Auckland's waterfront from the air, 1920s

I'll stick my neck out and estimate that this photo is from around 1922-1924, the period John Barr was putting together his history of the city of Auckland, which featured a similar shot, but one taken by plane passing in front of the wharves areas. It's one of the earliest aerial photographs of the city, pre-dating White's Aviation by a decade.

Queen Street's train station is visible here, tucked in behind the Central Post Office. The station was demolished in 1930, and became Britomart bus station by 1937 -- now, where you see the canopies here of the original station, all is now underground as part of the Britomart Train Station complex.

Queen Street wharf, with its cargo shed. Shed 10 is the sole survivor. Above is the ferry wharf, still in operation.

Further west, the triangle of land once meant to be a war memorial,  the site of today's Maritime Museum still unreclaimed, no ritzy cafes in what was to become the Viaduct Harbour later in the century, no Te Wero crossing, and the Wynyard Quarter/tank farm beyond still in the process of reclamation and development as a light-to-heavy industrial area and storage space.

From a postcard in my collection.