OUR HISTORY
Taupaki School had its beginnings in the 1870s.
A teacher from Hobsonville rode a horse over the hills and fields to conduct school for two days per week in the Pomona Hall. Then the railway came through Taupaki and children from the area caught the train to Woodhill in order to go to school full-time.
This usually involved a long walk and a slow train journey but the families put up with the inconvenience because education was seen to be important. This happened for 15 years until the number of school-aged children in the local area grew enough to justify a school of our own.
An approach was made to the Auckland Education Board in 1896. Along with the approach, Mr William Aitken made an offer of land for a new school. The offer was accepted and Taupaki School was opened in 1899 with a roll of 22 taught by Miss Violet Johnson, the daughter of the owners of the Taupaki Store.
Our school and community have a rich history. Road names of the area reflect the names of the pioneering families, Amrein, Annandale, Cottle, Hunter, Nelson, Nixon, Hanham, Worrall and Cuthbert. The area has been milled for timber, prospected for gum, harvested for flax and farmed.
The Waitakere Ranges and South Kaipara were the territories of the Te Kawerau-a-maki tribe. The Kawerau were often under attack from Ngati Whatua, the tribe that occupied the Auckland area. During one conflict Ngati Whatua were chasing the remainder of a Kawerau war party to the safety of the Waitakere Ranges. They stopped at Taupaki and peaceably agreed on a mutual boundary. This boundary was drawn from Taupaki out to the coast at Muriwai. The tribal boundary remained until European times, thus Taupaki means ‘the binding peace’. Taupaki was originally just north of Te Henga, but the name was relocated to its present site.
