Pukaki Creek is an estuarine river of the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows south from its sources in MÃÂngere and Papatoetoe, entering into the Manukau Harbour. The creek is adjacent to Auckland Airport and Pà «kaki Marae.
Pukaki Creek is fed by various waterways in South Auckland, including the Tautauroa Creek, the Waokauri Creek (also known as the Waiokauri Creek) and the Otaimako Creek. Adjacent to the creek is the volcanic Pukaki Lagoon. At the mouth of Pukaki Creek is Wiroa Island, which is connected to the Auckland Airport complex by road.
TÃÂmaki MÃÂori peoples were present along the MÃÂngere-IhumÃÂtao-Pà «kaki coastline from at least 1450, establishing settlements later in the 15th century. The creek formed an important part of the Waokauri / Pà «kaki portage, connecting the Manukau Harbour and TÃÂmaki River via Papatoetoe, and was often used by TÃÂmaki MÃÂori to avoid the Te Tà  Waka and Karetu portages, controlled by the people who lived at à ÂtÃÂhuhu / Mount Richmond. The creek formed a part of what was known as NgàTapuwae a Mataoho ("The Sacred Footprints of Mataoho"), referring to the volcano God who was said to have created the Auckland volcanic field.
During the Waiohua confederation era of the 17th and 18th centuries, the area was farmed. After the defeat of Waiohua paramount chief Kiwi TÃÂmaki circa 1740, many Waiohua people fled the region. When the Waiohua people began to re-establish themselves in the TÃÂmaki Makaurau area in the later 18th century, most settled around the Manukau Harbour and South Auckland. Those who settled along Pukaki Creek became known as Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua.
In the 1850s, Lieutenant-Colonel Marmaduke Nixon lived on the western shores of Pukaki Creek, while Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua lived on the eastern shores. In 1863 immediately prior to the Invasion of the Waikato, Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua and other iwi in the South Auckland area were made to evict the area, or swear fealty to the New Zealand Government. Nixon arrested his neighbour, the Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua rangatira êhaka Takaanini, who later died on RÃÂkino Island. Following the war and land confiscations, much of the land adjacent to Pukaki Creek was sold to British immigrant farmers. Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua began returning to the area in 1866, settling to the west of Pukaki Creek and at IhumÃÂtao. In the 1890s, Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua built a marae on the land, which was used until the 1950s, when the Auckland International Airport was developed on the land.
In the 1950s, the area adjacent to Pukaki Creek became market gardens, run by Chinese New Zealand gardeners Fay Gock and Joe Gock. The Gocks began to cultivate kà «mara (sweet potatoes), using plant donated to them by their neighbours at Pà «kaki Marae. In the 1950s, the Gocks developed a disease-resistant variety of kà «mara that became the modern Owairaka Red variety.
In 1993, Pukaki Creek became a MÃÂori reservations under the Te Ture Whenua MÃÂori Act 1993. Te ÃÂkitai Waiohua's principal marae, Pà «kaki Marae, opened in 2004, adjacent to Pukaki Creek.