Henderson (Māori: Ōpanuku) is a major suburb of West Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of Auckland city centre, and two kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Whau River, a southwestern arm of the Waitematā Harbour. The suburb is located within the Henderson-Massey Local Board of the Waitākere Ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland Council.
Henderson is located between the Waitākere Ranges to the west, and the Te Atatū Peninsula in the east. The area is within the catchment of Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek, an estuarial arm of the upper Waitematā Harbour. The Opanuku, Oratia, Swanson, Momutu and Paremuka streams meet at Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek, to the north of Henderson.
Between 3 and 5 million years ago, tectonic forces uplifted the Waitākere Ranges and central Auckland, while subsiding the Manukau and upper Waitematā Harbours.[3] The land at Henderson is formed from Waitemata Group sandstone, which was previously found at the bottom of a deep sedimentary basin.[4] Land close to Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek and the Waitematā Harbour are formed from rhyolitic clays and peat, formed from eroding soil and interactions with the harbour.[4] Prior to human contact, the Henderson area was home to broadleaf forests, dominated by pūriri, karaka, kohekohe and māhoe trees.[5] The alluvial creek/harbour zone was favoured by kahikatea, pukatea and rātā, with tī kōuka (cabbage trees) flourishing in wetter sites.[5]
Henderson is in the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki,[6][7] and the name Ōpanuku refers to the Opanuku Stream, traditionally known as Te Wai-ō-Panuku ("The Stream of Panuku"), Panuku being the name of one of the earliest Te Kawerau ā Maki ancestors.[7] The lower Opanuku Stream area was called Waitaro, referring to the taro cultivations grown there.[7]
The point where the Opanuku and Oratia Streams meet (the Tui Glen Reserve / Falls Park area) is the beginning of Te Wai-o-Pareira, also known as the Henderson Creek, and the point where the creek became navigable by waka.[7] This point was strategically important to Te Kawerau ā Maki, and was the location of a small fortified pā known as Te Kōpua.[7] Kōpūpāka was the name of a kāinga close to Te Kōpua, which was used as a temporary settlement by Ngāti Whātua during the Musket Wars in the 1820s, during a brief lull in conflict.[8] After the Musket Wars, Te Kawerau ā Maki returned to the area in the 1830s, and most members chose to settle close to a defensive pā at Te Henga / Bethells Beach.[9]
Henderson is named after early colonial settler Thomas Henderson, a Scottish immigrant who purchased land from Ngati Whatua in 1844 and established a timber mill on the banks of Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek ca. 1847 to process the logs of kauri trees which were cut from the Henderson Valley and further upstream, from the eastern flanks of the Waitākere Ranges.[10] The community which developed around the mill was known as Henderson's Mill, and later the Henderson's Mill Settlement.[11] The first European settlers in the community were mill workers, who were joined gum diggers, farm workers and brick makers.[12] In 1855, George Pirrit and his son William Pirrit bought land at Henderson adjacent to the Oratia Stream, which they dammed in order to operate a water turbine, manufacturing iron heel and toe plates for boots.[13] In the following year, a hotel was opened on the town's main street.[12]