Eastern Beach 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. Early ancestor Tāiki settled with his followers along the eastern shores of the Tāmaki River, alongside the descendants of Huiārangi of the early
iwi Te Tini ō Maruiwi. The traditional name for Eastern Beach is Okokino, and the headland south of the beach was known by the name Ngataieura. Most members of Ngāi Tai fled to the
Waikato for temporary refuge during this time, and when English missionary
William Thomas Fairburn visited the area in 1833, it was mostly unoccupied. In 1836, 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 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. From 1880 until 1922, John Granger operated a lime factory at Eastern Beach, where local shells were crushed and burned. Eastern Beach and Bucklands Beach became a popular holiday destination from the 1910s. The Buckland farm was first subdivided in 1916 when
Bucklands Beach was established, and the Devonport Steamship Company constructed a second wharf at Bucklands Beach for passenger services. During this time,
phoenix palms were planted at Eastern Beach, to give the area a tropical appearance. In 1923, Eastern Beach was subdivided and established as a housing estate, and in 1934 became a regularly used site for the Auckland Caravaning Club. During
World War II, concrete pillboxes were built at each end of Eastern Beach on the clifftops by local residents. After the establishment of
Howick as a borough in 1952, the area rapidly developed suburban housing. ==Facilities==