Maungataketake Explained

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

• City of Volcanoes: A geology of Auckland – Searle, Ernest J.; revised by Mayhill, R.D.; Longman Paul, 1981. First published 1964. .
• 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. .

External links

• 1937 photo of Maungataketake showing Maori terracing.
• 1899 photo of Maungataketake before quarrying (on page 29).
• Aerial view of Ellett's Mount before quarrying
• Photographs of Maungataketake held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections.

-36.9946°N 174.7475°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1000 Māori place names. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
2. Book: Mackintosh . Lucy . Lucy Mackintosh (historian) . Shifting Grounds: Deep Histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland . . 2021 . 978-1-988587-33-2 . 10.7810/9781988587332 . 68.
3. Web site: Unknown date . MJ_8004 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 24 October 2021.
4. Web site: ca 1400 onwards . MJ_0004 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 24 October 2021.
5. Web site: ca 1720 . MJ_0015 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 17 March 2021.
6. Web site: December 1862 . MJ_0482 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 24 October 2021.
7. Web site: 25 April 1866 . MJ_0855 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 24 October 2021.
8. Web site: September 1962 . MJ_3870 . Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections . 24 October 2021.