Mangere. 427 days ago

The suburb is located on flat land at the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of the centre of Manukau city and 15 kilometres south of Auckland city centre. It is an important transportation node for the city, being on one of the two State Highways running south from Auckland (State Highway 20), and also being the location for Auckland International Airport, which lies close to the harbour's edge to the south of the suburb.

Close to Mangere, at Otahuhu, the isthmus of Auckland reaches its narrowest point. For this reason, there is an obvious transportation bottleneck. In order to alleviate this problem, a major bridge, the Mangere Bridge was built to accommodate traffic south from the city, especially that traffic heading for the airport. Construction work on the bridge was the cause of one of New Zealand's longest-running industrial disputes from 1978 until 1980. The bridge was finally completed in 1983, linking Mangere with the Auckland suburb of Onehunga to the north. A motorway through Mangere, linking the southern approach of the bridge with the western edge of Papatoetoe was completed in 1997.

There are four major areas within Mangere; Mangere Bridge, Mangere Central, Mangere East and Favona.

The suburb is named after Mangere Mountain, one of Auckland's largest volcanic cones. The title comes from the Mâori words 'hau mangere' meaning lazy winds, after the shelter the mountain provides from the prevailing westerly wind.

Mangere's most famous son is former Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange, who was the Member of Parliament for Mangere from 1977 until 1996. Another famous personality to come from Mangere is former Heavyweight Boxing Champion David Tua.