In 1974, THE SOUTH AUCKLAND CHORAL SOCIETY INC began as an ad hoc group of singers, recruited from Papakura and nearby districts to celebrate Papakura's newly-acquired status as a city in the year 1975. The City Celebrations committee was formed and the convener, (the late Cliff Churchill, editor of The News Advertiser, now The Courier) asked local resident Lorna Clauson to form a cultural committee and present a year-long programme of cultural events. Chief among these would be musical occasions and a local choral enthusiast, Frank Harnett, told Lorna to "Get a choir together and sing something!" This was only made possible by the willingness of various church singers to get together as there was no local choral group. Crossroads Methodist Church Trustees kindly made their premises available and in October 1974 the first rehearsal of "St John Passion" by J S Bach was held.

Local singers helped train the four part harmony - sopranos, altos, tenors, basses - and the performance was conducted by Auckland musician Roger Harris on Palm Sunday 23rd March 1975. This was a great success and the 51 singers decided that perhaps they could complete the cultural year by doing another concert for Christmas. The work chosen was "The Christmas Oratorio" by J S Bach, conducted by Winston King. The success of this event finally persuaded the group to establish a regular choral society in Papakura, but which would embrace the whole of the South Auckland area. A committee was elected and the choir was 'in business,' as they say.

The formation of the Papakura Civic Orchestra in 1976 was to prove another major advance in the local music scene and during the next few years the choir and orchestra worked together to present many delightful family concerts in Crossroads, where the choir still meets every week.