One Tree Hill, New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is an important memorial place for both Māori and other New Zealanders. The suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
around the base of the hill is also called One Tree Hill; it is surrounded by the suburbs of Royal Oak
Royal Oak, New Zealand
- to the north-east - to the east - to the south-east - to the south - to the south-west - to the west - to the north-west Epsom One Tree Hill Oranga Onehunga...
to the west, and clockwise, Epsom
Epsom, New Zealand
Epsom is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the centre of the Auckland isthmus between Mount Eden and One Tree Hill, south of Newmarket, and five km south of the city centre.-Notable features:...
, Greenlane
Greenlane
Greenlane is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.The Greenlane shops are the main shopping centre for the suburb of Epsom and are situated at the intersection of Manukau Road and Green Lane West...
, Oranga
Oranga
Oranga is a small residential suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located nine kilometres to the southeast of the city centre, between the commercial suburbs of Te Papapa and Penrose to the south and east, and the residential suburbs of One Tree Hill and Onehunga to the north and south, with...
, and Onehunga
Onehunga
Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie....
.
The hill's scoria
Scoria
Scoria is a volcanic rock containing many holes or vesicles. It is most generally dark in color , and basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is relatively low in mass as a result of its numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but in contrast to pumice, all scoria has a specific gravity...
cone
Volcanic cone
Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic formations. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption...
s was erupted from three craters - one is still intact and two have been breached by lava flows that rafted away part of the side of the scoria cone. Lava flowed in all directions creating lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
flows that covered an area of 20 square kilometres, many towards Onehunga
Onehunga
Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie....
, making it the largest (in terms of area covered) of 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....
. The age or eruption is currently unknown, although it is older than 28,500 yrs as it has a mantling of volcanic ash erupted at that time from Three kings Volcano. The summit provides views across the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
area, and allows visitors to see both of Auckland's harbours.
Due to the use of the hilltop as a nightly party stop for boy racer
Boy racer
Boy racers refer to people, usually males in their late teens or early twenties, who "cruise" around in vehicles modified with loud exhausts and stereos, or modified body kits. This behavior is frowned upon by members of the public irritated by the noise and the criminal behavior associated with...
s and other (often drunk) groups of youths, it was decided in 2008 to close off the road access to the summit at night. While walking up to the hilltop will still be possible at night, it is hoped that this move will reduce vandalism. The police intend to continue monitoring the locality after hours.
Māori pā (fort)
The MāoriMaori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
name Maungakiekie translates to 'mountain of the kiekie
Kiekie (plant)
Kiekie is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber native to New Zealand. It is a member of the screwpalm family Pandanaceae....
vine', though other translations give the meaning as 'totara that stands alone'. The mountain and its surrounds were home to the Te Wai ō Hua tribe, since the early 1700s and probably before that time. Other Māori tribe
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
s in the Auckland area can also trace their ancestry to the mountain.
Maungakiekie was the largest and most important Māori 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...
in pre-European times. The cone and its surroundings are estimated to have been home to a population of up to 5,000. At this time, the Nga Marama chief Kiwi Tamaki held the pa and used its strategic placement to exact tribute from travellers passing from Northland to the rest of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
through the rich isthmus
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
. Its position between the Waitemata Harbour
Waitemata Harbour
The quite famous Waitemata 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 only one of two harbours surrounding the city, and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The Waitemata forms the north...
to the East (opening upon the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
) and the Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and is an arm of the Tasman Sea.-Geography:...
to the West (opening onto the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
) offered a wide variety of seafood from the two harbours. The volcanic soil of the slopes of the mountain proved highly fertile and easy to defend from raiding parties from other tribes due to its steep sides and imposing palisades
Palisades
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.Palisade or Palisades also may refer to:-Geology:United States...
. The inhabitants terraced the hill extensively, and it is considered to be the largest prehistoric earthwork fortifications worldwide. It is also the largest and most complex volcanic cone / earth fortress known in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
.
European parks
The area contains two parks, Cornwall Park & One Tree Hill Domain, which are next to each other and thus often perceived as one.In 1845 the Ngati Whatua, with the concurrence of representatives of the Waiohua people, sold a block of land which included One Tree Hill to a merchant, Thomas Henry. The Government under its preemptive rights excluded 115 acres of the hill itself from the sale and this was vested in the Crown. This is now One Tree Hill Domain. In 1853 Brown & Campbell purchased Henry's land surrounding the recently protected One Tree Hill Domain. This land ultimately became Cornwall Park in 1901.
Cornwall Park
Cornwall Park is the legacy of Sir John Logan CampbellJohn Logan Campbell
Sir John Logan Campbell was a prominent New Zealand public figure. He was the son of Doctor John Campbell and his wife Catherine. He was described by his contemporaries as "the father of Auckland".- Early life:...
. Originally the land was a farm owned by him on the outskirts of Auckland. Upon his return from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the 1880s he intended to build a great family residence on the slopes of the hill (where the current tearooms are) and planted many trees including olives on the slopes. Eventually he constructed a house closer to town (the land is now part of the Parnell Rose gardens
Parnell, New Zealand
Parnell is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is often billed as Auckland's "oldest suburb" since it dates from the earliest days of the European settlement of Auckland in 1841...
). By about 1900 he realised that Auckland's suburbs were spreading at an alarming rate and he decided to leave the Greenlane property to the city as a park. Parts of the park, about 120 hectares (296.5 acres), are still run as a farm today, providing Aucklanders with access to an example of rural life in the heart of the city.
The park was designed by the landscape architect Austin Strong and is based on Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
in San Francisco.
