Early settlers arriving in Auckland, 1840-50, either got wet feet, or were piggy-backed ashore, because there was no reliable wharf. Sara Mathew, for instance, tells in her diary of the many landings ashore from a cutter, sometimes impossible because it was low-tide or because there was thick bush or mangroves right to the waterline. Wynyard Pier was recently mentioned on social media, whetting my appetite for more information about this long wharf and its access road, Short Street.
A wharf reaching into the Waitemata harbour from Short Street (the road survives today) was strenuously advocated by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wynyard of the 58th Regiment. The wharf was built by the Government under the superintendence of Auckland’s first harbourmaster, Captain David Rough. It opened in 1851, extending out into Official Bay, so named because many Government Officials took up residence on its shores. The pier was an extension of Short Street* so it was at first known as the Short-Street Pier but became Wynyard Pier, recognising Robert Wynyard’s patronage. The Pier would be a landmark for more than 60 years.
1866 map – John Vercoe and Edward Watson Harding, Auckland Libraries
In the above map it can be seen that the length of the pier was longer than Short Street and that by 1866 some coastline reclamation had already been carried out: the railway to and from eastern suburbs had been built along on the old foreshore, terminating with a platform at the pier. Jermyn Street, the former waterfont, became Anzac Avenue.
Today’s Locater: Anzac Avenue, as we know it today, marked Official Bay’s original shoreline. Short Street led straight on to Wynyard Pier, continuing out over the waters of the bay in line with the present Wynyard Steps, adjacent to the #816 Customhouse at 50 Anzac Avenue.
Short Street today, it once led straight down on to Wynyard Pier
Where once the Pier stood is, today, all reclaimed land on which has been constructed office buildings, roads, a railway and wharves.
First Wharf?
Some accounts say Wynyard Pier was “Auckland’s first wharf”, (Auckland Star, Memories of Olden Days,13 November 1923) and Auckland’s Harbourmaster, Captain H. H. Sergeant, in an address in 1930, “…the first jetty to be built was the Wynyard Pier, completed in 1851”.
Wynyard Pier stretches right across Official Bay – 1860s
– Hoyte, Alexander Turnbull Library
But it looks as if Wynyard Pier replaced an earlier jetty.
In a lengthy written legal opinion** on Wynyard Pier given to the Harbour Board in 1876, lawyer Joseph Tole advises that “…derived from authentic sources I can say, concisely as follows: in about the year 1849, a wharf was built on a site near to, but westward of the present Queen Street wharf. Being of a somewhat weak construction, this original wharf was blown, or washed, down not very long after its erection. With the salvage from this wreck and new material supplied by the Government, the wharf or pier, ever since known as Wynyard Pier, was erected, chiefly by the Imperial forces in Auckland at the time, under the supervision, and during the command of General (then Colonel) Wynyard, from whom, I believe, it took its name”.
So it appears soldiers helped build the T-shaped, wooden pier which extended about 500 feet (150m) into Official Bay straight off the end of Short Street, providing an all-tide wharf. According to the accounts for the Province of New Ulster, New Zealander 12th February 1853, the cost was £90.9.6.
Wynyard Pier’s “T” shape is plain to see: the wharf’s “an extension” of Short Street – Patrick Hogan,1850s, Alexander Turnbull Library
Landing Place and Watering Hole
It became the landing place for hundreds of Auckland pioneering families, taken ashore by small boats from immigrant sailing ships anchored in the harbour. Stepping ashore at the end of Wynyard Pier, the newly-arrived would have felt solid ground beneath their feet for the first time after lengthy sea voyages. And a bit strange, finally arriving in the unfamiliar place that they had chosen to re-settle.
The New Zealand Herald recalls in an article “The Romance of Auckland”, 7th September 1926, “…to supply ships in the harbour with water, they ran a pipeline from a spring in Waterloo Quadrant down to and along old Wynyard Pier, and to this the jack tars from H.M. ships came to fill their barrels with excellent water
Wynyard Pier 1865. The Railway Terminus Hotel (left, end of the wharf) and The Commodore’s House, centre, are both under construction
And then in 1860, the arrival of the military during the Lands conflicts, the famous 57th, Regiment, the “Die-hards”, for example, was considered the finest in India when it was ordered out to New Zealand. The Auckland Star recalled in an article, 11 December 1928, “its ranks were filled with veterans of the Crimea, men of splendid stature and muscular frames. An onlooker who saw the Regiment land on Wynyard Pier noted: “…the aspect of the 57th men, bronzed and warlike, with faces hard as the steel of their bayonets, was distinctly formidable”.
