Avondale is a suburb of Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, located in the Whau ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions for the Auckland Council

Auckland Council

The Auckland Council is the council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It began operating on 1 November 2010, combining the functions of the existing regional council and the region's seven previous city and district councils into one "super council" or "super city" governed by a mayor, 20...

. It is commonly considered to be part of West Auckland. It was originally called "Te Whau", which is the common name, of Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

 origin, for Entelea arborescens

Entelea

Entelea arborescens or whau is a species of malvaceous tree endemic to New Zealand. E. arborescens is the only species in the genus Entelea. A shrub or small tree to 6 m with large lime-like leaves giving a tropical appearance, whau grows in low forest along the coast of the North Island and...

, a native tree. Its postcode is 1026.

History

The first European settler in the area was John Sheddon Adam in 1843, but settlement did not occur in larger numbers until the late 1850s, with the completion of Great North Road. Expansion was rapid, with churches, stores and a public hall built by 1867. With a railway connection to the settlement in 1880, the rate of settlement increased further. The Whau became Avondale District on June 5, 1882, although the old name survives in the Whau River

Whau River

The Whau River is an estuarial arm of the southwestern Waitemata Harbour within the Auckland metropolitan area in New Zealand. It flows north for 5.7 kilometres from its origin at the confluence of the Avondale Stream and Whau Stream to its mouth between the Te Atatu peninsula and the long, thin...

, an estuarial arm of the Waitemata Harbour

Waitemata Harbour

The quite famous Waitemata Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is only one of two harbours surrounding the city, and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The Waitemata forms the north...

, which runs along the western edge of the suburb.

Early industries included brickyards, tanneries, mills and pottery works. Avondale also had numerous market gardens, especially on the Rosebank Peninsula. It was here that the "Hayward" cultivar of the Chinese gooseberry, later known as the kiwifruit

Kiwifruit

The kiwifruit, often shortened to kiwi in many parts of the world, is the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia....

, was developed by Hayward Wright.

From the mid 1920s Avondale became increasingly suburban. In 1927 the Avondale Borough Council was absorbed into the Auckland City Council

Auckland City Council

Auckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...

.

The so-called Avondale spider (Delena cancerides), an introduced species

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 of a spectacular but harmless huntsman spider, was for decades only found in the area surrounding Avondale and thus received its New Zealand name. However, the species has now spread throughout much of West Auckland.

Avondale is home to Avondale College

Avondale College, Auckland

Avondale College is a secondary education college in Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is one of the largest secondary schools in New Zealand with 2,700 students, with 100 of those being international students...

, the second largest high school in New Zealand. Local Catholic secondary school students commute by train to St Peter's College

St Peter's College, Auckland

St Peter's College is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys . The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the Government of New Zealand in...

 (boys) and Marist College

Marist College, New Zealand

Marist College is a Catholic girls high-school located in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches from year 7 through to Year 13 with a curriculum based on Roman Catholicism...

(girls).

The Avondale Jockey Club operates the Avondale Racecourse - one of only two gallops tracks in suburban Auckland.