1. M
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Art Department
M working in collaboration with
Maori Department
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Penrose High School
R Greenlane
Auckland
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2. Introduction to Maungakiekie Marae.
‘From Maori traditions, such as those recorded by Mr Justice Fenton in 1868 it is learnt that the first known inhabitants
belonged to the Waiohua people, a group that included related sub-tribes; the Nga Iwi, the Nga Oho and Nga Riki.
By the middle of the 18th century (1750) the Waiohua had an outstanding leader named Kiwi Tamaki, who ruled over the
whole isthmus from his principal pa One Tree Hill or Maungakiekie.’ (1982) P10.
Lady Fox, (1982), describes ‘Maunga’ as hill, and ‘Kiekie’ as a ‘stong climbing plant’, the botanical name being, Freycinetia
banksii. This plant is a parasite on trees ( in the North Island bush). Maungakiekie therefore, is implied as a place which
was covered in bush. Maori used the leaves of the kiekie plant for plaiting into mats and baskets.
The original tree on the summit of the hill was an ancient Totara (Podocarpus totara), and was planted about 1600. One of
the Ngati Awa, passing south, were asked to stay by the Ngariki, who were descended from Titahi’s people.
While staying there the wife of the Ngati Awa chief gave birth to a son, and being a child of high rank, a traditional ceremony
was observed and a totara seedling, on which the baby’s umbilical cord had been cut, was planted on the summit of the hill.
The child was called Koroki and lived at Maungakiekie until he reached manhood. So great was Koroki’s ‘mana’ that the
little tree grew and flourished, for 200 years. The Maoris named the hill after this tree ‘Te Totara I ahua’ or ‘the Totara that
stands alone’. (1982), P14.
When John Logn Campbell, on his first visit to Auckland in 1840, saw the hill, he also was impressed with it, and named the
mountain ‘One Tree Hill’.
‘Our school marae stands in the shadow of this historic mountain which is an icon for many visitors to Tamaki Makaurau for
many years.’
Wai Dennis
Cultural Co-ordinator
HOD Te Reo Maori.

3. Waharoa : Entry into Maungakiekie Marae

4. He Tohunga Matauranga An achiever graduating at the highest
level of Matauranga Maori.

5. Te Whare Wananga – Puakiekie “The bloom of the Kiekie plant”, which adorned the
terraces of Maungakiekie Mountain a century ago.

6. (A) Ngutukaka (B) Mangopare (C) Puhoro
Reflects the beak of Reflects the Reflects the
The Kaka Hammerhead shark curving waves of the
sea.

7. Raranga
Te Kete Matauranga a Tane
Tane handed down from the heavens the
three baskets (Kete) of knowledge.

8. TUKUTUKU
(a) Nga Roimata

9. (b) Poutama
“Stairway to greater knowledge”

10. POUPOU: Nga
Tupuna O Nga Iwi
TUKUTUKU:
Poutama

11. POUPOU: Pou Whakairo O Nga Tipuna

14. Beverley Towns
& Wai Dennis
Penrose High
School
2005

15. Bibliography.
In the Shadow of Maungakiekie, A history of One Tree Hill and its environs from pre-Maori times to 1989, (1982), One Tree Hill
Borough Council, Auckland.