McLennan Hills is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland Volcanic Field

Auckland Volcanic Field

The Auckland volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. Basaltic in nature, it underlies much of the metropolitan area of Auckland....

. It was a group of cratered scoria mounds up to 45 m high, before it was quarried away. A 1940 aerial photo (in Searle's book) shows a crater around 100 m wide, one around 50 m wide, and 2 or 3 smaller craters. The photo also shows terracing on the hills' slopes consistent with it being the site of a pā

Pa (Maori)

The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...

. The former quarry site is now used for greenhouses.

External links

• View south from Mt Wellington in 1920, showing McLennan Hills in distance.
• 1940s aerial photo of Mclennan Hills.
• Painting of McLennan Hills from the tuff ring crest of Mt Richmond in 1861.