Ruaotuwhenua
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| Ruaotuwhenua | |
|---|---|
| Rua ō Te Whenua | |
.jpg) Ruaotuwhenua seen from Puketāpapa. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 440 m (1,440 ft) |
| Coordinates | 36°55′27″S 174°33′10″E / 36.924293°S 174.552759°E |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Location | North Island, New Zealand |
| Parent range | Waitākere Ranges |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Miocene |
Ruaotuwhenua is a hill in the Waitākere Ranges of the Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. At 440-metres, it is one of the tallest of the Waitākere Ranges, and the tallest of the eastern ranges adjacent to Auckland. The peak is the location of an air traffic radome, and a radio mast is located further down the slope of the hill in Waiatarua.
Geology[edit]
Ruaotuwhenua, along with the Scenic Drive ridge, are the remnants of one of the eastern sides of the Waitākere Volcano, a Miocene era volcanic crater complex which was uplifted from the seafloor between 3 and 5 million years ago.[1][2]
Geography[edit]
The hill is a 440-metre peak in the eastern Waitākere Ranges.[3] It is located near the settlement of Waiatarua, and is accessible by Scenic Drive. The northern side of the hill is the source for Stoney Creek, a tributary of the Opanuku Stream,[4] while the south-eastern side is a source for the Mander Creek, a tributary of the Nihotupu Stream which flows into the Upper Nihotupu Reservoir and Big Muddy Creek.[5][6]
History[edit]
Ruaotuwhenua is within the traditional rohe of the Te Kawerau ā Maki iwi, and holds significant cultural and spiritual significance.[7] "Rua ō Te Whenua" literally means "the rumble of the earth", and is likely a reference to the roaring sound of the surf which travels along the Nihotupu Valley.[8]
The hill is linked to the Te Kawerau ā Maki traditional story of Panuku and Parekura.[7] The story involves Nihotupu, a tūrehu (supernatural being) who lived in a cave at Ruaotuwhenua, who kidnapped Panuku's wife Parekura. Panuku travelled to Nihotupu's cave home to rescue his wife.[8] Many of the place names in the eastern Waitākere Ranges area reference this traditional legend.[7][8]
The hill was regarded as the highest point of the Waitākere Ranges until the early 1940s, when city waterworks engineer AD Mead located and measured the height of Te Toiokawharu.[9][10]
In the late 1960s, a radome and VHF transmission station was constructed on the hill, providing radio monitoring for Auckland Airport.[11][12]
Panorama[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Hayward, Bruce (2009). "Land, Sea and Sky". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). West: The History of Waitakere. Random House. pp. 10, 13–14. ISBN 9781869790080.
- ^ Hayward, B. W. (1977). "Miocene volcanic centres of the Waitakere Ranges, North Auckland, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 7 (2): 123–141. doi:10.1080/03036758.1977.10427155.
- ^ "Ruaotuwhenua". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Stoney Creek". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Mander Creek". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Nihotupu Stream". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ a b c Te Kawerau ā Maki; The Trustees of Te Kawerau Iwi Settlement Trust; The Crown (12 December 2013). "Deed of Settlement Schedule: Documents" (PDF). Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ a b c Diamond, John T.; Hayward, Bruce W. (1979). The Māori history and legends of the Waitākere Ranges. The Lodestar Press. pp. 34, 46. ISBN 9781877431210.
- ^ "Highest Point in the Ranges". Auckland Star. Vol. LXXII, no. 183. 5 August 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 22 June 2022 – via Papers Past.
- ^ "Highest Point". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. 78, no. 24035. 5 August 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 22 June 2022 – via Papers Past.
- ^ Wright, P.; Rutherfurd, W. (1969). "The design and construction of Auckland international airport". New Zealand Engineering. 24 (5): 147–155.
- ^ Falconer, Phoebe (9 November 2010). "Ask Phoebe: Radar dome on the hill keeps pilots and controllers talking". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 June 2022.