Mount Albert (New Zealand)

Mount Albert was named after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, following a petition in 1866 to the Superintendent of Auckland Province, Frederick Whitaker.[1]

The main Māori name of the peak is Ōwairaka, which means 'Place of Wairaka'; she was the daughter of Toroa, the commander of one of the great voyaging canoes, Mātaatua.[1] Wairaka is renowned for naming Whakatāne, a town in the Eastern Bay of Plenty where she saved the waka from drifting out to sea. She is depicted in the Statue of Wairaka located at Whakatāne Heads. Wairaka subsequently moved to Tamaki-Makaurau to avoid an arranged marriage and set up her own pā at Ōwairaka.[2]

The Māori name Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura refers to the Tainui priest Rakataura aka Hape.[3]

View of volcanic scoria cone Mount Albert, in a postcard from around 1910.

The peak, in parkland at the southern end of the suburb, is 135 metres (443 ft) in height, and is one of the many extinct cones which dot the city of Auckland, all of which are part of the Auckland volcanic field. The age of the volcano is currently unknown. The peak was formerly the site of a Māori pā, a fortified settlement. Extensive quarrying has reduced the height of the scoria cone by about 15 metres (49 ft) and significantly altered its shape, but a few remnants of Māori earthworks such as terracing are still visible.

Current uses of the cone include several playing fields, an archery club and a 31,500 cubic metres (1,110,000 cu ft) water reservoir buried in a paddock on the mountain's southern side.

In the 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the Crown and the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau collective of 13 Auckland iwi and hapu (also known as the Tāmaki Collective), ownership of Ōwairaka / Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura / Mount Albert was vested to the collective. It is now co-governed by the collective and Auckland Council through the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority in common benefit of the iwi "and all other people of Auckland".[4][5]

Due to the spiritual and cultural significance of the maunga (mountain) to Māori the summit road was permanently closed to most vehicles in March 2019.[6]

Mature puriri and pohutukawa trees growing on Mount Albert / Ōwairaka. More than half the current tree canopy are natives.[7]

As part of a large works plan to regenerate the maunga, the Tūpuna Maunga Authority (TMA) plans to remove 345 exotic trees and plant 13,000 new native trees and shrubs. 183 of the exotic trees are classified as pest or weed species. The work has resource consent, the support of ecologists, arborists, Auckland Council, the Tree Council, Forest and Bird and the Tāmaki Collective. In November 2019 a group of protesters blocked the removal of exotic trees, voicing concerns for fauna.[7][8] In June 2020, an Auckland couple took the TMA to court, fighting the plans and resource consent. In December 2020, the High Court found the TMA and Auckland Council had both acted lawfully, allowing the native tree regeneration plans to proceed.[9][10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mount Albert (New Zealand).

• Volcanoes of Auckland: A Field Guide. Hayward, B.W.; Auckland University Press, 2019, 335 pp. ISBN 0-582-71784-1.

• Photographs of Ōwairaka held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections.