The Manukau Heads is the name given to the two promontories that form the entrance to the Manukau Harbour - one of the two harbours of Auckland in New Zealand. The southern head is simply termed "The South Head", whereas the northern head is named "Burnett Head" (the term North Head is used to indicate a promontory in the nearby Waitemata Harbour). Both heads are hilly areas of land that rise steeply from the water to over 240m within less than 400m of the shoreline.
There is a pronounced sand bar across the harbour mouth which has limited shipping into the harbour since European vessels arrived in the area which had enough draught to be affected by such shallows. This limitation (which ensured an effective maximum ship size of about 1,000 tons in pre-modern times), was no barrier to early success of shipping to local ports in the harbour - but eventually meant that the Waitemata Harbour overtook the Manukau Harbour in prominence as a port location.
New Zealand's worst maritime disaster occurred just offshore in 1863 when HMS Orpheus ran aground on the Manukau Bar and sank with the loss of 189 lives. The area remains dangerous for watercraft, with one death each in 2005 and 2010 when pleasure craft capsized or were swamped near the bar.
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