Ōtara Hill (also Te Puke o Tara or Smales Mount) is one of the volcanoes in the

Auckland volcanic field The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a divers ...

. Its scoria cone reached 89 m above sea level (around 59 m higher than the surrounding land) before it was quarried away. The hill was the site of a

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

named "Te Puke Ō Tara" meaning 'hill belonging to Tara', who was a Ngāi Tai

Rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the leaders (often hereditary) of a (subtribe or clan). Ideally, were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land ( ...

(or

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

Chief) of the area. Like many Auckland volcanoes, Ōtara Hill has a notable

tuff ring Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions cont ...

. It is located between Green Hill and Hampton Park. Green Hill and Ōtara Hill were together referred to as Bessy Bell and Mary Gray after an old Scottish ballad.

References

*''City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland'' - Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. . *''Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide''. Hayward, B.W.; Auckland University Press, 2019, 335 pp. .

External links

Aerial view looking north-east showing north side of Otara Hill in 1949 (Auckland Council Libraries, Kura Heritage Collections Online)

View of Smales Mountain being quarried, around 1965 (Auckland Council Libraries, Kura Heritage Collections Online)
Auckland volcanic field Howick Local Board Area East Auckland {{Auckland-geo-stub