Cornwall Park and One Tree Hill

Just to the south of Mount Eden, and 5 km south of the Sky Tower, is Cornwall Park, a great escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, as the hordes of joggers and picnic-carrying locals will testify. It’s most famous for its crowning glory, “One Tree Hill’ (now minus said tree) but also the well-preserved remains of Maori pa on and around the summit. Kiwi Tamaki, the great chief of the Nga Marama, lived here during the mid-18th century with his thousands of whanau (family) and followers, attracted by the rich pickings of the region’s coast and its fertile soils. His claim to the region ended after being routed by sub-tribes from the north and his people being decimated by a smallpox epidemic introduced by the Europeans. Around the summit, if you look carefully, you will see the grass-covered terraces on which sat dwellings and the ‘kumara pits’ scattered beside them. With the land essentially vacant when the first European settlers arrived, it was the Scot, Logan Campbell, the most powerful and well-known of the new capital’s residents, who eventually took ownership. Shortly before his arrival, a single Totara tree stood proudly on the summit. This had already given rise to the hill’s Maori name, Te-Totara-a-Ahua, meaning ‘Hill of the single Totara’. Early settlers rudely cut down this tree in 1852 and it was Campbell who planted several trees in its place, including the lonesome pine you could see until its demise in 2001. The prosperous Campbell, mayor and ‘Father of Auckland’, donated his estate (now the park) to the people of New Zealand to commemorate the visit in 1901 of the heirs to the throne, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall – hence the name.

At the base of the hill is a visitor centre in Huia Lodge, Campbell’s original gatekeeper’s house. It houses some interesting displays and a video surrounding the natural and human history of the park. Across the road is the simple and faithfully restored Acacia Cottage (dawn till dusk, free), in which Campbell himself lived, though the building itself originally stood in the city centre and was relocated here in the 1920s.

Also within the park boundary at its southern end is the Auckland Observatory (T09-624 1246, http://www.stardome.org.nz, times and events vary; standard viewing session with show $16, child $8; to get there by car: from SH1 take the Green lane off ramp, the main entrance to the park is off Green Lane West; by Bus: 302, 305 or 312 depart regularly from the city centre). This is the official home of Auckland’s star gazers, and also contains the Stardome Planetarium, a cosmic multimedia experience played out on the ceiling for the general public. Outdoor telescope viewing sessions and special events are also held, depending on what the weather and the heavens are up to. You can even ‘adopt a star’, an interesting concept that will probably have you trying to find it again, for the rest of your life....read more