Blockhouse Bay is a residential suburb in the south west of Auckland, in New Zealand's North Island.

[6] Portage Road is the location of Te Tōanga Waka, one of the overland routes between the two harbours (and thus the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea), where Māori would beach their waka (canoes) and drag them overland to the other coast, thus avoiding having to paddle around North Cape.

This made the area of immense strategic importance in both pre-European times and during the early years of European occupation.

Two missionaries who had arrived in New Zealand on 30 December 1834, William Colenso and R. Wade, walked through the Whau South area in 1838 hoping to find a Māori settlement, but the pā site on Te Whau point had been abandoned some time before.

"[citation needed] Te Whau Bay was used as a camping spot for European settlers during the early colonial era of Auckland.

[7] At this time the first land war in Taranaki was escalating and there were fears it would spread north and so a defence system for Auckland was actioned.

A blockhouse is a purpose-built building with walls thick enough to stop musket ball penetration, with slits in the walls for defensive musket fire, a fence or stockade surrounding the building, with a trench beyond that.

The early 1900s saw other industries such as poultry, orchards, potteries, strawberries, flowers, loganberries and small farm holdings.

[citation needed] A bach community at Blockhouse Bay developed in the early 1900s,[7] with the area becoming a popular holiday resort for Aucklanders in the 1920s, with families making the journey over rough roads to spend the summer at the beach.

[citation needed] During the Great Depression in the 1930s, workers developed the Blockhouse Bay beachfront area, building stone walls and pathways.

[21] Auckland International College was a private senior secondary school which was founded in 2003 on another site but closed in 2023.