Don Brash
Donald Thomas Brash a New Zealand politician, was Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the National Party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006, the Leader of the ACT Party from 28 April 2011 to 26 November 2011. Before entering Parliament, Brash was Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 1988 to 2002. At the New Zealand general election on 17 September 2005, National under Brash's leadership made major gains and achieved what was at the time the party's best result since the institution of the mixed-member proportional electoral system in 1993, compared with their worst result in 2002 under the leadership of his predecessor, Bill English. Final results placed National two seats behind the incumbent New Zealand Labour Party, with National unable to secure a majority from the minor parties to form a governing coalition. In late November 2006 Brash resigned as National Party Leader, from Parliament in February 2007. In October 2008 he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Banking in the Business School at the Auckland University of Technology, an Adjunct Professor in the School of Economics and Finance at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
On 30 April 2011 Brash became the Leader of ACT New Zealand after his bid for its leadership was accepted and he was confirmed by the ACT caucus and board. He resigned that year on 26 November 2011 due to ACT's poor showing in the election, its failure to gain any seats apart from its electorate strong-hold of Epsom. Don Brash was born to Alan Brash, a Presbyterian minister and son of prominent lay leader Thomas Brash, Eljean Brash, in Whanganui on 24 September 1940, his family moved to Christchurch. He attended Cashmere Primary School and Christchurch Boys' High School before going to the University of Canterbury where he graduated in economics and political science, he continued his studies in economics, receiving his master's degree in 1961 for a thesis arguing that foreign investment damaged a country's economic development. The following year he began working towards a PhD. In 1964 Brash married his first wife, with whom he had two children. In the 1980s he and his Singaporean secretary, Je Lan Lee, entered into a relationship.
Both were married at the time. He separated from his first wife in four months after they were divorced he married Lee. In 2007, his second marriage broke up, following an affair with Diane Foreman Deputy Chair of the Business Round Table. Brash and Lee had one child together. Brash went to Washington, D. C. in the United States in 1966 to work as an economist for the World Bank. However, he returned to New Zealand in 1971 to become general manager of Broadbank Corporation, a merchant bank. Brash's first entry into politics came in 1980 when the National Party selected him to stand as its candidate in the by-election in the East Coast Bays electorate. Brash's attempt at the seat, failed – some believe that this resulted from the decision by Robert Muldoon, National Party Prime Minister, to raise tolls on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, an important route for East Coast Bays residents; the seat went to Gary Knapp of the Social Credit Party. Brash again failed to win the seat at the general election of 1981.
In 1982 Brash became managing director at the New Zealand Kiwifruit Authority, which oversaw the export of kiwifruit. In 1986 he became general manager of a newly established banking group. In 1988 Brash became governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, a position which he held for the next 14 years. Brash met Government-set targets to keep inflation within 3% during his time as governor, during his tenure interest-rates dropped from double-digit to single-digit percentages. Aside from monetary policy, Brash presided over significant changes in banking supervision, with the New Zealand approach emphasising public disclosure by banks regarding the nature of their assets and liabilities. Under his governorship, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand established a new model of the relationship between government and central bank – not independent, like the Bundesbank in Germany, not dominated by government, as was typical of most central banks at the time, but one where government and central bank agreed in public about the inflation rate to be delivered by the central bank, where the central bank had full independence to run monetary policy to deliver that, where the central bank's governor was held accountable for the inflation outcome.
