Opāheke Pā site
The Ngāti Tamaoho pā at the confluence of Drury Creek and the Otuwairoa Stream. The crossing place that defined this location long before any road.
Drury · Then & Now
From one of the North Island's first railways
to Auckland's next suburb
From a Ngāti Tamaoho crossing place on the Drury Creek, to General Cameron's military staging post, to a coal tramway, a railway town, brick works and now a fast-growing edge of Auckland. Drury's story spans a remarkable range.
Scroll to explore
The name Drury honours Commander Byron Drury of HMS Pandora, who charted the Manukau Harbour in 1853. But the place was here long before he arrived. A Ngāti Tamaoho pā at the Opāheke confluence, a coal discovery, one of the North Island's earliest railways, an imperial army, clay and brick works, and now one of Auckland's largest growth areas. Here is the story in order.
Era 01
The crossing place on the creek
Pre-1840
Before any road or rail, the defining feature of the Drury area was the confluence of Drury Creek (Waihoihoi) and the Otuwairoa Stream. Ngāti Tamaoho, a hapū of Waikato Tainui, held the land and maintained a pā at Opāheke near this junction. The pā sat at a natural ford that travellers on foot between the Manukau and the Waikato were obliged to cross.
The wider district was a productive landscape. Kauri, totara and rimu stood across the ranges. Wetlands along the creek floor held eels and waterfowl. The Ngāti Tamaoho whakapapa traces back through the isthmus and deep into the Waikato. By the 1840s the hapū had significant interests in the land around Pukekohe, Drury and the Hunua foothills.
In 1853 Commander Byron Drury of HMS Pandora charted the Manukau coast and the inlet that would take his name. His charts renamed a cluster of Māori place names and the creek crossing became Drury on European maps from that year.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, CC BY 4.0.
Era 02
North Island's first railway
1855 – 1865
Coal seams had been noticed in the Drury hills from the mid-1850s. The Waihoihoi Mining and Coal Company was incorporated in 1859 to work the deposits, sinking shafts into the hillsides above the creek. The coal was low grade and the seams thin but the project carried enormous ambition.
To move the coal from pit head to the wharf, the company built a tramway in 1862, estimated at around 4.5 to 5.2 kilometres in length. Laid to the standard gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches, it is commonly described as the first railway or tramway to operate on the North Island of New Zealand. Horses pulled the wagons on the level sections. The tramway crossed the flats from the mine to the Drury Landing where coastal vessels could load.
The coal venture never turned a large profit. Seams ran out and competition from imported coal and South Island sources made the economics difficult. The mining operation wound down before 1870. The tramway's alignment through the creek paddocks left only shallow cuttings and embankments that weathered away over the following decades.
S. L. Clarke (1824–1897) / Public domain, Auckland Museum.
Era 03
The general's road south
1862 – 1866
When Governor Grey and General Duncan Cameron launched the Waikato campaign in July 1863, Drury became the principal British staging base south of Papakura. Cameron established his forward headquarters here in late 1863, constructing redoubts along the Great South Road and using the creek flat as a supply depot and camp ground for thousands of imperial and colonial troops.
The volunteer camp at Drury was one of the largest temporary military encampments on the North Island during the wars. Soldiers waiting to advance south occupied the river terraces. Supply wagons moved through on the extended Great South Road, which Cameron's engineers pushed further south as each advance gained ground.
By 1866 the campaign had moved well into the Waikato and the Drury camp was dismantled. What remained was a greatly improved road south, a cleared and fenced landscape around the town, and a modest cluster of settlers who had set up to supply the garrison and stayed after it left.
Daniel Manders Beere (1833–1909) / No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
Era 04
Steam arrives on the main trunk
1875 – 1918
The Auckland and Drury Railway Act 1863 had authorised a Government line south, but construction lagged behind the military advance. Drury Railway Station finally opened on 20 May 1875 as part of the Auckland to Mercer line, the same opening day as Papakura's station. A dedicated station building and goods shed followed as the line settled into regular passenger and freight service.
The railway shifted Drury's economy toward dairy farming and market gardening. Cream cans and produce travelled north by rail. A new station building was completed on 8 December 1918 as part of a wider upgrade that also replaced the Runciman station further south. By the early 20th century Drury was a quietly prosperous small town anchored by the railway, the school and a handful of general merchants.