Campbell initially intended the name to be Corinth Park after the noted region
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. It received the name Cornwall Park because of the Royal visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1901 by the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall (later King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
& Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
). John Logan Campbell was asked to be honorary Mayor of Auckland during the visits, and he took the opportunity to gift the park to the people of New Zealand and asked that it be called Cornwall Park. In return he was knighted.
Acacia Cottage
Cornwall Park is home to Acacia Cottage, one of the earliest surviving timber buildings in New Zealand, and also the oldest extant in Auckland. Built in 1841, it was originally the home of William Brown and John Logan Campbell and located behind their store. It was relocated in 1920 from its original location off Shortland Street, in what is now the heart of the CBD of Auckland City. In 1956 moved again within the park to a more prominent location. It is listed as a 'Category I' site by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust
New Zealand Historic Places Trust
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...
.
Stardome Observatory
The Stardome Observatory (previously known as Auckland Observatory), is also located within Cornwall Park, and contains two telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s and a planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
. The observatory has, amongst other research, discovered and named the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
19620 Auckland
19620 Auckland
19620 Auckland is a main-belt asteroid discovered on August 18, 1999 by Stardome Observatory in Auckland, New Zealand.- External links :*...
. Its current functions combine entertainment and education (via the planetarium and via public access to the older telescope) as well as ongoing research with both telescopes. It is operated by a charitable trust.
One Tree Hill Domain
One Tree Hill Domain or Maungakiekie (118 acres / 48 hectares) is an Auckland City CouncilAuckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
-administered park adjoining Cornwall Park (425 acres / 172 hectares) creating a total of 220 hectares (543.6 acre) of public green space.
On the summit of the hill is the grave of Sir John Logan Campbell
John Logan Campbell
Sir John Logan Campbell was a prominent New Zealand public figure. He was the son of Doctor John Campbell and his wife Catherine. He was described by his contemporaries as "the father of Auckland".- Early life:...
surmounted by an obelisk. The obelisk was constructed in accordance with the wishes and provisions in John Campbell's will to commemorate his admiration for the Māori people. Before it stands a bronze statue of a Māori warrior. The stone obelisk was completed by 1940 – the centennial year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
but the unveiling of the obelisk was delayed until 24 April 1948, after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was over, in keeping with Māori custom of not holding such ceremonies during a time of bloodshed.
Trees on the hill
When Auckland was founded as a colonial town a tree stood near the summit which gave the hill its English name. Two accounts identify it as a pohutukawaPohutukawa
The Pōhutukawa is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red flowers made up of a mass of stamens. The Pōhutukawa is one of twelve Metrosideros species endemic to New Zealand...
(Metrosideros excelsa). This tree was cut down by a white settler in 1852, in an act of vandalism in one account, or for firewood in another. It seems likely this was a different tree from the totara (Podocarpus totara) which, as a sacred tree, had given the hill one of its Maori names. A radiata pine
Monterey Pine
The Monterey Pine, Pinus radiata, family Pinaceae, also known as the Insignis Pine or Radiata Pine is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California....
was planted in the 1870s to replace the previous totara. John Logan Campbell repeatedly tried to grow native trees on the hill's summit, but the trees failed to survive - with only two pines, originally part of a shelter belt for the native trees, surviving for long. However, in 1960, one of the two was felled in another attack, possibly for firewood.
TradeMe
Trade Me is the largest Internet-auction website operating in New Zealand. Managed by Trade Me Ltd the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneurSam Morgan who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million...
in 2007, but later withdrawn by the website after complaints and a poll of users. It was later listed on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Partly due to uncertainty as to what species of tree should be replanted (a new pine or a tree native to New Zealand), the summit stands empty at the moment, except for the obelisk. A new nickname, "N(one) Tree Hill", soon became popular. Plans are ongoing to plant a grove of pohutukawa and totara trees at the summit, but concerns by local iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
over Treaty of Waitangi claims have so far prevented any actual planting, though Council is growing a number of seedlings in the hopes of reinstating a grove as soon as the treaty claims are settled. The Council has removed repeated illegal plantings, usually of pohutukawa, while waiting for the treaty claims to be settled.
In popular culture
- Irish rock band U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
wrote a song about the hill, "One Tree HillOne Tree Hill (song)"One Tree Hill" is a song by rock band U2. It is the ninth track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It was released as the fourth single from the album in New Zealand and Australia in March 1988, while "In God's Country" was released as the fourth single in North America...
", which appeared on their album The Joshua TreeThe Joshua TreeThe Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
. It was written to honour New Zealander Greg Carroll, an employee of the band who died in a motorcycle accident in Dublin on 3 July 1986.- The naming of the teen television dramaTeen dramaA teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
, One Tree HillOne Tree Hill (TV series)One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
, was inspired in turn by the U2 song. In the series Andy Hargrove hails from New Zealand. His mother moved the family to Tree Hill, North Carolina because of the common name.
- The naming of the teen television drama
- AsteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
23988 Maungakiekie was named after the hill by Ian P. GriffinIan P. GriffinDr. Ian P. Griffin is the British CEO of Science Oxford, in Oxford, UK. He is the former head of public outreach at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute...
, a British astronomer. The Asteroid was discovered at the Auckland Observatory which is located in the One Tree Hill Domain, a kilometre southwest of the peak.
- Mozilla FirefoxMozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
0.9 was named One Tree Hill by Auckland resident and (at that time) Firefox lead engineer Ben GoodgerBen GoodgerBen Goodger is a former employee of Netscape Communications Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation and former lead developer of the Firefox web browser....
.
External links
- One Tree Hill (from the Auckland volcanic fieldAuckland Volcanic FieldThe 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....
website of the Auckland Regional Council) - Cornwall Park (official website of the park surrounding One Tree Hill)