It was the Reserve Bank Act 1989 which established this contractual relationship between the Bank and the Government, rather than giving direct control to Ministers of Finance. Changes took place in the currency used in New Zealand during Brash's tenure, notably the introduction of polymer banknotes, the replacement of Queen Elizabeth's face on most of the banknotes; as of February 2017, many banknotes in circulation still carry the signature of Brash from his term as governor. There is a range of opinion on Brash's performance as Reserve Bank governor; the New Zealand Association of Economists describe Brash's success in establishing an independent central bank with an inflation target and in reducing inflation as a highlight of his career. Documentary maker Alister Barry described Brash as "an extremist, an idealist" whose "ideal world is where the free market reigns supreme". Barry considered that Brash manipulated public opinion towards neo-liberal economics and gave as examples Brash's advocacy for abolishing the minimum wage and his Hayek Memorial Lecture to the
Auckland Libraries
Auckland Libraries is the public library system for the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It was created when the seven separate councils in the Auckland region merged in 2010, it is the largest public-library network in the Southern Hemisphere with 55 branches from Wellsford to Waiuku. In November 2010, Auckland's local councils merged to create the Auckland Council; as a result of this process, the seven public library systems within the region were combined to form Auckland Libraries. The following library networks were amalgamated, forming Auckland Libraries: Auckland City Libraries Bookinopolis Manukau Libraries North Shore Libraries Papakura Library Services – The Sir Edmund Hillary Library Rodney Libraries Waitakere Libraries In the years leading up to the merger of the library systems within Auckland, the separate library systems combined to form a consortium in order to align their processes; this organisation was called eLGAR. This consortium settled on Millenium as their Library Management System, the libraries within this system all moved to this software.
The result was that the library systems were able to offer their customers a seamless transition to membership of the larger network, with immediate access to all 55 libraries from November 1, 2010. Prior to amalgamation, Auckland City Libraries was a network of 17 public libraries and a mobile library operated by Auckland City Council. In September 1880, Auckland City Council took responsibility for the library of the Auckland Mechanics' Institute which had come under financial difficulties; the Mechanics’ Institute was formed in 1842 and the items remaining in its library, along with items from the Library of the old Auckland Provincial Council, were included in the collection of the Auckland Free Public Library. In 1887, George Grey donated around 8,000 books, doubling the existing collection, a new building was erected for the library on the corner of Wellesley and Coburg streets. At the time, this building housed the entire collection for the Auckland public library, in addition to the city's art collection.
Additionally, from its inception in 1916 until it was closed in 1957, The Old Colonists’ Museum was in this building. This building is now the Auckland Art Gallery; the building on Lorne Street that houses the Central City library was opened in 1971. Before amalgamation, three public libraries—Pukekohe and Tuakau—made up a network known as "Bookinopolis". A municipal library had first been established at Pukekohe in 1913 and at Waiuku in 1946, in each case taking over an existing subscription library. Tuakau Public Library was opened in 1977. After local-body amalgamation in 1989, these three libraries formed the Franklin District library system. In 2000, this was taken over by the Franklin District Library Trust; the Trust renamed its library system "Bookinopolis". In 2010, the Pukekohe and Waiuku libraries became branches of Auckland Libraries, due to boundary changes, Tuakau was taken over by Waikato Dictrict Council; when Manukau City Council was formed by the amalgamation of Manukau County and Manurewa Borough in 1965, it took over responsibility for a small subscription library at Māngere East and volunteer-run community libraries in Alfriston, Clevedon, Kawakawa Bay, Orere Point and Weymouth.
The newly formed city opened its first full-service public library at Manurewa in 1967. This was followed by children’s libraries at both Otara and Māngere East in 1969, branch libraries at Pakuranga in 1973 and Manukau City Centre in 1976, a combined school and public library at Ngā Tapuwae College in 1978. Came Māngere Bridge in 1979, Māngere Town Centre in 1980 and Highland Park in 1987. Local-body amalgamation in 1989 saw two more libraries added to the system: Papatoetoe and Howick, where the municipal library services dated from 1945 and 1947 respectively. In 1958 Papatoetoe Library had earned the distinction of setting up the first municipal mobile library in New Zealand. Manukau Libraries’ last three branches were Clendon, the innovative Tupu-Dawson Road Youth Library, the Botany Idealibrary. Clendon Library was renamed Te Matariki Clendon when it was relocated in 2006. Throughout its life, Manukau Libraries operated as a dispersed rather than a centralised library system. However, in 2001 it opened a reference and reading room near Manukau City Centre that expanded into the Manukau Research Library.
