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Ponsonby is an inner-city suburb of Auckland City located 2 km west of the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. The suburb is oriented along a ridge running north-south, which is followed by the main street of the suburb, Ponsonby Road. A predominantly upper-middle class residential suburb, Ponsonby today is also known in Auckland for its dining and shopping establishments – many restaurants, cafes, art galleries, up-market shops and nightclubs are located along Ponsonby Road. The borders of Ponsonby are often seen as being rather fluid, taking in St Mary's bay and Herne Bay to the north and including Freemans Bay to the east and Grey Lynn to the south - Ponsonby is properly bounded by Jervois Road to the North and Richmond Road to the south but extends down Ponsonby road all the way to the Karangahape road corner - the boundary with Freemans Bay to the east is less clear. The area was originally a working class to middle class area. From the Great Depression until the 1980s it contained many rundown buildings, and had a somewhat 'colourful' reputation. This was partially due to some criminal elements, its many Maori and Pacific Island residents and (from the 1970s onwards) student flats and an association with Auckland's arts and gay/lesbian scenes. The suburb has undergone extensive gentrification over the last two decades, arguably returning it to its largely middle class origins. Its postcode is 1011. The Māori name for the ridge is ''Te Rimu Tahi'' ('The Lone Rimu Tree', referring to an ancient tree which stood in a prominent position at what is now the intersection of Ponsonby Road and Karangahape Road).〔(Ponsonby Heritage Walks ) – Mace, Tania; Ponsonby Road Promotions & Auckland City Council, ca. 2005〕 No European apparently saw the tree and so its exact location is unidentifiable. Ponsonby is named after Ponsonby Road which runs the length of the ridge from the Karangahape Road intersection to the south to the Three Lamps intersection to the north. En route there are three major intersections; Williamson Avenue, which is the main thoroughfare of Grey Lynn to the west, Richmond Road (again to the west), which divides Grey Lynn and Ponsonby and Franklin Road, which is the main road in Freeman's Bay to the east. == Etymology == The area now referred to as Three Lamps was originally called Dedwood in 1845,〔 after a farm in Shelly Beach Road, which was apparently named after a Captain Dedwood. The name was changed to Ponsonby in 1873, apparently derived from Ponsonby Road which first appears on an 1850s Map of Auckland. Ponsonby is now applied to a larger area (as described above). There are various people who might have inspired the name Ponsonby: * Major-General Sir Henry Ponsonby (private secretary to Queen Victoria, 1870–1895) * The Honorable Ponsonby Peacocke, a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council * Colonel Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby * Major-General Sir William Ponsonby Sir Henry Ponsonby became private secretary to the Queen just before the name change in 1873; it is unlikely however that his name would have been very well known and Ponsonby Road appears as early as the mid 1850s. His surname is thus the least likely source for the namimg of the road (and eventually the new name for the suburb) The Hon. Colonel Stephen Ponsonby Peacocke (also known as Ponsonby Peacocke) was a member of the Legislative Council (1866). He was living on Ponsonby Road in the 1860s and died in 1872. His Christian name is an unlikely source for the naming of the road and there is a map from the mid 1850s showing Ponsonby Road which may predate Peacocke's arrival in New Zealand in 1858. The Vandeleur connection: It is widely believed that what is now Ponsonby Road was originally called Vandeleur Road, but this is not backed up by evidence. One of the earliest maps of Auckland (1841 by the Surveyor General, Felton Mathew), does show a Vandeleur Road in the general area. However it does not run in the same direction as the existing Ponsonby Road and it was probably never laid out - if it had been it would run north-south and sit between the existing Howe and Hepburn Streets (basically where Western Park is located). Many of the early street names of Auckland were derived from military men involved in the Napoleonic Wars; this includes Wellington and Nelson. The Ponsonby area contains several examples; Collingwood, Cockburn, Anglesea, Picton, Vandeleur and Ponsonby. Major-General Sir John Vandeleur was a Divisional Commander at Waterloo and Colonel Frederick Ponsonby was a regimental commander under him. His relative Major-General Sir William Ponsonby was also at Waterloo. Neither Frederick or William Ponsonby or Vandeleur came to New Zealand but they are probably the source for the street names and ultimately the suburb's name.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ponsonby, New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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