Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean is a hill in the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. ...

of the

Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban areas of New Zealand, urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland, Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands o ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. It is located to the south of the ranges, near the township of

Huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was another credible sighting in 1924 ...

. It is the highest peak of the Waitākere Ranges that borders the

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burnett ...

Geography and geology

The hill is a peak in the

, approximately northwest from Little Huia. The hill is the source for the south-flowing Baker Stream, and some of the tributaries of the east-flowing Marama Stream. The hill is accessible by Mt Donald McLean Road along Whatipu Road, or by two walking tracks: the Puriri Ridge Track and the Donald McLean Track. A prominent viewing platform can be found at the summit, from which

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

can be seen on a clear day. Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean is a part of the

Waitākere volcano The Waitākere volcano, also known as the Manukau volcano, was a Miocene era volcano that formed off the west coast of the modern Auckland Region of New Zealand's North Island. Erupting intermittently between 23 million and 15 million years ago, ...

, which first began erupting 23 million years ago, during the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

era. Most of the volcano had eroded by five million years ago, except for the eastern slopes of the volcano, which were uplifted from the ocean floor and form the modern

Biodiversity

The hill is vegetated with native bush, including

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

nīkau ''Rhopalostylis sapida'', commonly known as nīkau, is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand. Etymology is a word borrowed from the Māori language; cognates of this word in the closely related E ...

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...

tānekaha ''Phyllocladus trichomanoides'', commonly known as the tānekaha or celery pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. Description Tānekaha is a medium-sized forest tree growing up to in height and 1 m trunk diameter. The main stru ...

, lancewood and

rewarewa ''Knightia excelsa'', commonly known as rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand. It is found in the North Island and at the tip of the South Island in the Marlborough Sounds (4 ...

. The hill is also a habitat for the rare Waitākere rock koromiko ''

Veronica bishopiana ''Veronica bishopiana'', the Waitākere rock koromiko, is a flowering plant belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland in New Zealand, and was first described by Donald Petrie (botanist), Do ...

'' and Hall's tōtara, ''

Podocarpus laetus ''Podocarpus laetus'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae, commonly known as Hall's tōtara, mountain tōtara or thin-barked tōtara. Previously known as ''Podocarpus hallii'' and ''Podocarpus cunninghamii'', in 2015 it was re ...

''.

History

Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean is within the traditional

rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ' to describe the territory or boundaries of tribes (, although some divide their into several . Background In 1793, chief Tuki Te Terenui Whare Pirau who had been brought to Norfolk Island drew ...

of the

Te Kawerau ā Maki Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Kawerau a Maki, or Te Kawerau-a-Maki is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Predominantly based in West Auckland (Hikurangi also known as Waitākere), it had 251 registered adult members as of J ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

, and overlooked a number of

kāinga A kāinga ( southern Māori: ''kaika'' or ''kaik'') is the traditional form of village habitation of pre-European Māori in New Zealand. It was unfortified or only lightly fortified, and over time became less important than the well-fortified ...

around Huia Bay. The literal translation of Te Rau-o-te-Huia is "The Plumes of the

", and the name was used to describe both the mountain and the surrounding bay. The plumes were a metaphor for expressing his pride in the area. In English, the hill was named after Donald McLean, a government administrator and major figure in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

relations in the mid-19th Century. During the 1850s, the Gibbons family milled the

forest on the north side of Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean. Unintentional fires in the early 20th century led to large areas of the hill being deforested, with

mānuka Mānuka (; ''Leptospermum scoparium'') is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family (biology), family Myrtaceae, native to New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) and south-east Australia. Bees produce mānuka honey from its necta ...

scrub propagating in the areas affected by fire. The hill became popular with trampers by the 1930s, known as a place where

could be seen on a clear day. In the late 1980s, the walking track to the summit was upgraded.

Gallery

Hall's Totara Podocarpus laetus at Te Rau-o-te-Huia Mount Donald McLean.jpg, A windswept Hall's tōtara (''

'') on the slopes of Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean View from Te Rau-o-te-Huia Mount Donald McLean 20220722 141457.jpg, View from Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean towards the

Auckland City Centre The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson on land gifted by ''ma ...

and Rangitoto North Island Tomtit Petroica macrocephala ssp. toitoi on Mt Donald McLean.jpg, a tomtit ('' Petroica macrocephala'') on Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean Black Tree Fern Cyathea medullaris on Mt Donald McLean.jpg, ''

Cyathea medullaris ''Sphaeropteris medullaris'', synonym ''Cyathea medullaris'', commonly known as mamaku or black tree fern, is a large tree fern up to tall. It is distributed across the south-west Pacific from Fiji to Pitcairn Island and is a common plant fou ...

'' on Te Rau-o-te-Huia / Mount Donald McLean Manukau Harbour from Donald McLean lookout2.jpg, View over Manukau Harbour from the lookout

References

Bibliography

* {{Waitākere Ranges Local Board Area Lookouts in Auckland Hills of the Auckland Region Waitākere Ranges Waitākere Ranges Local Board Area West Auckland, New Zealand