By 2010 Manukau Libraries operated 13 branch libraries, a research library, five volunteer-run'rural libraries', a mobile library. In 1989, the North Shore City Council was formed by combining the various boroughs that had existed on the North Shore, so that prior to the 2010 amalgamation of the council into the Auckland Council, North Shore Libraries was a network of six libraries and a mobile library. Membership of Auckland Libraries is free for residents and ratepayers of the Auckland Council region. Auckland Libraries has a small number of rental collections. Library members can request an item from any of the libraries in Auckland Libraries for free. Many of the libraries provide Internet access; the library system gives access to three specialised eBook suppliers: Overdrive, BorrowBox, Wheelers. There is a Digital Library which includes over 100 databases; the library system provides a number of free events: Wriggle and Rhyme: Active Movement for Early Learning for babies.
Bowls
Bowls or lawn bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green which may be convex or uneven, it is played outdoors and the outdoor surface is either natural grass, artificial turf, or cotula. It has been traced to the 13th century, conjecturally to the 12th. William Fitzstephen, in his biography of Thomas Becket, gives a graphic sketch of the London of his day and, writing of the summer amusements of the young men, says that on holidays they were "exercised in Leaping, Wrestling, Casting of Stones, Throwing of Javelins fitted with Loops for the Purpose, which they strive to fling before the Mark, it is supposed that by jactus lapidum, Fitzstephen meant the game of bowls, but though it is possible that round stones may sometimes have been employed in an early variety of the game - and there is a record of iron bowls being used, though at a much date, on festive occasions at Nairn, - the inference seems unwarranted.
The jactus lapidum of which he speaks may have been more akin to shot put. It is beyond dispute, that the game, at any rate in a rudimentary form, was played in the 13th century. A manuscript of that period in the royal library, contains a drawing representing two players aiming at a small cone instead of an earthenware ball or jack; the world's oldest surviving bowling green is the Southampton Old Bowling Green, first used in 1299. Another manuscript of the same century has a crude but spirited picture which brings us into close touch with the existing game. Three figures are introduced and a jack; the first player's bowl has come to rest just in front of the jack. A 14th-century manuscript, Book of Prayers, in the Francis Douce collection in the Bodleian Library at Oxford contains a drawing in which two persons are shown, but they bowl to no mark. Strutt suggests that the first player's bowl may have been regarded by the second player as a species of jack. In these three earliest illustrations of the pastime it is worth noting that each player has one bowl only, that the attitude in delivering it was as various five or six hundred years ago as it is today.
In the third he stands upright. The game came under the ban of king and parliament, both fearing it might jeopardise the practice of archery so important in battle. Statutes forbidding it and other sports were enacted in the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and other monarchs. When, on the invention of gunpowder and firearms, the bow had fallen into disuse as a weapon of war, the prohibition was continued; the discredit attaching to bowling alleys, first established in London in 1455 encouraged subsequent repressive legislation, for many of the alleys were connected with taverns frequented by the dissolute and gamesters. The word "bowls" occurs for the first time in the statute of 1511 in which Henry VIII confirmed previous enactments against unlawful games. By a further act of 1541—which was not repealed until 1845—artificers, apprentices and the like were forbidden to play bowls at any time except Christmas, only in their master's house and presence, it was further enjoined that any one playing bowls outside his own garden or orchard was liable to a penalty of 6s.
8d. While those possessed of lands of the yearly value of £100 might obtain licences to play on their own private greens. In 1864 William Wallace Mitchell, a Glasgow Cotton Merchant, published his "Manual of Bowls Playing" following his work as the secretary formed in 1849 by Scottish bowling clubs which became the basis of the rules of the modern game. Young Mitchell was only 11 when he played on Kilmarnock Bowling green, the oldest club in Scotland, instituted in 1740; the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is believed to have been the catalyst, for the preparation of modern-style greens, sporting ovals, playing fields, grass courts, etc. This is turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn bowls, most football codes, lawn tennis and others. National Bowling Associations were established in the late 1800s. In the Victorian Colony, the Victorian Bowling Association was formed in 1880 and The Scottish Bowling Association was established in 1892, although there had been a failed attempt in 1848 by 200 Scottish clubs.
