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
edit- ^ "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Unknown date". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_8004. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "ca 1400 onwards". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0004. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "ca 1720". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0015. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ "December 1862". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0482. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "25 April 1866". Manukau's Journey – Ngā Tapuwae o Manukau. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. MJ_0855. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "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.
