Date visited: 12 January 2022
Elevation: 106m
Volcanic history
Te Pane-o-Mataaho is one of the largest and most well-preserved volcanic cones in the Auckland Volcanic Field, at 106 metres above sea level. It erupted around 70,000 years ago and comprises two separate craters. Within the larger crater there is a lava dome, a unique feature of Te Pane-o-Mataaho. A lava dome forms when the lava erupting from a vent is too viscous to flow very far, so it solidifies in a dome shape, as below.
The northern slopes were quarried between 1924 – 1963, and the eastern section became the home of the Onehunga-Mangere United football club, which is still there today. However, there is still a good deal of the maunga remaining.
On 30 June 1999, Auckland woman Claire Hills had her life violently taken on this maunga whilst on her way to work. According to media, police believe they know who is responsible but lack evidence to arrest the person.
Te Pane-o-Mataaho is one of the 14 Ancestral Mountains of Auckland, or Ngā Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau. In 2014, ownership was returned to mana whenua as part of a Te Tiriti o Waitangi redress and is currently managed by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority. You can find a list of all tūpuna maunga on the Auckland City Council website.
Our visit
This was our first volcano trip after a bit of a break and a fairly long walk. While it is far, it’s not particularly steep and there’s well-formed path.
Since December 2019, there have been remediation works happening on the maunga, including the felling of all non-native trees, replanting of native varieties and upgrades to the track. I think we arrived mid-track upgrade as parts of the path were closed.
The view from the tihi is impressive and expansive. You can see the Māngere Lagoon Explosion Crater (our 12th volcano of the project) as well as the causeway leading to Puketutu Island (our 33rd), giving some indication of how this particular part of the volcanic field erupted.
The tihi is in sight.
Directions and facilities
Māngere Mountain Education Centre at 100 Coronation Road offers guided tours of the maunga. However, if you want to just take yourself for a walk, you can park at the football club and enter that way. We did not see toilets on our walk this day, but we also did not visit the Education Centre and I would assume they have toilets there.
Happy adventuring,