Today the sport is played in over 40 countries with more than 50 member national authorities. The home of the modern game is still Scotland with the World Bowls centre in Edinburgh at Caledonia House,1 Redheughs Rigg, South Gyle, Edinburgh, EH12 9DQ. Lawn bowls is played on a large, rectangular levelled and manicured grass or synthetic surface known as a bowling green, divided into parallel playing strips called rinks. In the simplest competition, one of the two opponents flips a coin to see who wins the "mat" and begins a segment of the competition (in bowl
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players each. Each player uses a tennis racket, strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court; the object of the game is to maneuver the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player, unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is played at all levels of society and at all ages; the sport can be played by anyone. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis, it had close connections both to various field games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term tennis referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis; the rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s.
A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye. Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is a popular worldwide spectator sport; the four Grand Slam tournaments are popular: the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, the US Open played on hard courts. Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume, which evolved into real tennis, became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century". In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe.
In June 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne and following a exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy, although there was suspicion of poisoning. Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history's first tennis player known by name. Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre Palace, it wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was only played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, now known as real tennis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England. Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is believed to have been the catalyst, for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, greens, etc.
This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others. Between 1859 and 1865 Harry Gem, a solicitor and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, United Kingdom. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club on Avenue Road, Leamington Spa; this is. After Leamington, the second club to take up the game of lawn tennis appears to have been the Edgbaston Archery and Croquet Society in Birmingham. In Tennis: A Cultural History, Heiner Gillmeister reveals that on December 8, 1874, British army officer Walter Clopton Wingfield wrote to Harry Gem, commenting that he had been experimenting with his version of lawn tennis “for a year and a half”. In December 1873, Wingfield designed and patented a game which he called sphairistikè, was soon known as "sticky" – for the amusement of guests at a garden party on his friend's estate of Nantclwyd Hall, in Llanelidan, Wales.
According to R. D. C. Evans, turfgrass agronomist, "Sports historians all agree that deserves much of the credit for the development of modern tennis." According to Honor Godfrey, museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield "popularized this game enormously. He produced a boxed set which included a net, rackets, balls for playing the game – and most you had his rules, he was terrific at marketing and he sent his game all over the world. He had good connections with the clergy, the law profession, the aristocracy and he sent thousands of sets out in the first year or so, in 1874." The world's oldest annual tennis tournament took place at Leamington Lawn Tennis Club in Birmingham in 1874. This was three years before the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club would hold its first championships at Wimbledon, in 1877; the first Championships culminated a significant debate on. In the U. S. in 1874 Mary Ewing Outerbridge, a young socialite, returned from Bermuda with a sphairistikè set. She became fascin
Glen Innes, New Zealand
Glen Innes is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, located nine kilometres to the east of the city centre, close to the waters of the Tamaki River estuary. Glen Innes gets its name from a large farm owned by William Innes Taylor, here. There were four Taylor brothers in Auckland, the sons of a British man who had had a military career in India. Three of the brothers built houses, their brother Allan Kerr Taylor had a farm estate in Mount Albert. The main streets in Glen Innes are Taniwha Street and Apirana Avenue, which meet in the shopping centre of the suburb. Glen Innes has a train station on the Eastern Line of the Auckland rail network, is a hub for eastern Auckland isthmus buses. Glen Innes has for the most part been a low-income, working class area with around 1,500 state houses. In an effort to improve the quality of state housing in Glen Innes, the Government introduced "Talbot Park", an area of higher density housing, consisting of apartment-style places. There have been protests in Glen Innes over proposals to redevelop existing state-owned housing.
