Grey Lynn and Ponsonby: Auckland suburbs transform
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In Auckland, New Zealand, Grey Lynn and Ponsonby transitioned from working-class neighbourhoods with strong Pasifika communities to highly desirable and expensive suburbs.
Josephina Faiva has lived in her family home on Richmond Road for almost 50 years, witnessing the shift as many Pasifika families moved to South Auckland due to rising housing costs in the 1980s and 1990s. She continues to live in the area and enjoys friendships with people from different backgrounds.
The suburbs also held historical significance as a hub for the Polynesian Panthers, a social justice movement formed in the 1970s to combat racism and oppose policies like the dawn raids. Tigilau Ness, a member of the Panthers, described the era as frightening for Polynesians, but the group provided community support through homework centres and legal aid.
However, Ness now faces displacement as the Transport Agency will purchase his home for the Northwestern busway project, and he worries about being able to afford to buy another property in the area. Local artist John Reynolds has lived in the suburbs since the 1980s and remembers a local dairy owner who openly discussed communism.
Reynolds notes that while the new businesses, like the French wine bar now occupying the dairy’s former location, are welcome additions, they represent a larger change in the character of the neighbourhood.
