One Tree Hill
Pull up a seat, get yourself a drink, sit back and take a few minutes, because I'm going to tell you a story . . .
In the opinion of almost every Aucklander, One Tree Hill is a special part of Auckland. As a massive public park right in the middle of the city, when visiting One Tree Hill you're able to get completely away from the hustle and bustle of the city without ever leaving it. You can go for long walks, explore the craters and pa site, visit the observatory, or just sit back and watch the cows. Until a few years ago (the year 2000 in fact), the obelisk and the tree at the top of the hill served as twin landmarks, visible across the entire city, well known by every Aucklander of the last two generations. They were both timeless - as timeless as the name of the hill. It was almost part of the natural order of things that there was one massive tree at the top of One Tree Hill. No living person could remember a time when there was no tree at the top of the hill.
Interestingly enough, it has always been that way - as far back as memory can remember. One Tree Hill has always held a special place in the hearts of those who have lived in the Tamaki isthmus, and there has always been a tree at the top of the hill.
When the Maori first arrived in the Tamaki isthmus, the hill we know as One Tree Hill was probably covered in bush, just like all the lands around it. The Maori began clearing the bush on the lower slopes of the hill to make room for their garden farms, and, eventually, the bush on the upper slopes to make room for a pa. They named this hill Maungakiekie - "the hill of the kiekie vine". This pa eventually became the greatest, largest, strongest pa in the land, and possibly in New Zealand.
The Tamaki isthmus was a region that was greatly coveted by Maori tribes due to its rich volcanic soil, great fishing, and the sheer number of peninsulas and volcanic cones that made such good pa sites. In fact the name of the region, Tamaki-makau-rau - "the woman fought over by many lovers" is a result of this. By 1700 there were many tribes living in Tamaki, mostly living side-by-side in peace with each other. At some point in the 1600's this collection of tribes gave themselves a collective name - Waiohua - named after Hua, a famous leader and hero of one of the tribes.
Maori tradition records that near the end of the 1500's a group from the Northland tribe Ngati Awa, who were migrating from Northland to Taranaki, settled for a while near Maungakiekie, and while they were there, one of their chiefs had a son named Korokino. When someone was born in a Maori tribe, the cutting of the umbilical cord was an important ritual. Normally a stone knife was used, but for some reason, when Korokino's umbilical cord was cut, a sharpened totara stick was used. The umbilical cord was then buried on the summit of Maungakiekie (for some reason) and the totara stick that was used to cut it was planted beside it. This totara cutting took root, and began to grow into a tree, which, because of its origins, was very sacred. Its name was Te-totara-i-ahua "the totara tree that stands alone" and it became a famous landmark - a single tree at the top of the hill - a hill that was also home to the strongest pa in the region.
In the early 1700's the Waiohua tribes were being threatened by powerful neighbours - the Kaipara tribes of Ngati Whatua to the north, and the Hauraki tribes of Ngati Paoa to the east. There were many confrontations between these tribes and Waiohua, and the borders were constantly shifting. In the late 1740's a confrontation was started when a group of people from Tamaki, led by the main chief of Waohua, Kiwi Tamaki, who were guests at a funeral hosted by a Ngati Whatua tribe called Te Taou, turned on their hosts and attacked them and killed most of them. A famous reference to the tree on Maungakiekie was made here, when, while exchanging threats with two Te Taou chiefs, Kiwi Tamiki cried out that soon their bones would be hanging from the great totara that grew at the summit of One Tree Hill. As it turned out, it was wrong, and the Ngati Whatua tribes invaded Tamaki and completely routed the Waiohua tribes, and Kiwi Tamaki was killed in one of the first battles.
No-one knows how long the lone totara stood on Maungakiekie for. One of the chieftains of the conquerers, Tuperiri, took the Maungakiekie pa as his own, but by the 1780's One Tree Hill was abandoned. Whether the totara was still there or not is unkown, but by the time the Europeans arrived it was gone.
When the first British explorers arrived at Tamaki, the bush was beginning to grow back on Maungakiekie, as on many of the other volcanoes of Auckland. None of the explorers ever recorded that they had seen the totara, however they did record another tree at the summit.
When John Logan Campbell, one of the founding fathers of Auckland, first walked along the Maori track to Onehunga in April 1840, which passed by the base of Maungakiekie, he recorded the existence of "one solitary large tree on the crater summit". Later records state that this tree was a massive pohutukawa. In January 1846 it was recorded that the pohutukawa was hollow, meaning it was very old. It's quite possible that the pohutukawa had grown up next to the totara, and eventually replaced it. It was the existence of this pohutukawa that gave One Tree Hill its English name.
