Ōpoutūkeha / Cox’s Creek (‘Opou’) only really exists as a tidal creek running a few hundred metres from Richmond Road to Cox’s Bay. Upstream,it is entirely piped, only making its presence felt when heavy rains flood Grey Lynn Park and Hakanoa Reserve.
The slopes between Ponsonby and Westmere drain into Ōpoutūkeha / Cox’s Creek. It was an area where Māori once cultivated kumara. Flax was harvested at Tukitukimuta (the beating of the flax), a spring in the creek’s headwaters in today’s upper Pollen St. The spring later supplied water to the DYC vinegar factory that occupied the site from 1921 until 2010.
The whole area formed part of the second block of land ‘bought’ from Tāmaki Māori. It was subsequently turned into farmland and, from the late nineteenth century, gradually sliced up into residential lots. The deep gullies of the Ōpoutūkeha tributaries were initially spanned by plank bridge connecting the rough tracks that linked the houses. But as the Surrey Hills Estate gradually turned into the suburb of Grey Lynn the gullies were filled in and the tributaries piped underground.
The remaining (frequently polluted) gullies lower down the catchment were a popular place for kids to play until they were converted into the playing fields of Grey Lynn Park around 1914.
As a former wetland, Grey Lynn Park occasionally floods during heavy rain. An embankment (known as ‘the bund’) at the northern end help the park to increase how much water is can retain, intentionally turning it into a shallow lake for a few hours. This generally prevents flooding downstream, but the Anniversary weekend rains in January 2023 exceeded the bund’s capacity and it overflowed with significant downstream impacts.
Hakanoa Group
Extension to Hakanoa Reserve
xx do weeding and planting in Roase Road Gully
CVNZ manage trapping across the park
Hakanoa Reserve has received a good deal of TLC over the years
Nick Goldwater is doing good work in the wetland.
Talk about a vision for the creek.
Opou wetland
In its more navigable days Cox’s Creek was home to Cashmore Bros sawmill which ran from 1899 until it burned down in 1920. It was located just upstream from West End Road, a site now abandonned, though part of the area has been restored as a wetland in recent years by local resident Nick Goldwater.
Rose Road Gully
Extra material
Evelyn Tattesfield (1875-1954)
The Tattersfields embarked on the manufacture of mattresses which were superior to those they were able to buy7. They set up a factory in Grey Lynn in 1907 and manufactured mattresses, down pillow„ quilts, wire wove beds and blankets. Evelyn was a founding partner and James W. Tattersfield Ltd and handled the accounts. The family lived next to the factory but, when the company listed publicly in 1912 and the factory was rebuilt, they purchased Piriri Puke in Allendale Rd. A further business venture as Tattersfield Textiles. Evelyn designed many of the original woollen rug patterns.