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The Tāmaki River or Tāmaki Estuary is mostly an estuary arm and harbour of the Hauraki Gulf, within the city of Auckland in New Zealand. Eastern suburbs: Ōrākei to the Tamaki River (from . Accessed 2008-06-07.) It extends south for from its mouth between the suburb of Saint Heliers and the long thin peninsula of Bucklands Beach, which reaches its end at Musick Point. The inlet extends past the suburbs of Glendowie, Wai o Taiki Bay, Point England, Glen Innes, Tāmaki, Panmure, and Ōtāhuhu to the west, and Bucklands Beach, Half Moon Bay, Farm Cove, Sunnyhills and Pakuranga to the east.
The Ōtāhuhu Creek forms the eastern shore of the narrowest point on the Auckland isthmus: here it is about 1.25 kilometres (0.75 mi) to the waters of the Manukau Harbour, an arm of the Tasman Sea.
The river was part of the first steam ferry route in Auckland, the PS Governor Wynyard connecting Auckland to Ōtāhuhu, which began service in 1851. By the next year, the ferry was sold to Melbourne as it was unprofitable. (2026). 9781927167038, Wily Publications. ISBN 9781927167038 By the late 1850s, the Tāmaki River was one of the busiest waterways in New Zealand. The east bank at Pakuranga was the main point where cattle were transported towards the city of Auckland.
In 1865, the estuary was first crossed by the Panmure Bridge, a steel swing bridge, to improve connection between Auckland and Howick. The location is to the left of the left hand (Panmure) bridge shown in the photo. The circular base swivel was only removed in the 1980s from the southern shore. Stones and steel had been imported from Australia, Panmure Bridge (from . Accessed 2008-06-07.) possibly reflecting the still very basic nature of industrial construction in the young colony.
In the 1860s and 70s, the Tāmaki River was one of the busiest waterways in New Zealand, due to the transportation of agricultural goods such as wheat between Ōtāhuhu and the city of Auckland. The popularity of alternative transportation such as roads and rail (including the extension of the Southern Line to Ōtāhuhu in 1875) led to a decline of the use of the Tāmaki River, and by 1910 very few vessels used Ōtāhuhu as a port or even ventured upstream of the Panmure Bridge. In the 1890s the mouth of the river was used as a safe anchorage for ships carrying explosives. One such ship, anchored in the mouth of the estuary, caught fire and exploded with loss of life. After this the explosives buoy was moved into a more open area east of Browns Island (Motukōrea), where it is still located. New Zealand shipwrecks : over 200 years of disasters at sea. Ingram, Charles W. N., Chart of Hauraki Gulf
In 1925 a leopard that had escaped from the Auckland Zoo three weeks earlier was found dead in the Tāmaki river by a fishing party in Karaka Bay."An Inglorious End". Auckland Star. Vol. LVI, issue 241, 12 Oct 1925, p 10. (Papers Past)
The Tāmaki River also has a marina / ferry wharf at Half Moon Bay, from where commuter ferries depart for the Auckland CBD and car/passenger ferries for Waiheke Island. Many yachts are also moored in its relatively well protected interiors. The river channel is marked with large green buoys. Deep draught vessels should stay close to the buoys as the channel, although averaging deep is very narrow in many places. Near the large Point England sand spit there are numerous mudflats which are barely covered at high tide. The speed limit in the river is . Rocks at the western mouth of the river at St Heliers are marked by a distinctive barber's pole. Vessels of more than draught should not attempt the opening between Musick Point and Browns Island. The channel in this area is marked by port and starboard markers about apart. It is northwest of Musick Point. Large mussel beds extend out from Browns Island into the river.
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