In the early 1840's Maungakiekie was bought from Ngati Whatua by a local Irish storekeeper, Thomas Henry. In 1852, the pohutukawa was chopped down. The reason for this, as one of Auckland's founding newspapers, the Daily Southern Cross, reported many years later was for firewood. As the Daily Southern Cross reported: "In the earliest days of Auckland a majestic pohutukawa crowned the very summit - the very crater top - until the fell hand of some Goth on Onehunga's shore levelled the grand landmark for firewood's sake."
In 1853 Thomas Henry fell into debt, and One Tree Hill was sold to the firm Brown & Campbell (partly owned by John Logan Campbell). By 1859 it was reported that all that was left of the pohutukawa - the "single lofty tree" was a stump "almost rotted down to the ground".
Campbell had been upset by the destruction of the pohutukawa, and 22 year later (he had been living in Europe for most of the time after his purchase of One Tree Hill) he had the opportunity to fix it. By now the hill was in the hands of the council, but he successfully applied for a 14 year lease of the reserve, and in 1875 he replanted the summit with some native saplings, with pines planted nearby to act as a shelter belt. Pines were often used as shelter belts in Auckland around this time, and many of them survive today. In east Auckland some well known examples are the row of pines at Cascades, and the pines on top of Pigeon Mountain.
Pines however tend to acidify the soil around them, and they have a very agressive root system, meaning that any plants near them aren't likely to survive for long. This is what happened to the trees that Campbell planted - they died, but the pines survived. By the 1890's a cluster of small pines had appeared at the top of One Tree Hill, and by 1900 these pines, which were growing very close together, when seen from fairly far away, gave the illusion of being one big tree. In the early twentieth century, the Cornwall Park Trust tried planting other trees on the summit, but none of them survived - either dying naturally or by being destroyed by vandals. The same thing happened to the pines, one by one they either died or were destroyed. The second-to-last one died in 1962, and since then there has once again been a single tree on One Tree Hill. This is the tree that the last two generations have grown up with - the one that was destroyed in the year 2000. It had been the strongest, hardiest, longest surviving tree of the original group that was planted by John Logan Campbell in 1875.
In 1940 the obelisk was built by trustees of the Sir John Logan Campbell Estate, as he had requested, to comemorate his admiration of the Maori people who had once lived on Maungakiekie. For sixty years it had stood as a twin landmark with the surviving pine trees, ad for 38 years it had stood beside the one remaining tree, as seen in the photo at the top of this post. Now it stands alone, as a memorial of the history of One Tree Hill. Fortunately, it shouldn't stand alone for many more years, as the Auckland City Council is (slowly) planning a planting program that will (eventually) see another tree crown the summit of One Tree Hill.
And that is the story of One Tree Hill.
In the opinion of almost every Aucklander, One Tree Hill is a special part of Auckland. As a massive public park right in the middle of the city, when visiting One Tree Hill you're able to get completely away from the hustle and bustle of the city without ever leaving it. You can go for long walks, explore the craters and pa site, visit the observatory, or just sit back and watch the cows. Until a few years ago (the year 2000 in fact), the obelisk and the tree at the top of the hill served as twin landmarks, visible across the entire city, well known by every Aucklander of the last two generations. They were both timeless - as timeless as the name of the hill. It was almost part of the natural order of things that there was one massive tree at the top of One Tree Hill. No living person could remember a time when there was no tree at the top of the hill.
Interestingly enough, it has always been that way - as far back as memory can remember. One Tree Hill has always held a special place in the hearts of those who have lived in the Tamaki isthmus, and there has always been a tree at the top of the hill.
When the Maori first arrived in the Tamaki isthmus, the hill we know as One Tree Hill was probably covered in bush, just like all the lands around it. The Maori began clearing the bush on the lower slopes of the hill to make room for their garden farms, and, eventually, the bush on the upper slopes to make room for a pa. They named this hill Maungakiekie - "the hill of the kiekie vine". This pa eventually became the greatest, largest, strongest pa in the land, and possibly in New Zealand.
The Tamaki isthmus was a region that was greatly coveted by Maori tribes due to its rich volcanic soil, great fishing, and the sheer number of peninsulas and volcanic cones that made such good pa sites. In fact the name of the region, Tamaki-makau-rau - "the woman fought over by many lovers" is a result of this. By 1700 there were many tribes living in Tamaki, mostly living side-by-side in peace with each other. At some point in the 1600's this collection of tribes gave themselves a collective name - Waiohua - named after Hua, a famous leader and hero of one of the tribes.
Maori tradition records that near the end of the 1500's a group from the Northland tribe Ngati Awa, who were migrating from Northland to Taranaki, settled for a while near Maungakiekie, and while they were there, one of their chiefs had a son named Korokino. When someone was born in a Maori tribe, the cutting of the umbilical cord was an important ritual. Normally a stone knife was used, but for some reason, when Korokino's umbilical cord was cut, a sharpened totara stick was used. The umbilical cord was then buried on the summit of Maungakiekie (for some reason) and the totara stick that was used to cut it was planted beside it. This totara cutting took root, and began to grow into a tree, which, because of its origins, was very sacred. Its name was Te-totara-i-ahua "the totara tree that stands alone" and it became a famous landmark - a single tree at the top of the hill - a hill that was also home to the strongest pa in the region.