The railway also brought in the day trippers and sportspeople who made the Drury domain and the creek walks a weekend destination for Aucklanders before the motorcar made the journey ordinary.
No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
Era 05
Brick dust, clay pits and the mineral railway
1880s – 1928
The clay beds around Drury proved commercially useful long after the coal seams were exhausted. From the 1880s a cluster of brick and pottery works operated on the western side of the township, firing Drury clay into bricks, drainage pipes and ceramic wares used across Auckland's expanding building stock.
Moving raw clay and finished product through the site required internal haulage. A "mineral railway" tramline connected the clay pits to the kilns and the main railway siding. Photographed in 1906, the wagons and light-rail tracks of this internal system wound through the processing yards in a miniature industrial scene quite different to the farming landscape around it.
The works operated through the early 20th century, supplying drainage pipes and bricks to Auckland builders. The last recorded operational reference for the Drury clay and pottery works appears in the late 1920s. The site was eventually cleared and the land returned to farming. Subtle ground disturbances and old clay-pit depressions were still visible in aerial photographs well into the mid-20th century.
Footprints Collection / No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
Era 06
Auckland's next major suburb
2020s – 2050s
The 2023 Census recorded 1,662 people living in Drury, a figure that will look very small by 2040. Drury South is designated as one of Auckland's largest greenfield growth areas under the National Policy Statement on Urban Development. The business park and industrial land at Drury South is already under construction and the residential growth nodes at Drury and Ngākōroa are consented and beginning to build out.
The rail investment is following the population. Two new stations are planned on the Auckland to Papakura electrified corridor: Drury and Ngākōroa (Drury West). Both are targeted for opening from 2026 as part of the City Rail Link network expansion southward. The Drury structure plan anticipates tens of thousands of new residents over the coming decades.
The creek flat where Ngāti Tamaoho fished, where British soldiers camped, where wagons of coal and clay rumbled through on their way to the wharf, is now the footprint of a new Auckland community. The original 1875 station closed in 1972. New Drury and Ngākōroa stations are targeted for opening from 2026 as part of the City Rail Link expansion south. The rest of the town is being built around them.
Deano87 / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Interactive
Then vs now
Drag the handle to fade between archival and modern Drury.
From military camp to new suburb
1864 British staging post · 2020s Drury South
Before: Daniel Manders Beere, No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries.
After: Deano87, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
From creek crossing to railway town
Heritage survey map · 1905 station photograph
Before: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, CC BY 4.0.
After: No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
Two phases of industry
1862 coal pits · 1906 mineral railway
Before: S. L. Clarke, Public domain, Auckland Museum.
After: Footprints Collection, No known copyright restrictions, Auckland Libraries.
Landmarks
Where the story is still standing
Six places in modern Drury that still carry the past on the surface.
The coal tramway route
Commonly described as the North Island's first railway or tramway, a horse-drawn line running around 4.5 to 5.2 kilometres from the Waihoihoi colliery to the Drury Landing. The alignment through the creek flats is now farmland.
The camp ground
General Cameron's volunteer camp on the river terraces at Drury. The largest British staging base in the South Auckland theatre of the Waikato campaign.
Drury Railway Station
Opened 20 May 1875 on the Auckland to Mercer line. The original station closed in 1972. New Drury and Ngākōroa stations are targeted for opening from 2026 as part of the City Rail Link southern expansion.
The brick works site
Clay pits, kilns and the mineral tramway that supplied bricks and drainage pipes to Auckland builders from the 1880s through to the late 1920s.
Drury South
One of Auckland's largest designated growth areas. Business park and residential development underway, with two new rail stations planned from 2026.
Image credits & sources
Every image on this page is used under a free or open licence with attribution. Tap any link to view the original record.
- Heritage map of the Drury area. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, CC BY 4.0.
- The first coal digging at Drury. S. L. Clarke (1824–1897). Public domain. Auckland Museum collections via Wikimedia Commons.
- Volunteer camp at Drury, 1864. Daniel Manders Beere (1833–1909). No known copyright restrictions. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
- Railway station, Drury, 1905. No known copyright restrictions. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
- Mineral railway, Drury, 1906. Footprints Collection. No known copyright restrictions. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
- Drury South construction. Deano87. CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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