I grew up in Otara, through the 80s - early 2000. Lived in state house, mum was on and off solo mum benefits and factory jobs. I had seen all the gangs, crime, poverty and struggles in the community. ALL OF THAT HAS LAID FOUNDATION FOR ME TO SURVIVE WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT ME!
Te Puke O-Tara (Otara) was named after a maori Chief called Tara who lived in the area during pre-european times he lived on a hill overlooking the area ... Te Puke means hill, The hill of Tara .... Ngati Otara marae is where his descendants gather to commemorate their Tipuna TARA
From 9yrs old I grew up in Otara, lived in Clayton Ave. Flatbush Primary school, Hillary College. we're one the first pupils going to these. schools, whoo 2023 and im watchin this David. Rita. Francis. Gavin whoo 😢 all good friends, Stormtroppers I think Ken was the leader, Mr Johnson, and Mr Hammer 😅 old now forgot his real name. He would hav been called Hulk. if Hulk was out then lol congratulations to yous 👏 ❤so proud of yous all...we all around 70yrs old now thanku for these memories , I ended up buying a home in Wiri but now I live in Melbourne, Australia Bessie Hohepa our other mate lived her too, (that's Ken with helmet on ) , Ben Dalton ,is he Micheals brother ❤️ my brother still lives in Otara on Harwood Cres. and all my nieces and nephews still go to school there and play league for Otara..so proud ❤xx
Rawiri lived up the road and we used to yell at him as kids, "Who's looking through the square window?!" (he was on Play School). He used to just laugh - nice guy
Moved from Europe to Boundary Rd in 80's, couldnt speak English and on the second day found a box of Taro on our doorstep, forever and always will remember the graciousness and generosity of those who shared what little they had
My Great-Grandmother lived in Otara for more than 50 plus years. Bairds Road not far from Sandbrook School, Chequers the corner dairy shop, and walking distance to the Otara Shopping Centre. We're a big family born and bred in Mangere 275, but every weekend we would visit our Nanna and our oldest sister whom Nan raised since birth. I remember when we would visit Nan would have alot of empty Coke, Lemonade, Fanta glass bottle's that you could take back to the shop and get a refund back,(wash them out of course). Fruit trees in the backyard were always plentiful. You could even burn your rubbish in the backyard, put down a Hangi Pit, for special occasions because the backyard had alot of room.Those were the good things back then. Miss those days, of 274. If only we could turn back time just for one day. KEEP COOL TILL AFTER SCHOOL.
My Mother Got Her Very First State House In Otara In The Sixties!..I Lived With Her, Until My Man & I Bought Our Very First House In Lappington Rd, Otara Rd, My Kids, Went 2 Bairds Rd School And Hillary College!
Wow. Awesome doco on Otara. Brings back memories of growing up in Tin city. Growing up and going to school from Clydemore primary, Bairds Intermediate to Hillary ( Hilarious) college lol. Also great friends and awesome Teachers like Francis Leilua( La) , Ian Mitchell and Mr Mahanga to name a few. My first teacher was Mrs Battersby (3BA) in Te Atawhai with Mr Roa as our Dean and then in 4th form moved on to Te Kohanga. All have left a big imprint in my life and will always remain with me. I’ve only moved to Gisborne but my home will always be Otara.
Did his kids or relations go to the Convent or De La Salle , there was also an old Otara town centre video of the Yogi Bear Gang named after corner Dairy the hung out at, they started wearing military gear , would love to see that video again, they looked like educated island kids , maybe i went to school with some of them! this is before the real gangs took over! before they put up the roller doors and the Fire that made one of the big Outlet shops (Farmers maybe ) leave , never to return
Hi I lived in Ingram Crescent Papatoetoe from 1965 till 1967, not a long time but have happy memories. I went to Flatbush School. I live in England now and have done for many years. I love Otara and class this as my home. Wish my parents never came back to England.
June Heath Hi June. Yes I know Ingram crescent. I lived in Papatoetoe since I was born, I came over to England for work in 2006 met an English lass got married had kids and the rest is history. I try to go back to NZ every 2 years to visit my parents and siblings. Thanks for your message. Hope you staying safe from this corona virus! Take care👍
Magic. Hi and thank you for your lovely message. I often wonder how my life would be planned out if my parents decided to stay in lovely NZ. My youngest brother was born in Henderson Hospital, if I'm correct? My parents are now deceased, and my elder brother is to. Leaving Auckland in July 1967 was the saddest day of my life and my eldest brother too, in fact a week or so before we left Auckland he ran away, wanting to stay in Otara, he made many friends. Thank you again for writing to me, Stay safe in this scary lockdown time. Best wishes fellow Otarain.
Thats my hometown and my life started in that beautiful place. Proud kiwi from Otara 274, Mangere 275, Manurewa 276, Otahuhu 273, Beautiful documentary.
lol. I lived on Bentley road. I’m pretty sure you both would remember the shop owners back then ( The Prems ). The GRB boys on Gilbert. Me and my brothers all worked on the milk run with Rex our boss back then on his old green ford truck. Life in Otara was awesome back then, she’s changed now but will always be my home.