Wynyard Pier stretches out into Official Bay. The 3 storey stone building is probably Motion’s Mill.
The Pier, a focus of Early Auckland
Alongside the pier was Motion’s Mill, William Motion’s business later moved to Western Springs (Motions Road) which was to be taken over by Auckland City Council to help form Auckland’s water reservoir. A shed beside the entrance to the Pier was headquarters for the Waitemata Rowing Club and the Pier was often the designated start/finish line for races in numerous boating regattas held over the decades. The Commodore’s (or Admiral’s) House overlooked the bay.
Official Bay. Short Street extreme right, first Commodore’s House (built 1865) centre and St Paul’s Cathedral left – Auckland Libraries Collection
The Pier was part of the “commute” in those early days. The New Zealand Herald, 16th August 1928, recalls “Parnell residents had pretty harbour bays almost at their feet… and they used to row from Parnell to Wynyard Pier, tether their boats and then walk to town”.
The end of the Pier was strictly guarded in1864 because anchored nearby was the hulk of the “Marion”, pressed into service as a jail for about 200 imprisoned Maori following the battle of Rangiriri and other skirmishes. Escape from the “Marion” was always a possibility, and the Pier was seen as a natural fast-track to downtown Auckland… and liberty… so armed Waikato militiamen were guarded the scene around the clock. “Marion” later transported the prisoners to Kawau Island where they were to be overseen by Sir George Grey who accepted responsibility for their incarceration. But one night, about a year after they had arrived, while Grey was absent from the island there was a mass escape to the mainland.
Socially, another Herald article notes “…that romantic Wynyard Pier, whereon the crinolined ladies of the 1860s were wont to take their afternoon promenade, especially on bright summer afternoons. Sundays, you could hear the music on the breeze from concerts given by military bands up at Albert Barracks. And then there was the skylarking following Grand Balls at Government House… “these major social events usually commenced at 9 or half-past, and finished about three or four in the morning, subsequently the ‘small and earlys’ became the vogue. It was a common thing to see officers and civilians go direct from Government House down Short Street to the Wynyard Pier in the wee small hours for a dip as a refresher”.
Official Bay and Wynyard Pier with, straight opposite, centre, Short Street up the hill to Eden Crescent – Auckland War Memorial Museum Collection
It was also the start point, for decades, of harbour excursions and cruises on public ferries. Another pioneer recalled in the late1890s “…less than 20 years ago, I used to call at a fisherman’s smoke-hut for the purchase of an occasional smoked schnapper!” Indeed, some accounts call the Pier “a haven for the fishing fleet”.
The Pier was extended in 1899, beyond the railway reclamation, but demolished around 1913 to make way for even more foreshore reclamation. Numerous other wharves had been built over the decades: Wynyard Pier was dispensable.
1880s – reclamation and the railway took over the foreshore, the remains of Wynyard Pier out in the bay survived a little longer – J. D. Richardson, Auckland Libraries Collection
One aging pioneer subsequently mused that “Wynyard Pier, once central to water-borne transport on the harbour, had made way for the new method of getting about: it is now the site of the number one platform at the railway station!” And the aptly named Railway Terminus Hotel situated at the corner of Jermyn Street (now Anzac Avenue) and Short Street (1861-1896), attested to the proximity of Auckland’s original railway station. 150 years later the site of that station has been “recycled”, now the approaches to Waitemata (Britomart) Station, hub of the city’s new commuter rail network.
*Short Street was named for Ellery Short, governess employed by the Hobsons (William, first Governor of New Zealand, and Eliza). Ellery married Captain David Rough on 22nd December 1841.
** Joseph Tole, an eminent lawyer, as reported in the New Zealand Herald, 18th June 1876, gave advice to the Harbour Board about public access across the railway lines which had been formed along the foreshore on reclaimed land. The new tracks effectively cut off ready access between Short Street and the Pier, a thoroughfare citizens claimed, as of right. The Harbour Board sought clarity. Tole, in his legal opinion, first set out the history of the Pier, then gave his reasoning why the jetty and its approaches comprised a public place. He opined that there were unacceptable risks faced by pedestrians while crossing the train line… in exercising their right of access… and that redress would be satisfied if a safe crossing was provided under or over the track. (After years of wrangling and stalling the Government decided in 1887 to erect a footbridge, part financed by local subscription led by the owner of the Railway Terminus Hotel).
RCC June 2025
Sources
Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand, accessed May/June 2025
Atlas of New Zealand Wars, Vol 1, Derek Leask, Auckland University Press, 2025
Auckland Libraries Collections
Auckland War Memorial Museum Collection
