Matukutūruru

About

Matukutūruru (also Te Manurewa o Tamapahore or Wiri Mountain) is a volcano in Wiri, Auckland. Part of the Auckland volcanic field; it is one of the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau (ancestral mountains of Auckland). Created by a series of eruptions 30,500 years ago, it had a scoria cone reaching approximately 60 metres higher than the surrounding land. The lava flows covered around 18 hectares and created the 290 metre long Wiri Lava Cave. Matukutūruru was the site of a terraced pā occupied by Te Waiohua. After European occupation the scoria cone was almost completely quarried away, with the removed material used for construction.

Matukutūruru and nearby Matukutūreia are collectively known as Matukurua (also ngā Matukurua) 'The two bitterns'. The proverb "Ka mae a mata hi tuna, ka ara a mata hi taua." - "He who watches for eels, sleeps; (whereas) he who watches for a war-party keeps awake." is a reference to an event when the two Te Waiohua pā were attacked in the mid 18th century by Te Taoū. Matukutūruru is the 'careless bittern'. Named after the chief who fell asleep at the end of an eel fishing expedition, he was defeated and captured by the enemy. In contrast, Matukutūreia is the 'watchful bittern'. Named after the chief who by his vigilance saved his pā and people. Some sources have the names switched, with Matukutūruru as the watchful bittern.

The mountain appears on some early maps labelled as Manurewa. Manurewa is the name of a nearby residential suburb, derived from Te Manurewa o Tamapahore (“the drifted-away kite of Tamapahore”). According to legend, two brothers from Matukurua were flying kites. When Tamapahore’s kite rose the highest, his brother, Tamapahure, caused the kite’s cord to break, and it drifted away toward Hauraki. Local settlers initially referred to it as White's Scoria Mountain, but from the 1920s it was generally known as Wiri Mountain. During the years the quarry was in operation various names were used, including Wiri Quarry. The chief Te Wirihana Takaanini was well known to early settlers, and his name is commemorated in the name of the suburb Wiri. After the passing of the 2014 Redress Act the volcano is now officially named Matukutūruru.

Covering around 18 hectares, Matukutūruru was created through a series of eruptions. The initial eruptions produced a crater with surrounding tuff ring. Subsequent fire-fountaining left a scoria cone reaching approximately 90 metres above sea level (60 metres higher than the surrounding land), completely burying the tuff ring. The cone had a single crater on its summit. The eruptions have been dated at 30,500 years by a combination of carbon-14, paleomagnetic, and argon-argon methods. Within error this is the same date as neighbouring Ash Hill. The scoria cone has been almost completely quarried away; a small portion of the lower northern slopes is the only part that still exists. The quarrying exposed the complex geology of the site, including a cross section of the tuff ring with overlain lava flows. The southern faces of the northern quarry site exposed a sequence of lava flows formed by jointed basalt and scoria. The Roscommon Road cutting exposed bedded tuff overlain by basaltic lava flow. Lava flows completely encircled the cone in all directions - with lava up to 18m deep extending 1km to the north and 1.5km to the south. Some spread across earlier flows from Matukutūreia. Most have been quarried away, and the land is now covered in industrial buildings. Quarrying of the northern flows left a large pit, which was subsequently filled.

The flows created a 290 metres (950 ft) long lava cave; extending from near the top of the cone remnants down a short vertical shaft, then diagonally down through a lava-lined tube beneath the scoria slopes and into the solid basalt, continuing horizontally across Wiri Station Road at a depth of approximately 4 metres (13 ft). The cave is up to 7.6 by 3.6 m (25 by 12 ft). The cave has been labelled by the government as a "geological feature of national significance". It features smooth, gas-flazed rock surfaces, lava stalactites, circular tube gas vents, "festoon" ridging on the floors, vertical shafts formed by hot gas, and contraction gaps at the base of walls. The most interesting parts of the cave are large enough for comfortable walking, with relatively easy entrance from the top of the cave. A manhole beside Wiri Station Road covers a narrow vertical shaft leading down to the horizontal part of the cave. The entrance is locked and the cave is not open to the public.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.