardens]] at Mount Roskill.{{sfn|Reidy|2013|pp=59–60}}