Wiroa Island, or just Wiroa, is an island in Manukau Harbour, New Zealand. The island is located at the mouth of Pukaki Creek, directly southeast of Auckland Airport.
Wiroa Island is located southeast of the Auckland Airport complex and is only connected to the mainland by a narrow, approximately causeway, on which a road leads to the island. The approximately island has a length of around in a west-northwestâÂÂeast-southeast direction, and measures around in a north-northeastâÂÂsouth-southwest direction at its widest point. The island lies less than above the water level of the Manukau Harbour. As the island is a part of the Auckland Airport complex, it is inaccessible to the public. It is the 2nd largest island in the Manukau Harbour, after Puketutu Island and before Pararekau Island in the SE corner of the harbour.
Historically, TÃÂmaki MÃÂori used the island to collect red ochre. Its traditional name, Kohia, is a reference to this.
The surrounding area became farmland after being bought from local MÃÂori, with one of the last families to farm it from 1936âÂÂ1948 being the Westney family (direct descendants of the Westney family that donated the land the preserved Westney Road Methodist Church sat on from 1856âÂÂ2007 before it got shifted to another Airport owned site and restored) were market gardeners here and grew all sorts of vegetables and fruits as well as flowers for the markets. The Westneys had a few sheep, cows and pigs as well on the island during their ownership of it. In 1928 the adjacent land on the MÃÂngere Peninsula was used as the Mangere Aerodrome, later being developed into an international airport, Auckland Airport, opened in 1966. During this period, Wiroa Island became a part of the airport complex, and a radar tower was constructed on the island.
A bird habitat was created on the southeastern part of the island, to divert birds away from the airport airfield.