Housing New Zealand plans to replace houses on large sections with more "intensive development", including many conversions to owned and sold housing with profits going to developers such as property mogul, Murdoch Dryden. This involves removing tenants from properties. There has been a number of reported deaths of elderly tenants from during the relocation process. Many protests have resulted in arrests of demonstrators, including Mana Party MP Hone Harawira on one occasion, as well as a number of reported police brutality cases. Housing New Zealand argues that the development will "make better use of land" and enable the provision of higher quality homes to their tenants, however community members argue it is a gentrification process, tearing apart their community. Delving Into The Past Of Auckland's Eastern Suburbs. Elizabeth T. Jackson. Premier Print Services 1976. Photographs of Glen Innes held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections
Arthur Myers
Sir Arthur Mielziner Myers was a New Zealand politician. He was Mayor of Auckland City from 1905 to 1909, Member of the House of Representatives from 1910 to 1921, a Cabinet Minister. Today he is remembered for the public works constructed in Auckland during his term as Mayor, from his donations, including Grafton Bridge and Myers Park. Myers was born in Ballarat, Australia, the child of Louis Myers and Catherine Ehrenfried. Following the death of his father in 1870, his mother moved to New Zealand. Myers went to Wellington College from 1880 to 1883, his main sporting interests were swimming. The family moved to Auckland in 1886, where his uncle, Louis Ehrenfried had moved the family brewing business from Thames. In 1897, the successful brewery was combined with that of Logan Campbell to form Campbell and Ehrenfried. An able administrator and something of a financial wizard at the age of 30, Myers became Managing Director of the merged company following the death of his uncle in 1897. In 1903 Myers journeyed to London to marry Vera Anita Levy.
She was the daughter of Benjamin Levy, one of the owners of a large British business empire with interests in Australia. Married in London, they returned to New Zealand, where his wife became a well-known hostess and patron of the local cultural scene, it was she who encouraged Myers to run for public office. Myers ran for and succeeded in becoming Mayor of Auckland City for the term 1905 to 1909, he improved the finances of the city administration, improved services such as the water supply and drainage. The construction of the new Auckland Town Hall was due to his efforts, as was the new Grafton Bridge across Grafton Gully. Myers Park, located between Karangahape Road and Mayoral Drive, is named after him, as in 1913 he donated £10,000 to develop the overgrown gully into a child-friendly park and to build the adjacent'Myers Free Kindergarten'. One of his few major failures was an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the plethora of local Councils governing the Auckland Isthmus, he had become known as a popular and effective politician.
Active in the volunteer defence movement, he served as major in the 1st Battalion Auckland Infantry Volunteers and as commanding officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, of the New Zealand Forces Motor Service Corps. Myers donated the Myers cup to the new Auckland Rugby League in 1910, it was contested as the top prize in the inaugural 1910 season and again in 1911. In 1914 Myers was elected the Auckland Rugby League president and he served in this role until his death in 1926. After a break from politics for a world tour, he entered Parliament for the seat of Auckland East in the 1910 by-election, replacing his cousin Frederick Baume and won comfortably, he held his seat until 3 October 1921 when he resigned between general elections, resulting in the 1921 by-election. He was an Independent and from 1911 he stood for the Liberal Party. In the short-lived Mackenzie Ministry of 28 March to 10 July 1912 he held three important portfolios. From 12 August 1915 to 25 August 1919 he served as Minister of Customs and Minister in charge of Munitions and Supplies, Pensions and National Provident Fund during the wartime National Ministry, where the gained much acclaim for his efficiency and impartiality.
In 1924 he was knighted for services to his country. Deciding to leave politics - as he had no wish for a long period of opposition for his party - he left politics in 1921, left New Zealand, as he had promised his wife at the time of their wedding that they would return to London where she had grown up; the departure was seen a great loss by many locals. Active for the National Bank of New Zealand, he took up golf, he died in London in 1926 to the effects of a series of heart attacks. He was survived by his wife Vera. A grandson, Douglas Myers, became CEO of Campbell and Ehrenfried in 1965 and created Lion Nathan; the Myers by Paul Goldsmith & Michael Bassett ISBN 978-1-877378-13-3
Saint Heliers
Saint Heliers is an affluent seaside suburb of Auckland with a population of 4824. This suburb is popular amongst visitors for the beaches, cafés, views of Rangitoto Island, the distinctive volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. St. Heliers is located at the eastern end of Tamaki Drive, used to be the place where the Tamaki estuary formally divided Auckland from Manukau City, until the entire Auckland region was amalgated under a single city authority, the Auckland Council, in 2010. Local government of St. Heliers is the responsibility of the Orakei Local Board, which covers the suburbs of Orakei, Mission Bay, Glendowie, St Johns, Meadowbank and Ellerslie. European settlement began on the north-facing slopes of St. Heliers bay, with the establishment of the Glen Orchard homestead, believed to have been built in the 1850s; the building was recognised as a place of historic and social significance by Heritage New Zealand in October 2010. This Regency-style residence incorporates Italianate influences, has a grand and elegant appearance.
