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The Pa Maori

Mangere

Mangere

The old time pa known to us as Mangere is situated on a volcanic hill near Onehunga. This has been another of the highly picturesque fortified hills of which so many have been occupied around Auckland page 302 Fig. 76—The Papa-hikurangi Pa at Waiapu. (See p. 301.) J. McDonald, Photo city. It does seem strange that none of these interesting places have ever been described.

Mangere is another of the many long extinct volcanoes of this district and is noted for having a double crater. The large crater contains an interior cone with a smaller crater. As in the cases of other local forts described, no signs of fosse and rampart defences are seen save a few short trenches formed across the rim of the crater. As in the cases of Mt. Eden and One Tree Hill the slopes of hill, ridge and crater have been simply terraced for occupation. Earthwork defences such as fosse and rampart, are almost non-existent. All terrace formations are much eroded and by no means so well preserved as those of Mt. Eden and One Tree. The terraces are mostly short, and irregular in size and arrangement, probably on account of the numerous outcrops of rock. Many are only large enough to contain one hut, reminding us of kindred places at Wellington, such as that on the hill above Tarakena. There are a few small terraces within the craters, and the summit of the containing ridge has been flattened wherever practicable; all used as hut sites. Store pits of the rua tahuhu or semi-subterranean type are fairly numerous, some on terraces but mostly on ridge tops. The largest seen measured 27 ft. by 18 ft. and is now 6 ft. deep, but contains page 303much debris. No store pits of the well-like type were seen. Many small shell middens were noted, the bulk of the shells being small, and the species apparently a form of Chione.

From the highest part of the hill on the western side of the crater, where two short trenches cross the narrow ridge, a sunk way extends down the western side of the hill to the flat below. Presumably this was either an old entrance passage or a protected way to the water supply. In this light porous land streams are rare, but fresh water breaks out at or just above high water mark; this seepage water must have been the water supply of the inhabitants of Mangere. The flats around the hill were utilised as cultivation grounds, and here formerly were seen many pits from which sand or gravel was obtained for the 'top dressing' common to kumara cultivation.

This pa was said by old Patara Te Tuhi to have been occupied by 3,000 natives in pre-European days. This was probably a mere guess, as the Maori did not value or preserve such information; certainly it would accommodate a large number of people.

Any observer of antiquities coming from Taranaki or the Bay of Plenty to the Auckland district would be much struck by the lack of earthwork defences in this fort.

There are many other volcanic cone forts in the vicinity showing interesting works of former times. The following are worthy of note:—

  • Mt. Wellington, lies about N.E. from One Tree Hill.
  • Mt. Smart, lies about E. from One Tree Hill.
  • Mt. Hobson, lies about N.W. by N. from One Tree Hill.
  • Mt. St. John, lies about N.W. by W. from One Tree Hill; a little west.
  • Mt. Eden, lies about N.W. from One Tree Hill.
  • Mt. Albert, lies about W. from One Tree Hill.
  • Three Kings, lies about S.W. by W. from One Tree Hill.
  • Mangere, lies about S.E. by S. from One Tree Hill.

The Mangere pa resembles Otatara and Heipipi in its lack of earthwork defences, and its small terraces; it may be viewed as a connecting link between those places and the imposing terraced hills of the Mt. Eden type.