Takarunga / Mount Victoria the highest volcano on

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

's North Shore, rising to 66 m. Its age is currently unknown. Its lava flows now line much of Devonport's waterfront. Takarunga was the location of an important

pā The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages. Pā sites ...

used by Tāmaki Māori peoples. In the late 19th century, a gun fort was built on top of the hill, in order to defend the

city of Auckland Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

. As a designated tūpuna maunga, the mountain has been governed by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority, along with thirteen other cones throughout Auckland, since 2014.

Geography

The hill provides panoramic views of Auckland's

Waitematā Harbour Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...

and the inner

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,signal station A signal station is a form of Aids to Navigation that is defined by the IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad definition would include coastal radio stations and fog sig ...

for shipping, artillery emplacements, farmland, and various concrete army bunkers, some from as early as the 1870s. One bunker now serves as the venue for the Devonport Folk Music Club. The slopes of Takarunga / Mount Victoria are also home to Devonport Primary School, Takarunga Playcentre, a tennis court, a cemetery, a water reservoir which maintains supply to the area, and a scenic lookout. The old Signalman's House is now home to the Michael King Writers Centre which provides writers-in-residence programmes, hosting for visiting writers, residential workshops for experienced writers, and a series of workshops for young poets and emerging writers. The writer-in-residence programmes are supported by

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

and the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

History

An important

once occupied its slopes; some of its earthworks can still be seen. In the 18th century, Takarunga was seasonally occupied by

Waiohua Te Waiohua or Te Wai-o-Hua is a Māori iwi (tribe) confederation that thrived in the early 18th century. The iwi's rohe (tribal area) was primarily the central Tāmaki Makaurau area (the Auckland isthmus) and the Māngere peninsula, until the 1 ...

paramount chief

Kiwi Tāmaki Kiwi Tāmaki (died ) was a Māori warrior and paramount chief of the Waiohua confederation in Tāmaki Makaurau (modern-day Auckland isthmus). The third generation paramount chief of Waiohua, Kiwi Tāmaki consolidated and extended Waiohua power ...

, during the seasons for bird catching and preservation. The traditional name, Takarunga, literally means "The Hill Standing Above", and contrasts with

Mount Cambria Mount Cambria (also Sheep Hill or Taka-a-raro / Takararo) is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. Located in the suburb of Devonport north-east of Mt Victoria, its 30-metre scoria cone was quarried away. The site is now Cambria ...

, a now-quarried hill known by the name Takararo, or "The Hill Standing Below". A

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) '' ...

mound known as Duders Hill, on Takarunga / Mount Victoria's southern slopes was mostly

quarried A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

away. French navigator

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

climbed the hill in

1827 Events January–March * January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place on Tasmania (called at the time ''Van Diemen's Land''), on the River Derwent at Hobart. * January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826, be ...

, and it was given the name Mount Victoria, referring to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, by early settlers. In 1841 a signal station was constructed on the peak, to better facilitate traffic to the

Port of Auckland Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...

, and in 1880 the hill became a public reserve. In 1885, a gun fort was constructed on the peak, which was in use until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Treaty settlement

In the 2014

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

settlement between the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

and the ''Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau'' collective of 13 Auckland iwi and hapu (also known as the Tāmaki Collective), ownership of the 14 Tūpuna Maunga of ''Tāmaki Makaurau'' / Auckland, was vested to the collective, including the volcano officially named Takarunga / Mount Victoria. The legislation specified that the land be held in trust "for the common benefit of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and the other people of Auckland". The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority or Tūpuna Maunga Authority (TMA) is the co-governance organisation established to administer the 14 Tūpuna Maunga. Auckland Council manages the Tūpuna Maunga under the direction of the TMA.

Gallery

File:MtVictoria.1.jpg, The north side of Takarunga / Mount Victoria, seen from Lake Road. File:The Bunker, Mt Victoria, Auckland.jpg, The Bunker, home of the Devonport Folk Club. File:Disappearing gun on Mount Victoria.jpg, alt=BL 8 inch Mk VII Disappearing gun at the summit of Takarunga / Mount Victoria., BL 8 inch Mk VII

Disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate back ...

at the ''tihi'' (summit) of Takarunga / Mount Victoria. File:Mt Victoria Mushrooms.jpg, 'Mushrooms' on top of Takarunga / Mount Victoria, which are in fact vents for a water pumping station.

References

*''Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide''. Hayward, B.W.; Auckland University Press, 2019, 335 pp. .

External links