A Virtual Field Trip to Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill

Social Studies Online

Learning Outcome:
Students will:
Explain how Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill-Cornwall Park has been used by people over time, and support their explanation with evidence.

Let's think
How have different people used volcanic cones like Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill?
What are some of the features of Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill that tell us how people have used the volcanic cone?

Let's detect
Gumshoes on. Notebooks out and pencils sharpened. Time to become Time Detectives.

First stop
Mangere Mountain actually - looking across the Manukau Harbour to Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill. Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill is one of 48 volcanic cones and craters around Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland. Maori settled on and around the cones and turned many of them into fortified pa. You can tell by the shape of the hill...

Second stop
We've made it to Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill and parked our wheels at the foot of the West Crater. Maori lived and worked here hundreds of years ago. The slopes of this horseshoe shaped breached crater are terraced. It is likely that each terrace, or set of terraces, was occupied by a family group or whanau. After Sir John Logan Campbell gifted One Tree Hill to the people of New Zealand, the west crater formed part of the golf course that once covered a large part of One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park. Golf Club clubhouse is now the Sorrento.

Third stop
At the top of the West Crater we can get a close up view of some of the terraces. All the earth moving to create terraces and defences was done by hand using wooden and stone tools. Soil was dug out using a wooden digging stick or ko, placed in baskets and then tipped further down the hill until a flat platform was created. The occupied pa may have looked something like this.

Fourth stop
The pa was protected by a complex system of fortifications. Maungakiekie pa had an unusual but easily defended entrance with a narrow gateway to the east of West Crater (beside what is now the summit road). This was the entrance to the pa. The outer defences consisted of ditches, scarps, banks and palisades.

By the way, in 1905 the view was somewhat different.

Fifth stop
Even if attackers made it through the ditches, scarps, banks and palisades (similar perhaps to these defences at Rangiriri) of the entrance and outer defences, they would still have a long way to go before they could tackle the tihi on the summit. The next obstacle was a massive ditch and bank followed by a raised area. The bank and raised area would both have been topped by palisades. Palisades on the banks created a wooden wall that attackers had to climb. Fighting stages behind the palisades allowed defenders to fight for their pa.

Sixth stop
Having battled through the inner defences the attackers might have been in sight of the tihi on the summit - the chief's living area and the most sacred part of the pa. But there were raised and defended living areas with steep scarps and palisades followed by even more ditches and palisaded banks to conquer. As we charge up the slopes we will come across evidence that the Maori inhabitants of the pa had a diet rich in seafood and kaimoana - wet fish like flounder, snapper and shark which probably came from the Manukau Harbour. Shells are still visible in the exposed middens.

Seventh stop
We've made it to the summit. Not much evidence of Maori occupation here. No tree either. The One Tree itself had to be removed in 2000 when it became dangerous. The obelisk on the summit of One Tree Hill was built to Sir John Logan Campbell's specifications and provided for in his will, but was not unveiled formally until 1948. It is a memorial to the "Great Maori Race" in Campbell's words and is located on the tihi of the pa, the most sacred area. Sir John Logan Campbell was buried on the summit in 1912. The summit looked like this before his memorial was built there.

Eighth stop
As we come back down the hill terraced garden plots can be seen on the slopes of the East Crater. The floor of the East Crater was a garden. Kumara and other crops were grown in the rich fertile soil. Garden mounds of shell, rocks and soil retained heat and created mini hot houses in which plants had an extra few weeks of warmth in which to mature before harvesting. The East Crater in 1905. The outer defences to the pa are in the right background. Just beyond the East Crater is the Archery Club, one of the many sports clubs in and around Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill.

Ninth stop
Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park have been a farm since the land was bought by an Irish settler named Thomas Henry in 1844. Before that Maori cultivated the land growing kumara, taro, gourds and yams. Today there are sheep and cattle.

Tenth stop
During World War II the 39th General U.S. Army Hospital was built in Cornwall Park to house soldiers recovering from the war in the Pacific. The temporary hospital lasted for over thirty years and many Aucklanders were born there during the Baby Boom. All that remains now is this plaque.

Eleventh stop
Tree planting in Cornwall Park started over 100 years ago. They were part of Sir John Logan Campbell's grand vision for the Park. There is a Native Tree Arboretum near the Kiosk and Acacia Cottage. There are avenues of trees - Pohutukawa Drive and Twin Oak Drive for example - and groves of olives, kauri and eucalypts to name but a few.

Twelfth stop
If you dive into Huia Lodge you will discover a lot about the history of Cornwall Park. Huia Lodge itself was built in 1902 as the Park Caretaker's house. The Kiosk next door was built in 1908 and teas were served by the caretaker's wife. Today it is a fully operational restaurant offering, among other things, Victorian Teas. Acacia Cottage opposite Huia Lodge was built by Dr John Logan Campbell and William Brown in 1841 in Shortland Crescent (now Shortland Street). It is the oldest wooden home in Auckland and is a good example of the type of home early settlers lived in. In 1920 the cottage was moved to Cornwall Park.

Thirteenth stop
Picnic and BBQ facilities are available for people to enjoy, especially in the summer. The Park was created by Sir John Logan Campbell with the intention of protecting the natural beauty of the environment while providing people with a large number of leisure activities - including just walking and relaxing.

Fourteenth stop
Sir John Logan Campbell, sometimes referred to as the Father of Auckland, who gifted Cornwall Park to the people of New Zealand (not just Auckland) in 1901.