Waitakere City - "Westies"

"Westies"

"Westie" is the nickname given to locals because of the city's location relative to the rest of Auckland. The west area is mostly populated by blue-collar workers, mostly in the service industry.

Much as Manukau City and Papakura's administrative geography roughly paralleled an unofficial area commonly known as South Auckland, so too Waitakere City had an unofficial equivalent in "West Auckland". The official and unofficial areas did not exactly coincide, and – again like Manukau, Papakura and South Auckland – it was the areas with a similar socio-economic mix, roughly from Te Atatu to Glen Eden, Henderson to New Lynn, Massey and Avondale which were most commonly associated with the nickname.