Auckland City Centenary – Last, Loneliest, Loveliest

Television (Full Length) – 1971

In May 1871 Auckland became a city. One hundred years later reporter Hamish Keith looks back to see how Auckland developed and ahead to where it is going. In 1971 600,000 people lived in the greater Auckland area and it was rapidly expanding. Keith notes volcanoes, tribal war, pioneers, "booze and butter" booms, problematic bridges, PI influence, cars and suburbia; and muses on Auckland’s “marching to its own drum” spirit. Anticipating Super City angst, then-Auckland mayor Sir Dove-Myer Robinson frets that sprawling unruly Auckland is a city in search of a soul.

Last, loneliest, loveliest. Most exquisite apart. I wonder if Rudyard Kipling would use those words to describe Auckland now? Somehow, I don’t think so.
– Reporter Hamish Keith