Ruaotuwhenua is a hill in the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

of the

Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. At 440-metres, it is one of the tallest of the Waitākere Ranges, and the tallest of the eastern ranges adjacent to Auckland. The peak is the location of an air traffic

radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and ...

, and a radio mast is located further down the slope of the hill in

Waiatarua Waiatarua is a small settlement near the top of the Waitākere Ranges in West Auckland, close to the junction of Scenic Drive, West Coast Road and Piha Road to Piha and runs east until the junction of Scenic Drive and Mountain Road. Surroun ...

Geology

Ruaotuwhenua, along with the Scenic Drive ridge, are the remnants of one of the eastern sides of the

Waitākere Volcano Waitākere is a locality name in West Auckland, New Zealand. It most commonly refers to: *Waitākere, Auckland, a rural town north-west of Auckland *Waitakere City, a former territorial authority which existed from 1989 to 2010 *Waitākere Ranges, ...

, a

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

era volcanic crater complex which was uplifted from the seafloor between 3 and 5 million years ago.

Geography

The hill is a 440-metre peak in the eastern

. It is located near the settlement of

, and is accessible by Scenic Drive. The northern side of the hill is the source for Stoney Creek, a tributary of the

Opanuku Stream The Opanuku Stream, formerly known as the Henderson Stream, is a stream of the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows east from its source the Waitākere Ranges through the Henderson Valley, then north-east through West Auckland ...

, while the south-eastern side is a source for the Mander Creek, a tributary of the Nihotupu Stream which flows into the

Upper Nihotupu Reservoir The Upper Nihotupu Reservoir (or Upper Nihotupu Dam) is one of five reservoirs in the Waitākere Ranges that supply water to Auckland, New Zealand. Completed in 1923, the concrete gravity dam and its reservoir are managed by Watercare Services, ...

and Big Muddy Creek.

History

Ruaotuwhenua is within the traditional

rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ''rohe'' to describe the territory or boundaries of ''iwi'' (tribes), although some divide their rohe into several ''takiwā''. The areas shown on the map (right) are indicative only, and some iwi ...

of the

Te Kawerau ā Maki Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Kawerau a Maki, or Te Kawerau-a-Maki is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It had 251 registered adult members as of June 2017. Auckland Council gave it land for a marae at Te Henga (Bethells Be ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

, and holds significant cultural and spiritual significance. "Rua ō Te Whenua" literally means "the rumble of the earth", and is likely a reference to the roaring sound of the surf which travels along the Nihotupu Valley. The hill is linked to the Te Kawerau ā Maki traditional story of Panuku and Parekura. The story involves Nihotupu, a tūrehu (supernatural being) who lived in a cave at Ruaotuwhenua, who kidnapped Panuku's wife Parekura. Panuku travelled to Nihotupu's cave home to rescue his wife. Many of the place names in the eastern Waitākere Ranges area reference this traditional legend. The hill was regarded as the highest point of the Waitākere Ranges until the early 1940s, when city waterworks engineer AD Mead located and measured the height of Te Toiokawharu. In the late 1960s, a

and

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

transmission station was constructed on the hill, providing radio monitoring for

Auckland Airport Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airport Oaks, a service hub suburb south of the ...

Panorama

References

{{Waitākere Ranges Local Board Area Lookouts in Auckland Hills of the Auckland Region Volcanoes of the Auckland Region Waitākere Ranges Waitākere Ranges Local Board Area West Auckland, New Zealand