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Story: Wellington places

Levelling Porirua

Levelling Porirua

An aerial view of Eastern Porirua in the late 1950s highlights the ‘cut and fill’ technique of land development. Hills were topped or levelled and spill was used to fill gullies, making the once rugged landscape more rolling.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP-1976/3091

by Ian Chappell Mackley

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Chris Maclean, Wellington places – Porirua, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/13497/levelling-porirua (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Chris Maclean, published 3 March 2009, updated 1 March 2016.

Comments

Tony Vaughan
19 February 2024
The photo shown is of eastern Porirua and Cannons Creak area. I lived there in the 1960’s and 1970’s and this photo is not from the late 1950’s. I would suggest the late 1960’s.