TAAhuhu kOOrero

A rich history dating back centuries.

He Mihi

Ka uu anoo ngaa tai o Rehu o Tiu, e Rongo tuuria ki te matahau

Tuu te winiwini, tuu te wanawana

Tihei waa mauri ora

Ko te tiimatanga o te whakaaro nui ko te wehi ki too taatou Atua, ko ia hoki te tiimatatanga me te whakamutunga o ngaa mea katoa.

He whakahonore nei i te ingoa o too taatou Kiingi. a Tuuheitia e noho ake ana i runga i te ahurewa tapu o oona maatua, me oona tuupuna.

Ka huri aa maatou mihi ki ngaa tini mate kua hinga, kua wehe atu nei ki tua o te aarai, ki te waahi ngaro

Ki a raatou haere, haere, haere! Engari ki a taatou ki ngaa kanohi ora e tau nei,

Teenaa koutou, teenaa koutou, teenaa koutou katoa.

Nau mai, haere mai ki Te Pane o Mataoho

Welcome to Maangere Mountain

Te Taenga Mai
Arrival and Settlement

As a strategic, defensible location overlooking the Manukau Harbour, Maangere Mountain was an attractive location for the first people to arrive from their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki. The fertile volcanic soil of the maunga (mountain) as well as it’s proximity to the moana (sea) and creation of puna (freshwater springs) provided a further incentive for settlement.

When you take a guided walk, you can view the remains of over 800 years of Maaori settlement, including a fortified Maaori paa. You can see the boundaries that once defined the landscape as villages, gardens, storage pits, forts and boundary walls.

Set out on one of our guided walks over our mountain and you will hear the history and stories of the first people who arrived at this location. They were followed by many others – and their descendants live here today. One of them might be your guide.

Mahinga Maara - Cultivation

Gardens to feed the people.

Kuumara, taro and hue (gourds). The ancestors of our people brought these crops from tropical Polynesia, braving thousands of kilometres of ocean to plant their roots in the new land of Aotearoa.

At Maangere Mountain Education Centre we keep the traditions of Maaori agriculture alive. In our maara (gardens) you can see these crops growing here, talk to the people who are tending them, and even get a taste of the food that has been cultivated here (if you visit during the right season).

History is a living thing at Maangere Mountain. Visit the ancient kuumara sites identified by archaeologists, and then see how they are grown in the same soil in the 21st century.

Te Whare o Kiingi Taawhiao
- King Taawhiao’s Cottage

Tuukaaroto Matutaera Pootatau Te Wherowhero became the second Maaori king in June 1860, when he succeeded his father, Pootatau Te Wherowhero. As a young man, Taawhiao lived in Maangere, and in 1890 a cottage in front of Maangere Mountain was registered in his name.

This cottage was moved by Auckland Council to the grounds of Maangere Mountain Education Centre and is currently being restored. When the project is completed, Taawhiao's Cottage will provide visitors with a link to King Taawhiao and enable visitors to appreciate the long connection of the Kiingitanga with Maangere.