In the early 1700's the Waiohua tribes were being threatened by powerful neighbours - the Kaipara tribes of Ngati Whatua to the north, and the Hauraki tribes of Ngati Paoa to the east. There were many confrontations between these tribes and Waiohua, and the borders were constantly shifting. In the late 1740's a confrontation was started when a group of people from Tamaki, led by the main chief of Waohua, Kiwi Tamaki, who were guests at a funeral hosted by a Ngati Whatua tribe called Te Taou, turned on their hosts and attacked them and killed most of them. A famous reference to the tree on Maungakiekie was made here, when, while exchanging threats with two Te Taou chiefs, Kiwi Tamiki cried out that soon their bones would be hanging from the great totara that grew at the summit of One Tree Hill. As it turned out, it was wrong, and the Ngati Whatua tribes invaded Tamaki and completely routed the Waiohua tribes, and Kiwi Tamaki was killed in one of the first battles.
No-one knows how long the lone totara stood on Maungakiekie for. One of the chieftains of the conquerers, Tuperiri, took the Maungakiekie pa as his own, but by the 1780's One Tree Hill was abandoned. Whether the totara was still there or not is unkown, but by the time the Europeans arrived it was gone.
When the first British explorers arrived at Tamaki, the bush was beginning to grow back on Maungakiekie, as on many of the other volcanoes of Auckland. None of the explorers ever recorded that they had seen the totara, however they did record another tree at the summit.
When John Logan Campbell, one of the founding fathers of Auckland, first walked along the Maori track to Onehunga in April 1840, which passed by the base of Maungakiekie, he recorded the existence of "one solitary large tree on the crater summit". Later records state that this tree was a massive pohutukawa. In January 1846 it was recorded that the pohutukawa was hollow, meaning it was very old. It's quite possible that the pohutukawa had grown up next to the totara, and eventually replaced it. It was the existence of this pohutukawa that gave One Tree Hill its English name.
In the early 1840's Maungakiekie was bought from Ngati Whatua by a local Irish storekeeper, Thomas Henry. In 1852, the pohutukawa was chopped down. The reason for this, as one of Auckland's founding newspapers, the Daily Southern Cross, reported many years later was for firewood. As the Daily Southern Cross reported: "In the earliest days of Auckland a majestic pohutukawa crowned the very summit - the very crater top - until the fell hand of some Goth on Onehunga's shore levelled the grand landmark for firewood's sake."
In 1853 Thomas Henry fell into debt, and One Tree Hill was sold to the firm Brown & Campbell (partly owned by John Logan Campbell). By 1859 it was reported that all that was left of the pohutukawa - the "single lofty tree" was a stump "almost rotted down to the ground".
Campbell had been upset by the destruction of the pohutukawa, and 22 year later (he had been living in Europe for most of the time after his purchase of One Tree Hill) he had the opportunity to fix it. By now the hill was in the hands of the council, but he successfully applied for a 14 year lease of the reserve, and in 1875 he replanted the summit with some native saplings, with pines planted nearby to act as a shelter belt. Pines were often used as shelter belts in Auckland around this time, and many of them survive today. In east Auckland some well known examples are the row of pines at Cascades, and the pines on top of Pigeon Mountain.
Pines however tend to acidify the soil around them, and they have a very agressive root system, meaning that any plants near them aren't likely to survive for long. This is what happened to the trees that Campbell planted - they died, but the pines survived. By the 1890's a cluster of small pines had appeared at the top of One Tree Hill, and by 1900 these pines, which were growing very close together, when seen from fairly far away, gave the illusion of being one big tree. In the early twentieth century, the Cornwall Park Trust tried planting other trees on the summit, but none of them survived - either dying naturally or by being destroyed by vandals. The same thing happened to the pines, one by one they either died or were destroyed. The second-to-last one died in 1962, and since then there has once again been a single tree on One Tree Hill. This is the tree that the last two generations have grown up with - the one that was destroyed in the year 2000. It had been the strongest, hardiest, longest surviving tree of the original group that was planted by John Logan Campbell in 1875.
In 1940 the obelisk was built by trustees of the Sir John Logan Campbell Estate, as he had requested, to comemorate his admiration of the Maori people who had once lived on Maungakiekie. For sixty years it had stood as a twin landmark with the surviving pine trees, ad for 38 years it had stood beside the one remaining tree, as seen in the photo at the top of this post. Now it stands alone, as a memorial of the history of One Tree Hill. Fortunately, it shouldn't stand alone for many more years, as the Auckland City Council is (slowly) planning a planting program that will (eventually) see another tree crown the summit of One Tree Hill.
And that is the story of One Tree Hill.
posted by David | 11:30 am
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