Maungataketake

Aerial view of Maungataketake in 1964
Satellite view of Maungataketake after being quarried (2016)

Maungataketake (also Ellett's Mount) is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It had a 76 m high scoria cone, beside a 100 m wide crater, before they were quarried away. It was the site of a pā. Layers of volcanic tuff and ash from Maungataketake overlay the fallen trunks of the nearby Ihumātao fossil forest. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "broad mountain" for Maungataketake.[1]

The volcano erupted an estimated 90,000 years before the present.[2] Maungataketake was one of the earliest archaeological sites in New Zealand, with charcoal samples dating to the Archaic period of Māori history.[3] Extensive stone gardens were built by Tāmaki Māori at Maungataketake, Ōtuataua and Ihumātao in the mid-1400s.[4] In the early 1700s, Maungataketake was one of the major defensive pā during the Waiohua confederacy era.[5]

In December 1862, the Ellett family purchased land from the former Wesleyan Mission at Ihumātao. Their association with the area led to the name Ellett's Mount for the volcano.[6] In 1866, ownership of Maungataketake and Ihumātao was returned to Apihai Te Kawau, chief of Ngāti Whātua in Auckland, after the land confiscations instigated during the Invasion of the Waikato.[7]

From September 1962, the volcanic cone was quarried for construction materials in the creation of Auckland Airport.[8]

References

  1. ^ "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
  2. ^ Mackintosh, Lucy (2021). Shifting Grounds: Deep Histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Bridget Williams Books. p. 68. doi:10.7810/9781988587332. ISBN 978-1-988587-33-2.
  3. ^ "Unknown date". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_8004. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  4. ^ "ca 1400 onwards". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0004. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  5. ^ "ca 1720". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0015. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  6. ^ "December 1862". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0482. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  7. ^ "25 April 1866". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0855. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  8. ^ "September 1962". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_3870. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  • City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland – Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. ISBN 0-582-71784-1.
  • Volcanoes of Auckland: The Essential Guide – Hayward, B.W., Murdoch, G., Maitland, G.; Auckland University Press, 2011.
  • Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide. Hayward, B.W.; Auckland University Press, 2019, 335 pp. ISBN 0-582-71784-1.

36°59′41″S 174°44′51″E / 36.994635°S 174.747548°E / -36.994635; 174.747548