Takarunga Mount Victoria

Takarunga, which means 'hill standing above' in Maori, was an important pā site for many years, with visible terracing and kūmara pits. The tihi (summit), which sits at 66 meters high, was named Mt Victoria by European settlers after Queen Victoria. It was also known as Flagstaff Hill after a signal station for the Port of Auckland was placed on the summit in 1841. Takarunga has been a public reserve since 1880 and was used for military purposes until after World War II, with a muzzle-loader gun fort from 1885 still visible. The cone of Takarunga was formed by fire-fountaining of frothy scoria from the central crater, and lava from the southern base flowed out to create a stretch of basalt rock that reaches the Devonport foreshore. The southern lava flows from Takarunga can be seen as dark rocks on the Devonport foreshore between Torpedo Bay and Devonport Wharf.

The tihi and summit road at Takarunga were permanently closed to private motor vehicles in March 2018, in respect of its spiritual and cultural significance to Mana Whenua. Takararo, adjacent to Takarunga, was completely leveled by quarrying and is now the flat park known as Cambria Reserve. A buried reservoir at the top of the maunga is marked by colourful 'mushroom' vents. During the eruption, the south side of the crater was breached by lava flows, and scoria from the top of Takarunga was carried down the mountain in these lava flows and came to rest near the south end of modern-day Church St. This small mound would become known as Duders Hill until it was quarried away in the early twentieth century.