HISTORIC SPOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 10

HISTORIC SPOT.

MAORI SIGNIFICANCE. STORY OF MOUNT VICTORIA. SOCIETY HOLDS FIELD DAT. Points of historical interest on the Xorth Shore were outlined by Mr. T. Walsh to members of the Auckland Historical Society on Saturday afternoon ; when the society's first field day for the year was held on Mount Victoria, the scene of many important historical evente in Maori and European timee. The original Maori name of Mount Victoria was Takarunga, while the hill now known as Xorth Head was called Takapuna, said Mr. Walsh. There were two other hills in the vicinity, the Maori names of which began with the syllables of "taka." The meanings were not now known, although Takarunga had been interpreted as "water bubbling up" and Takapuna as "falling water." The name of Takapuna, it appeared, had been bestowed on the hill by the Maoris from the Taimii canoe. The first coming of the Polynesians wae also connected with this area, said Mr. Walsh. Kupe, the first Maori to have landed in the harbour, according to tradition, came about 925, and since then the Waitemata had figured largely in Maori history. The first Kuropean to enter the harbour was apparently the Frenchman D'Urville, who arrived in February, 1827. The whole of the area on the Xorth Shore was bought up by Governor Hobson in 1841 as part of the Hikurangi land purchase, and from that time it became intimately connected with the growth of Auckland. The Rev. A. B. Chappell, president of the Auckland society and of the Xew Zealand Historical Society, thanked Mr. Walsh for his addreee and paid a tribute to hia historical knowledge. A guest of the society at fhe gathering was Mr. Pitta, a former member of the Devonport Borough Council, who hae lived in Devonport since 1804 and is one of its oldest inhabitants.