One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill, The Hill of canoes or “Maungakiekie” in the language of the Maori is the peak of a volcano, which lies on the North Island of New Zealand in the city of Auckland.

This is an important memorial for both the Maori and other New Zealanders.
The mountain was “One Tree Hill”, because previously there was only one tree on the summit. Today the hill is treeless. The Maori name means “Mountain of Kiekie”, a climbing plant found only in New Zealand.

The view from the summit of One Tree Hill “is very popular tourist destination.
Auckland is a volcanic area with 48 volcanoes that have erupted in the last 150,000 years.

The “One Tree Hill” is one of the largest volcanoes; its peak is 183 meters high and there was an eruption approximately 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. The lava flowed 2.4 kilometres to the coast. There was lava rock in the shape of a cinder cone. The total size was 325,000 cubic meters. A total of 25 000 cubic metres of Cinder blocks were mined out by 1957.

The Maori settled New Zealand probably from the 12th Century, and the metropolitan area of the present-day Auckland was popular because of its fertile land and settlement areas near water. The Maori name for Auckland was Tamaki-Makau-rau.

Terracing by the Maori in the 17th Century
At the beginning of the 18th Century, there was Kiwi Tamaki, a chief of the Nga Marama in the area.Under his leadership, One Tree Hill should have been practically unbreakable. However there were military conquests and demands for trade routes through his territory. Kiwi Tamaki decided to attack an enemy iwi, Ngati Whatua who settled the north.

However it did not go as planned for Kiwi Tamaki and the area became Ngati Whatua The One Tree Hill and its surroundings. In 1825 the area was still well-fortified and the One Tree Hill was attacked by Nga Puhi.

This time, Ngati Whatua could not defend against the attack and was forced to give up One Tree Hill where in 1845 the land was sold to a European dealer.

Cornwall Park
Cornwall Park, which surrounds the mountain, is named after the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, later King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom.
The site “Mount Prospect Estate was sold as early as 1853 to John Logan Campbell and his business partner William Brown. Campbell who did not live on the estate still managed the farm.

After twenty years the partnership broke up and Campbell Brown became the sole owner of the One Tree Hill Estates. John Logan Campbell in 1901 during a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to the Mayor of Auckland, gave the right of ownership of the park to the couple and since then, all the affairs of the park are governed by trustees.

The landscape was designed by Austin Strong, following the example of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Both parks have a very large open spaces and trees arranged in groups. The official opening took place before 1903.

The tree
One Tree Hill history is on that recognizes the site as a holy and sacred place. At the end of the 15th Century, a tribe of Maori the Ngati Awa were travelling through the area to the south, when the wife of the chief while living in the area gave birth to a son. Traditionally, the umbilical cord is cut and buried. However, instead of a stone knife, a sharpened branch of the local Totara tree was used.

The umbilical cord was buried on the summit and the branch also planted. This branch took root and grew into a huge tree, which was regarded as sacred due the historic events and the chiefs son umbilical cord buried at the spot.

When European settlers arrived and founded the city of Auckland, there on the mountain was said to be a single tree. This was used as a landmark and John Logan Campbell called the mountain the “One Tree Hill”.

In the 1870s an attempt was made to plant non indigenous pine trees as protection against wind. This was taken by the Maori as an insult and lack of respect for their culture. There is only an obelisk there now.

The obelisk
The obelisk was completed in 1940, exactly one hundred years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was installed to commemorate this. During the Second World War, the obelisk was not revealed as it is contrary to the customs of the Maori, to celebrating during a time of war.