Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill is a 182-metre (597 ft) volcanic peak and Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountain) in Auckland, New Zealand. It is an important place culturally and archeologically for both Māori and Pākehā. The suburb around the base of the hill is also called One Tree Hill. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Royal Oak to the west, and clockwise, Epsom, Greenlane, Oranga, and Onehunga. The summit provides views across the Auckland area, and allows visitors to see both of Auckland's harbours. The scoria cones of the hill were erupted from three craters – one is intact and two have been breached by lava flows that rafted away part of the side of the scoria cone. Lava flows went in all directions, many towards Onehunga, covering an area of 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi), making it the second largest (in area covered) of the Auckland volcanic field, behind Rangitoto Island. The volcano erupted approximately 67,000 years ago.
History
Tāmaki Māori history
In pre-European times, Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill was the largest pā on the Auckland isthmus. The Māori name Maungakiekie means "mountain of the kiekie vine". The terraces of the pā were constructed by Ngāti Awa chief Tītahi in the 17th century, and were traditionally known as Ngā Whakairo a Tītahi (the carvings of Tītahi). The tihi (summit) of the maunga was where the umbilical cord of Ngāti Awa rangatira Korokino was buried and a tōtara tree sprig was planted on top, giving rise to the name Te Tōtara-i-āhua ("The Tōtara That Stands Alone"), another common name for the mountain used by Tāmaki Māori. Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill is associated with the Waiohua confederation of tribes, who were active in the 17th and 18th centuries. The time of the third paramount chief of Waiohua, Kiwi Tāmaki, is associated with the time of the greatest unity and strength of the Waiohua confederation, when the Tāmaki Makaurau region was one of the most populated areas of Aotearoa. The cone and its surroundings are estimated to have been home to a population of up to 5,000. Kiwi Tāmaki, the third paramount chief of Waiohua, moved the seat of power of the confederation from Maungawhau / Mount Eden to Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Near the summit of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill was a gigantic pahū pounamu (greenstone gong) known as Whakarewa-tāhuna ("Lifted from the Banks of the Sea"), which Kiwi Tāmaki used to call for the warriors of the Tāmaki isthmus to assemble. During the later Waiohua period, the southern slopes of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill south to Onehunga were known as Nga Māra a Tahuri ("The Plantations of Tahuri"), which were extensive kūmara (sweet potato) plantations managed by Tahuri, an agriculturalist and wife of Waiohua chief Te Ika-maupoho. Kiwi Tāmaki and most of the people of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill did not live permanently at the mountain, instead migrating across circuits of the Auckland region collecting resources. Kiwi Tāmaki's rule and the Waiohua hegemony over the Tāmaki isthmus came to an end in the 1740s, after war with the Te Taoū hapū of Ngāti Whātua from South Kaipara. After the war, Te Taoū settled on the isthmus, and chief Tuperiri constructed a pā below the summit of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, known as Hikurangi. Hikurangi was abandoned around 1795 AD, with the death of Tuperiri, and Ngāti Whātua re-centred their activities around the Onehunga-Māngere area. While Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill was no longer central to Ngāti Whātua life, it remained a central part of the iwi's rohe.
European history
In 1844, Ngāti Whātua chiefs sold a block of land which included Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill to a merchant, Thomas Henry. Most of this property was removed from Henry's ownership in 1847, with the 115 acres of the hill and surrounding land becoming a Crown reserve, now known as the One Tree Hill Domain. In 1853, Auckland businessmen John Logan Campbell and William Brown purchased the Henry's remaining land. Henry had referred to his property as Mt Prospect, however after the purchase Campbell renamed the farm the One Tree Hill Estate. Over the next 20 years, the farm was developed for cattle and sheep farming, and included potato cultivations. During this period, Campbell and Brown spent most of their time in Europe. In 1874, Campbell returned to Auckland and took sole ownership of the property, planning to build an Italian-style mansion adjacent to the mountain. Campbell's wife Emma did not approve of the designs or location, so by 1876 abandoned plans for the villa. In 1878, he planted an olive grove at Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, the only commercial olive grove in New Zealand until the 1980s. In 1880, after the death of his daughter Ida, Campbell decided to gift the One Tree Hill Estate to the public, leasing the land to Chinese market gardener Fong Ming Quong in the mean-time. In 1901, Campbell formally handed over the land to the public during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in 1901 (who later became King George V and Queen Mary of Teck).
One Tree Hill Domain
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