That has been a sentiment that has served me well for most of my life ... To Quote Ben Dalton “ What’s the piece of Otara that I’m carrying ? Sometimes when I’m being hassled by somebody I often sit there thinking You know “ Not only am I more intelligent than you, ... I could probably demolish you physically too “ You never have to actually do it... you just keep it in your mind. Yes ... that’s there “ 😎👌 Home .. Perth St across the creek from Hillary College. Schools MP .. BI .. TC (Multiple snippets in Foster). Brought back long forgotten memories. Who remembers as kids running around the next day after the drunken parties checking under the couch cushions looking for the loose change the piss head adults dropped. 🤣 20 cents could buy 3 bottles of milk, & a loaf of bread. (Or a lot of lollies) Comics only cost 10 cents. Moose & I were set for a week after one of dads party’s. If we didn’t get shipped out on our occasional excursion to welfare.🤭
Great historical footage. A lot of these old houses will make way for new housing, as it is in Northcote, and so it's important to record these places and experiences before they are only memories.
@@darththursday9152 yes i did, in late 60s then to bairds Intermediate 2yrs then Hillary College. in 1975. My friends were Trudy Kisioni and Deborah Clayton and Rangi Wiki and Raweyn Wiki. Lorriane smith, Denise Dalton, Anna Leilua, students, The boys i remember in my class were Gregory Baggs and Kimiora Maxwell, Ian Anderson, many more cant remember haha
Paratene and Leilua talking about Hells Angels way back when......prob the 1st and last they ever rode thru 274 bc for damn sure id NEVER seen their Patches rollin' thru The Hood since my years growing up there lol salute to Ben Dalton, riL to Paul "Facekilla" Dalton
why has doesnt changed? Thank you Rawiri for being truth in 1970's .. humans may grow up and be wiser? To be honest.. I walk your path shaking our head. No Rawiri.. humans are not that wise. They keep excusing themselves... God is made in the image of a human. .. the 2 legged species are ordinary and slow. Thank you Rawiri for your fight un heard . Can only wish them all the best for the next 1000yrs or whenever
Otara has always had a street gang culture. Back in the 80s I remember Yogi boys, Flatbush boys, ET boys, Gilbert rd boys, Samoan Warriors, Cowboys, Pearl Baker boys, Catholic boys, SAS (sth akl street kids) P.I.C boys the list goes on. I lived off Hills rd.
Yeah sure was one of the first Ghettos but as you see here, it didnt start that way and i always felt at home in Bolton pl, our street of owner occupied families mostly, yeah the Islanders moved in and took over, by share numbers and the rest left on their way to a better life, we had poms and dutch as well as Kiwi neighbours, always remember the Islanders choir singing and the volleyball at Hillroad park next door, they demolished our fence helping themselves to our orchard , but that was the way it was , i left and came back many times , the missionaries , be it the Otara Convent and church helped educate us( the lucky ? few thousand )and later De La Salle(boys) and McCauley (girls) Also 99% islanders by 1980, so we were not all illiterate, having spent a year at Hillary( most students had no real teachers and were not interested , just waiting for factory job, my mate a pom was just intent on causing mischief and we would scab money for lunch usually or go home as i did and watch tv with mum who was on DPB on account my dad was in and out of work as he was diagnosed as schitzo as youth and had lots of shock treatment throughout his life and liked to drink , but they did their best and we had a home. Later on, after leaving area, things got worse with kids street gangs and my brothers dog was killed because the youth gangs liked to cut through our property i think , anyway cops were there one night with guns im told ,to stop the youth gangs being violent Funny too , our quiet street became Notorious overnight when a neighbours youngest son , who i knew , that had a troublesome life , with gangs , alcohol and drugs ended up killing his dead Dads Tai second wife and her brothers life was in balance because he felt house should have been left to his Family!( used a maori club(stick) or similar and was probably under influence Also talking about Notorious , The guy who ended up in prison for most of his life probably, was at one stage sent to the Maori ? run Military School up Preston rd way, for wayward youths and i think he learnt how to use War club(stick) there and im sure if someone did research they would find the worst offenders including rapists and violent offenders were there too , which probably had a bad effect on the Neighbour in Question( i have a feeling the Mangere rapist? was one of them or maybe the Parnell Panther ? but i read it somewhere or saw documentary, Anyways was probably not a good idea to chuck all the bad eggs in one basket (isnt that what they do in prison) and thats why the gangs run it, maybe thats what happened later on in Otara, or was The Otara Chopping mall named after the axing of a gang member during a brawl in 70s when i was kid and i didnt realise how cheap life was in South Auckland , i suppose being bottled and going to Otahuhu Police to make complaint and being told to go away , wasting their time ! Shows how inadequate the system is and was, now the police presence in South Auckland is huge compared to any other area aside from maybe West Auckland and i dont know if thats a good thing as a lot of new migrants choose better areas to live now and the Police presence in better areas is spread pretty thin, as rich people as we know? dont commit violent crime , just fraud and paedophilia?
Thanks for sharing your experience brother from that era. We always knew that that there were our white brothers & sisters that were there before us in Otara. I think it’s important to acknowledge that because we never got to experience that ourselves of my generation.
