This NFU film goes for a ride on the ferries of the Waitematā. Shots of mooring ropes and rusted chains precede a steamer chugging under the object that made many of its companions obsolete: the Auckland Harbour Bridge. By 1973 steam power had been superseded by petrol power. Archive footage and stills stoke nostalgia as old-timers reminisce about bygone days on the harbour; a time when ferries were the main mode of transport from downtown to the North Shore and beyond. The soundtrack is a compilation of early 20th Century dixieland standards. 

In 1977 protesters occupied Bastion Point, after the announcement of a housing development on land once belonging to Ngāti Whātua. Five hundred and six days later, police and army arrived en masse to remove them. This documentary examines the rich and tragic history of Bastion Point/Takaparawhau — including how questionable methods were used to gradually take land from Māori, while basic amenities were withheld from those remaining. The Untold Story features extensive interviews with protest leader Joe Hawke, and footage from seminal documentary Bastion Point Day 507. 

Richard Driver files this 1988 Radio with Pictures report from a Waitemata Stadium concert cobbled together after the failure of music festival Neon Picnic. He interviews The Chills, Graham Brazier and Live Aid legend Bob Geldof. Geldof, along with Tim Shadbolt and Phil Warren, had come to the aid of music fans by organising the consolation gig at the last minute. Geldof rates Neon Picnic’s demise as an international embarrassment. But he praises the local music community for rallying behind the replacement gig, and admits he enjoyed the rush of helping organise it.

For this 2001 series Peter Elliott retraced Captain James Cook’s first voyage around Aotearoa. The second episode heads from Mercury Bay to Cape Reinga. Elliott diverts from Cook’s wake to Waitemata Harbour to investigate New Zealand boatbuilding history, and sail a Team New Zealand America’s Cup yacht with Tom Schnackenberg. Elliott then boards HMNZS Te Kaha to "hoon" up the coast to rejoin The Endeavour's path. In the Bay of Islands he meets Waitangi waka paddlers, crews on tall ship R Tucker Thompson, and dives to the Rainbow Warrior wreck off the Cavalli Islands.

Auckland is known as the City of Sails and each Anniversary Day, the Waitemata Harbour hosts the world’s largest one-day regatta. The culture of yachting on the Hauraki Gulf gets full-blown homage in this 1968 National Film Unit film. The short documentary sets up sailing as a way to escape the bustle of the city, and follows the tacks and jibes of a race — “The hum of straining rigging, the sting of flying spray on the lips … the feeling that only a yachtie knows as his craft lifts and surges.” The narration is by Tim Eliott, who had recently helped found Wellington's Downstage Theatre. 

A big budget New Zealand-French-Australian co-production, kidult series Deepwater Haven screened on TV2. It followed the fortunes of Waitemata Harbour tugboat skipper Jack Wilson (Vince Martin of Beaurepairies advertising fame) and his two kids, Georgie (Jay Saussey) and Peter (Peter Malloch). This opening episode sees Jack struggling to keep his business afloat; the local cafe is burgled; and Peter, marooned at a dry dock while on the run from bullies, is rescued by a street kid (future Pluto singer Milan Borich). Saussey won a NZ Film and TV Award for her role.

This silent film from 1945 showcases the making of “to-day’s great drink” (beer!), at Dominion Breweries’ Waitemata Brewery in the Auckland suburb of Otahuhu. Post-war, beer consumption was about to boom, with DB set to meet the demand. The film extols automation throughout the production process (though humans are seen contributing to the craft). Beer was still being brewed on the Otahuhu site 70 years later. Made by pioneering commercial filmmaker Robert Steele, the 16mm silent film was likely made for screening at trade fairs or winter shows.

This episode of TV2’s 1980 weekly after school show features performances by resident band Kairo (covering the Doobie Brothers) and the Montgomery Sisters. In the field, Tracy Barr joins naval frigate HMNZS Waikato as it sails from Devonport Naval Base, under the Auckland Harbour Bridge and up the Waitemata Harbour to collect ammunition at Point Kauri, and then heads out to sea for gunnery practice. On board, Tracy chats to the captain, a chef and a laundryman (who irons 150 shirts every day) — the results of the exercise seem to be a military secret.

At the time of this 1984 interview with Catherine Tizard, Auckland had just been announced as host for the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Weekend's Terry Carter interviews the city’s mayor on her preparation plans: covering commercialism, chauvinism, Treaty of Waitangi, tourism, and a proposed All Blacks tour to South Africa (“it won’t help”). Tizard defends the controversial Aotea Centre and talks about family sacrifices she's made for the mayoral job. ‘Dame Cath’ was the first female Mayor of Auckland, and went on to be New Zealand’s first female Governor-General.

This 80s relic was a homegrown take on US show That's Incredible!, with spectacular stunts and supernatural happenings replaced with subjects that were more kiwiana kitsch than wow! It was the first show from production company Communicado; presenters included Tim Shadbolt, Neil Roberts, Sue Kedgley, Phil Gifford and Phil Keoghan. In a Vanity Fair interview to illustrate Kiwi's "enormous understatement" Jane Campion famously quipped: "You know, they used to have a program on TV in New Zealand, That's Fairly Interesting. [...] In America, it's That's Incredible!"