Heartland - Grey Lynn

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1993

Maggie Barry (Maggie's Garden Show) presents this episode of the popular 1990s doco series and puts the spotlight on her own suburb of Grey Lynn. In the 1880s it was considered an "up and coming" area, and self-made business people built grand villas in the Surrey hills. From the 1950s on, an influx of Pacific Islanders changed Grey Lynn's ethnic make-up and added a vibrant Polynesian atmosphere to its schools, churches, sports fields and streets. Barry speaks to born and bred locals like Ray Mills and takes in a festival at Grey Lynn Park, home to many community sports teams and events like the Ladies Niuean Cricket finals.

As Ponsonby became the Toorak of Auckland, certain people gravitated towards Grey Lynn. There's always been a healthy collection of mad people in Grey Lynn. Going back to Ponsonby now sticks in my craw. I'm very blue collar, very working class. We don't have a class system here, it's about money — rather than family. Same effect though.
– Songwriter and Grey Lynn resident Graham Brazier on his longtime suburb, in The Grey Lynn Book (2015)