Axe taken to One Tree myth

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The accepted tradition that a sacred totara crowned the summit of One Tree Hill before the lone Monterey pine is a myth.

The Herald has discovered three written historical accounts which all show a pohutukawa was on the summit at the time of European settlement in the middle of the 19th century.

The findings have led prominent Auckland historian Professor Russell Stone to change his mind, and accept the tree was not a totara. The revelation also brought a cautious response from the local Ngati Whatua.

The earliest reference to the tree being a pohutukawa is made by the German-born naturalist for the New Zealand Company, Ernest Dieffenbach, in a two-volume book, Travels in New Zealand, published in 1843.

In a description of Auckland volcanic cones, he wrote of Maunga-keke that "it is overgrown inside with brushwood and trees, and on the top stands an old pohutukawa-tree, which serves as a good landmark for ships entering Waitemata Harbour."

Sixteen years later, after the tree was felled, a geologist, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, wrote a detailed description of One Tree Hill in his book, Geology of New Zealand. He stated that "a single lofty tree (Metrosideros tomentosa - a subspecies of pohutukawa), now almost rotted down to the ground, on the highest peak, gives the hill its European name."

The third historical reference was made in the Daily Southern Cross newspaper on August 14, 1875, when Dr (John Logan) Campbell was attempting to establish a native tree on the summit of One Tree Hill.

The article states that "in the earliest days of Auckland a majestic pohutukawa crowned the very summit - the very crater-top - until the fell hand of some Goth on Onehunga's shore levelled the grand land-mark for firewood's sake!"

That act of vandalism occurred in 1852, one year before the firm of Brown and Campbell bought the One Tree Hill farm.

Professor Stone said he had changed his former point of view and now believed the tree that was felled in 1852 was a pohutukawa. But he also believed there was a totara on the summit for a long time.

"It is clear from 1790 at least, when One Tree Hill was abandoned by Ngati Whatua, who were the tangata whenua, the place was overgrown with trees and shrubs and it may be that a pohutukawa established itself there."

According to Maori lore, the totara grew from a stick used to cut the umbilical cord of a boy named Koroki born early in the 17th century.

Before it was named Maungakiekie, Maori called the mountain Te-totara-a-ahua, which means "totara which stands alone."

Ngati Whatua spokesman Sir Hugh Kawharu said he had not heard from his elders about what was on the summit before the Monterey pine.

Legend passed down from generation to generation had it that there was a totara on the summit in the 18th century, but the issue was academic to Ngati Whatua, he said. What really mattered to the tribe was that One Tree Hill was part of a wider Auckland claim before the Office of Treaty Settlements.

"The basis of it is that Maungakiekie should never have been sold. Granted, it was sold by Ngati Whatua. There is no question of that but the regulations which Governor [Robert] FitzRoy put in place to allow wholesale sale of land specified that places of sacred importance should be excluded."

Herald Online feature: Tree on the Hill

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