Free Things To Do In Auckland.

One Tree Hill (Maungkiekie) is a 182 meter (597 ft) volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand.  The suburbs that surround One Tree Hill are Royal Oak, Epsom, Greenlane, Oranga, and Onehunga.

The summit provides 360-degree views across the Auckland area and allows visitors to see the  Waitematā, Manukau and Auckland Harbours.

Maori Pa Site ( Fort)

The Māori name Maungakiekie means “mountain of the kiekie vine. Māori also knew it as “tōtara that stands alone”.

The mountain and its surrounds were home to the Te Wai ō Hua tribe from the early 1700s and probably before that time. Other Māori tribes in the Auckland area can also trace their ancestry to the mountain.

Maungakiekie was the largest and most important Māori pā 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 through the rich isthmus.

Its position between the Waitematā Harbour to the east (opening upon the Pacific Ocean) and the Manukau Harbour to the west (opening onto the Tasman Sea) offered a wide variety of seafood from the two harbours.

The volcanic soil on the scoria cone was highly fertile, and the inhabitants terraced the slopes extensively.

The hill was relatively easy to defend from raiding parties from other tribes by its steep sides and imposing wooden palisades.

Waiohua occupation of the Māori pā ended around 1740-1750 AD when they were defeated in a war against the invading Ngati Whatua-o-Kaipara.

 The pā was abandoned around 1795 AD with the death of Te Taou leader Tuperiri.

In 1845 the Ngati Whatua, with the concurrence of representatives of the Waiohua people, sold a block of land which included Maungakiekie / 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.

In 1964 the government led an initiative to restore the mountain. After two years the initiative was cancelled and the mountain left alone.

Cornwall Park

Cornwall Park is an expansive parkland in Epsom near the heart of Auckland, New Zealand, surrounding the park containing Maungakiekie pa or the hill of One Tree Hill. The two independent parks form one large park of 670 acres (270 hectares).

The Park has centuries-old heritage sites, wide-open spaces, tree-lined avenues and walks, places of peace and tranquillity in a large city, sports grounds including tennis and bowls and a working farm for the education of city children.

John Logan Campbell, Auckland resident since 1840 and, at the time of this gift, mayor, gave the park’s 230 acres to a private trust on 10 June 1901.

Maungakiekie had been purchased by the national government in 1845 and since 2012 belongs to Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective.

Campbell chose to present the deeds the following day to the visiting heir to the throne, the Duke of Cornwall and York later George V asking his consent for it to be named Cornwall Park in honour of the Duke.

 A few weeks later the adjoining Alexandra Park was named in honour of the Duke’s mother.