Puketāpapa

Puketāpapa, also known as Pukewīwī and by its English name Mount Roskill, is a volcanic peak and the suburban area in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the suburb that it gave its name, Mount Roskill.

Description

The mountain formed as a result of volcanic activity some 20,000 years ago.[1] Its peak, located in present-day Winstone Park towards the southwest end of the suburb, is 110 metres in height. It is one of the many extinct cones that dot the isthmus of Auckland, all part of the Auckland volcanic field. The scoria cone was built by fire-fountaining from two craters. Lava flowed from the base of the cone to the north and to the northwest.

It was the site of a Māori pā (fortified village), and was known as Puketāpapa ("the flat-topped mountain")[2] and as Pukewīwī.[3] The main southern crater was excavated in 1961/62 and filled with a water-supply reservoir. The reservoir is no longer in active service, and is only maintained as an emergency supply.

Since 2009 State Highway 20 has passed close to the cone. The effects of the new motorway on the cone had been the subject of significant discussion, and a major mitigation package had been proposed to reduce the impact of the motorway (and the continuation of the Waikaraka Cycleway that runs parallel to it).[4] The funding of this mitigation and the missing cycleway section was briefly in doubt in 2009, when a cost blowout to $2 million was criticised after Council had set aside $1.6 million. Cycling advocates from Cycle Action Auckland, the Mount Roskill Community Board Chairman Richard Barter and Councillor John Lister however noted various elements unrelated to the cycleway that had driven up the cost, such as a toilet block, bluestone walls, extensive landscaping and artwork, much of it related to Winstone Park itself, or the effects of the motorway. The cycle-path section itself was priced at only $300,000.[5] The path section was finished after six months of construction work and it (and the park facilities) opened to the public on 25 July 2010.[6]

References
  1. Roskill: An Illustrated History of New Zealand's Largest Borough. Mt Roskill Borough Council. 1984. ISBN 0908570848
  2. "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
  3. "Alcohol and smoke-free Tāmaki Tūpuna Maunga". Te Kāea. Māori Television. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  4. "Motorway fight hits a peak". The New Zealand Herald. 12 March 2003. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  5. Horrell, Rhiannon (6 May 2009). "Cycleway costs soar". Central Leader. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  6. "Scenic cycleway opens". CityScene. Auckland City Council. 25 July 2010.

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