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COMMUNITY  HISTORY  EVENTS  GIG GUIDE  FUN SCROLL  HOT LINKS  GALLERY  FREE STUFF  QUOTES  STREET MAP  SIGNING UP  NEWSLETTER  SUBSCRIBE	1840     In the late 1840’s the city end of Mt Albert – Eden Terrace, Kingsland and Morningside was a wilderness of scrub, scoria and swamp. The rough track that would out of Queen Street gully to the top of Khyber Pass and the junction with Mt Eden Road continued, as the Whau Road, down the Eden Terrace incline, through what was to become Kingsland, all the way to the Whau (the Avondale district). At today’s Kingsland a track branched off and led through swamps and tracts of rough land out to the Wesleyan Mission School at Three Kings, (est 1847). This was known as Cabbage Tree Swamp Road, passing as it did through a cabbage tree swamp. In some places, particularly near present-day Eden Park, the thoroughfare was a narrow raised stone and earth causeway. Today the swamp has become Gribble-Hirst Park. 1841 George Clarke, protector of the Aborigines, purchased a further 13,000 acres, including the whole of Mt Albert from the chiefs and men of the Ngatiwatua tribe for the equivalent of about 4d an acre. 1842 Mt Albert land advertised for public sale – auction 13 blocks, mostly of 20 acres for small farms 1844 Thomas Cassidy bought 11 acres near the Dominion Road – New North Road intersection 1845 Robert Hunt bought 60 acres near the present-day ‘ Ferndale ’. 1846 Glenmore Lodge built at 289 New North Road 1847 Governor Grey reported that the land within a 7 mile radius of Auckland , including Mt Albert, had been disposed of, (not including 1000 acres of volcanic cones). 1847 In 1847 Cornishman John Walters, who in 1845 had come to manage the ill-fated Kauwau Island Copper Mine, bought a block of land of 52 acres where Eden Park now stands. It was described as being stone-strewn, swampy and prone to becoming a navigable lake in winter. Around 1901, 1902 local cricketers played and practiced on a piece of land they rented, near the western part of today’s park. In 1903 they formed the Eden District Cricket Club. A successful club, they decided to buy 15 acres to form Eden park. This land at the edge of the swampy ground was part of John Walter’s farm and also included land belonging to Mr Leith. Fieldstone had been used to build stone walls to divide paddocks and in winter these often flooded dramatically. The land was gradually developed and a pavilion built. Flooding continued to be a problem – 1907 was a particularly bad year – and by 1909 the club gave up and moved to Mt Roskill. They sold the park to the Auckland Cricket Association, who further drained and improved the grounds. In 1924 the Cricket Association merged with the Auckland Rugby Union, and in 1953 a trust board was formed to administer the grounds for cricket and rugby. For sports fans Eden Park has over the years provided many sporting highlights. The 1950 British Empire Games were held there and every tram in Auckland’s fleet was used to ferry 58,000 spectators to and from the park. A loop line right into the car park off Sandringham Road – then Kingsland Road, was laid in 1925. The famous Springbok tour of 1956 was the last major event the trams serviced. The 1981 Springbok tour saw Eden Park as the focus of the historic, anti-apartheid demonstrations
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