From Isabella Brown	From David Jasper Robertson
My family has a long association with the Manukau Harbour, beginning with the Master Mariner, John Grant, who sailed in the steamship "Takapuna" between 1883 and 1916. He and his family lived in Harbourview Terrace, which overlooks the harbour and from where my father was often cared for and from where his love of the sea originated. Successively, John's sons and grandsons were yachtsmen, and my father, Raymond Grant, sailed, amongst other craft, the champion 14 ft yacht "Muamai". As a family we lived on the Mangere waterfront for many years.	When they were extending the wharf in the late 50s, they recovered the hull of an 18 foot launch. Dad rebuilt it and installed an Austin Seven engine. She ran out of Wattle Bay by Cape Horn for decades after that. * * * * * I was serving on "Mako", a 72 foot Navy fisheries vessel. We blew an engine crossing the bar going out. Returned to Onehunga where the Dockyard cut the lid off to do an engine swap. First night the guys went home to Devonport by bus and ferry. Didn't bother next night!
From Darryl Robb	From Kevan "Sharkie" Price
I worked on the NZ Shipping Corporation's vessel "Lorena". We would quite often berth in Onehunga, from where she would run to Niue and the Cook Islands. I was the mud pilot (helmsman). Don't know if it my steering or just the narrow channel we had to stay in, but the skipper would smoke non-stop till we got out into safe water - maybe two packets of tailor-mades! One other skipper was p155ed going in there once, and I believe the mate took it in.	I was a bucko on the "Hotunui" (Northern Company) in 1960, and we used to run regularly from Lyttelton to Onehunga - only two ports. When we used to cross the bar in the Manukau, we all had to come up on deck with our lifejackets in case of an emergency. I think the skipper then was Greensill? Great job and crowd.
From John Cooper	From Victor Nicholls
Anyone remember "Boof" Weaver? Fisherman skipper. Two big Lion Reds leaving the wharf then over the bar and off fishing!	A quote over the VHF - "The land of licorice allsorts"!
From Bill Hanna	From Rollo Tomasi
I remember the "Black Shed" was selling more beer than the pub! What about the story of the Korean fishing boat steaming up to the wharf and asking in broken English, "Where's Auckland?" Ha! Good days! I was on "Titoki". Might have been on "Calm" too.	My father worked at Onehunga from 1958 until retirement in 1985, initially as the Holm Shipping Company manager, then as the Union Shipping manager. I have childhood memories of the waterside workers' Christmas parties, and going on the small coastal ships to see the loading and unloading - all done manually by sling and crane in those days.
From Tracey Bragg	From Bob Cheeseman
Mud pilot, can't remember which ship - might have been a Scales job, but I was on nearly everything that went in and out of Onehunga. Slowed down, lost steerage outside and spun like a cork in a full ebb tide!	The "Black Shed" was run by the wharf social club on the wharf, in one of the sheds that happened to be painted black. I first used it in 1971. Beer was cheaper than the pub. Quart bottles were the order of the day.
From Peter Kiddell	From Bill Hanna
I was Second Engineer on the "Unit Shipper", with Jack Holbrook as Master. We made the 1ZB news when we sat on the mud for an hour. Just as well the tide was on the make! Some hairy moments coming over the bar on a shortened tow. The barge could travel faster than us on a big swell.	More on the "Black Shed" ... And the horse mussels from the Heads. Dipped in flour and cooked in butter, fresh bread and vinegar. Beautiful, washed down with a coldy on a Sunday afternoon ... Great bunch of guys. I used to always put on extra bacon and eggs and take it over for their smoko.
From Gailene Ann Abraham	Got a "Tall Tale" from Onehunga's past?
My Uncle Bill was a wharfie in the 50s and 60s. He fell off the wharf and was so sick, plus his back broke out in dozens of boils. The water was a bit polluted back then.	There will always be room for your story on this page. Big or small, please send it through. It all helps to preserve the history of the Port of Onehunga.           scousekiwi@gmail.com
From Rollo Tomasi	From Lindsay Butterfield
My first job out of school, aged seventeen, was a casual wharfie at Onehunga. I got the job as my Dad was running the port. The wharfies were suspicious that I would be a nark for my Dad to report any dodgy stuff they did, so I tried hard to fit in. Late one afternoon my Dad walked through a cargo shed just as a bunch of wharfies, including me, were drinking the dregs of a wine barrel that was being shipped back down to Nelson. I got a lot of flak from my Dad at home, but from then on I was respected among the wharfies.	My only trips in and out of Onehunga were on "Fijian Swift" in 1974 as Second Mate, when I was on leave from Union Company, and again as Supernumerary on "Spirit Of Progress”, when a friend, John Frankland, was Master. From Alex Lang I was one of two skippers of the "Unit Shipper" and "UNZ4" barge. I was on the tug the whole time it ran the service, with a crew of eleven. The only NZ born crew member was the cook, Fritz von Zalinski!!