1983
Aro Arataki Children’s Centre has provided Early Childhood Education services for children of employees of the Auckland District Health Board on the grounds of the Greenlane Clinical Centre in Auckland since 1983.
2007
The centre moved to it's current location in 2007.
The name Aro Arataki was gifted to the service by the local iwi.
In English, Aro Arataki means ‘the way forward’.
Background Story
Maungakeikei – One Tree Hill
The Māori name Maungakiekie means "mountain of the kiekie vine". Māori also knew it as "tōtara that stands alone".
The mountain and its surrounds were home to the Te Wai ō Hua tribe from the early 1700s and probably before that time.
One Tree Hill Domain
One Tree Hill Domain, a 118-acre (48 ha) park, is owned by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective and administered by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority.
Cornwall Park
Cornwall Park is an expansive parkland in Epsom near the heart of Auckland, New Zealand. It surrounds the park containing Maungakiekie pa or the hill of One Tree Hill.
The two independent parks form one large park of 670 acres (270 hectares).
The Park has centuries-old heritage sites, wide-open spaces, tree lined avenues and places of peace and tranquility in amongst a large city.
It includes sports grounds including tennis and bowls and a working farm for the education of city children.
Greenlane Clinical Centre
Greenlane Clinical Centre is one of the major hospital facilities within the jurisdiction of the Auckland District Health Board. The centre is a complex of several buildings dating from as early as the 1870s.
During World War II large numbers of prefabricated buildings were constructed in the eastern part of Cornwall Park in readiness for wounded and sick American soldiers to be evacuated from Guadalcanal.
Now only the US flag pole and a plaque remain as a memorial to the wartime usage.
Greenlane and National Women’s Hospital Crèche Incorporated
Greenlane and National Women’s Hospital Crèche Incorporated was established in 1983 in order to provide onsite, affordable and accessible childcare for hospital employees of the Greenlane and National Women’s Hospital. The founding group opened the Greenlane Hospital Crèche and the original Director Helen Orr lead the service until her retirement in 2017. The service was originally housed in building 16, one of the hospital’s old repurposed buildings.
Aro Arataki Children’s Centre
In 2007 the Greenlane childcare service moved into the current brand new facility on the edge of Cornwall Park, and within view of One Tree Hill.