Glen Orchard is a historic example of a prosperous rural homestead, is linked to the settlers who comprised Auckland's early elite. It is known as the residence of Lieutenant-General William Taylor, his son Charles John Taylor who married into the family of the fourth New Zealand Premier, Alfred Domett. William Taylor was a retired senior officer of the East India Company’s Madras Army. In 1879 Glen Orchard became Auckland’s first stud farm, managed by Major Walmsley, who suggested the name St. Heliers Bay because it reminded him of the fashionable holiday resort Bay of Saint Helier, in Jersey one of Britain’s Channel Islands. In the mid-1880s the homestead became the centre piece of a planned model seaside suburb, the foundation of present day St. Heliers. In November 1881 St. Heliers Bay was bought by the St. Heliers and Northcote Land Company; the aim of this company was to make the land available for residential development. The company realised the area would be more attractive for potential future buyers if St. Heliers’ connections to the Auckland's town centre were improved.
At that time St Heliers was reached by boat, the trip from Auckland taking only 30 minutes, whereas the 13 kilometres land route via Newmarket and Meadowbank was much more onerous. During this period St Heliers was a centre for local farmers and the location of the villas of a few rich business people. Despite advertisements in The New Zealand Herald, such as the example below land sales were poor and the company's scheme failed: “To visit St. Heliers Bay Glen Orchard, is to become impressed with the fact that there is no other bay of equal beauty near Auckland, it commands a charming and picturesque view of the North Shore, Rangitoto and Brown’s Island. The beach is so attractive; the soil is volcanic and is a warm rich loam which, for orchards and floriculture, leaves little to be desired. It will be seen that the land slopes to the north with hills behind as protection from chilly southern winds. We may say that with regular and frequent communication by means of tramway, or steamer to the new wharf, it requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that that beautiful bay will become the Brighton of Auckland“.
The advertisement indicates the need for better transport links. The St. Heliers and Northcote Land Company built a 460m piet at St. Heliers in 1882 before becoming insolvent. However, the tramway connection to Auckland was never realized. By 1890 St. Heliers had become a popular waterfront destination for day trippers, with excursions running from Auckland and Thames. Moonlight excursions from Auckland were popular. For this particular excursion the Eagle and Osprey boats were used, since they allowed dancing on board. After Tamaki Drive was opened in 1931 St. Heliers became a commuter suburb and a destination for Sunday drives; the wharf is long gone but there is talk of rebuilding it, whenever Tamaki Drive is gridlocked with traffic. Achilles Point is regarded as the rocky promontory on the east side of Ladies Bay, but the name can indicate the whole headland between St. Heliers and the Tamaki River estuary, it offers great views of the Waitematā Harbour, the Gulf Islands. The area used to be called Te Pane O Horoiwi, after one of the chiefs of the Tanui canoe.
In 1940 it was named Achilles Point in honour of the New Zealand battleship HMS Achilles and her crew. The Achilles opened fire on the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939. In doing so she became the first New Zealand unit to strike a blow at the enemy in World War II, the first New Zealand warship to take part in a naval battle; this confrontation off Argentina was called Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval engagement of World War II, during which the Achilles, defeated the Admiral Graf Spee. Dingle Dell Reserve – In the 1950s Dingle Dell Reserve was described as the forgotten "Cinderella of Auckland’s Parks" in The New Zealand Herald. Today it is still a peaceful area located in the heart of St. Heliers, where people can enjoy a picnic or bush walk; the park hosts, amongst others, the native plants kohekohe and tanekaha, which are the results of native plantings undertaken in 1933. Dingle Dell was part of Major Thomas Bunbury's four farms, which he bought in 1842.
It is now owned and managed by the Auckland Council. Glover Park – St Heliers has one unknown volcano, a maar of unknown age, its crater had
