The Cockle Bay area is part of the
rohe of
Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, who descend from the crew of the
Tainui migratory waka, who visited the area around the year 1300. The traditional name for the bay and surrounding area is Tūwakamana, a shortened version of Te Tūranga-waka-ā-Manawatere. The name recalls the story of the arrival of the
Tainui. When the crew arrived, they noticed that Tainui ancestor Manawatere had recently visited the bay, and left a
red ochre marking on a
pōhutukawa tree, as a sign that the bay was a good place to settle. The area was widely cultivated by Ngāi Tai, and protected by the Tūwakamana Pā at Cockle Bay, which commanded a view of the wider
Turanga Estuary. Tūwakamana Pā was built by the ancestor Keteanatua, and was abandoned in 1821 during the
Musket Wars. In 1836, English Missionary
William Thomas Fairburn brokered a land sale between
Tāmaki Māori chiefs covering the majority of modern-day
South Auckland,
East Auckland and the
Pōhutukawa Coast. The sale was envisioned as a way to end hostilities in the area, but it is unclear what the chiefs understood or consented to. Māori continued to live in the area, unchanged by this sale. In 1847,
Howick township was established as a defensive outpost for Auckland, by fencibles (retired
British Army soldiers) and their families. In 1854 when Fairburn's purchase was investigated by the
New Zealand Land Commission, a Ngāi Tai reserve was created around the
Wairoa River and
Umupuia areas, and as a part of the agreement, members of Ngāi Tai agreed to leave their traditional settlements to the west, near Howick. The area was subdivided in September 1923, advertised as Cockle Bay Estate, a seaside resort. The new residents of Cockle Bay formed a close-knit community, separate from the nearby township of Howick. During the 1920s, the Chinese community in New Zealand organised large-scale picnics, that were held at Cockle Bay. In 1934, a nine-hole golf course was established at Cockle Bay, moving to
Musick Point in 1954. After the 1950s, the holiday community gradually became a suburb of Auckland. The community held annual
Guy Fawkes bonfires from the 1960s until the early 1970s, where competitions were held for the best effigy to burn. ==Demographics==