area needed to swear loyalty to the Queen and give up their weapons. Most people refused due to strong links to Tainui, leaving for the south before the Government's Invasion of the Waikato. Six men remained in the Māngere area, in order to tend to the farms and for ahi kā (land rights through continued occupation). On 16 May 1865, the Ngāti Mahuta village at Māngere Bridge was seized under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. European settlers continued to live in the area, often looting the abandoned settlements. In 1867, the Native Compensation Court returned 144 of the original 485 acres that had been seized by the crown. The remaining land was kept by the crown as reserves, or sold on to settlers. Opening of the bridge and dairy farming Plans for a bridge spanning the Māngere Inlet began in 1866, when a company was formed to investigate a crossing between Māngere and Onehunga, funded by a grant provided by the Auckland provincial government. In 1872, a commission was created by the Auckland Provincial Council to investigate the creation of a bridge south of Onehunga. In 1875, the first Māngere Bridge was opened, leading to Māngere Bridge being one of the first areas of Māngere to develop suburban housing. In the latter 19th century, Māngere Bridge was well-known for wheat, and produced oats, barley, potatoes and cattle for the growing settlement of Auckland. The postal service reached Māngere Bridge in 1878, and by 1883 the first shop was operating at Māngere Bridge, on the corner of corner of Kiwi Esplanade and Coronation Road. 1886 saw the first post office open in Māngere Bridge, and in August 1890 the Māngere Bridge School opened (previously the Māngere Central School served the area). Further land was returned to Waikato tribes in 1890, where a cottage was built for King Tāwhiao, which housed family members of the king visiting Auckland, or family members being educated at schools in Auckland, such as Mahuta Tāwhiao, Tumate Mahuta and Tonga Mahuta. From the late 1880s, Māngere Bridge was one of the largest dairy suppliers to the city of Auckland. In October 1887, Ambury and English Ltd opened a dairy factory in the area, supplying milk from the dairy farms (which includes modern day Ambury Regional Park, and farms along Wallace Road and Creamery Road) to their stores on Karangahape Road and Ponsonby Road. The creamery closed