Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant

Coordinates: 43°35′20″S 172°43′38″E / 43.589°S 172.72728°E / -43.589; 172.72728
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Port Hills peak. For the Christchurch suburb, see Mount Pleasant, New Zealand.

Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant
Tauhinu Korokio (Māori)
A view of Mount Pleasant with AMI Stadium in the foreground (From Hotel Grand Chancellor, demolished after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake)
Highest point
Elevation499 m (1,637 ft)
Coordinates43°35′20″S 172°43′38″E / 43.589°S 172.72728°E / -43.589; 172.72728
Geography
Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant is located in Banks Peninsula
Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant
Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant
Location of Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant on Banks Peninsula
LocationChristchurch
Parent rangePort Hills
Geology
Mountain typeBasalt volcanic rock

Tauhinukorokio / Mount Pleasant (

Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō. During World War II, an extensive heavy anti-aircraft artillery
(HAA) battery was built near the summit, and the foundations of those buildings still exist.

Geography

Mount Pleasant / Tauhinukorokio is located in the Port Hills and is 499 metres (1,637 ft) high.

Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō
.

Etymology

The Māori name of the hill is Tauhinu Korokio, which refers to two native plants.[3] The first, Tauhinu, is a cottonwood (Ozothamnus leptophyllus) of the genus Ozothamnus. Korokio is a densely branched Cotoneaster (Corokia cotoneaster).[4] The New Zealand Geographic Board officially changed the name to Tauhinukorokio/Mount Pleasant in September 1948, which was gazetted in the New Zealand Gazette 1949 on page 858.[1]

The European name was given by crew of HMS Pegasus when the coastal survey of

Lord Richard Cavendish, a member of the management committee of the Canterbury Association.[7] The name did not come into common use and was eventually transferred to an adjacent hill.[7]

History

The hill once held a Kāti Māmoe pā. Approximately 300 years ago, it was overtaken by Te Rakiwhakaputa of Ngāi Tahu.[3] When the first European settlers arrived, the remains of the pā could still be seen a little to the north of the peak.[4]

Captain Thomas, chief surveyor for the Canterbury Association, chose[when?] the hill as the base trig station for the survey of the Canterbury settlement.[7]

The first European to farm on the mountain was Joseph Greenwood of

Motunau in May 1847, he sold the land to Rhodes brothers (William Barnard and George).[7]
Edward Ward, the eldest brother of Crosbie Ward, was one of the Pilgrims. On his first day in New Zealand, having arrived on the Charlotte Jane, he climbed Mount Pleasant to get a view of the Canterbury Plains. He stood by the hut built by Charles Crawford,[inconsistent] who was managing Mount Pleasant for the Rhodes brothers, when he remarked the following:[7]

All around the soil teemed with vegetable productions – wild oats, ripe sowthistle, plantain, groundsel & other plants grew large and strong. There was a track of a running stream hard by, but springs everywhere. I could have wished much to have bought the house and all, just as it stood. It faced the N.E. and the first point of the land where it meets the River Heathcote. Being rather too high upon the hill was its only disadvantage.

Ward did buy Ōtamahua / Quail Island instead, but drowned together with his brother Henry in Lyttelton Harbour in June 1851.[8][9]

Mt Pleasant Tea House

Major

Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō from the top of Mount Pleasant. Through a public subscription in 1853, a telescope, flagstaff and a set of flags were paid for. The walking track from adjacent Mount Cavendish down into Lyttelton township was Major Hornbrook's route for getting provisions to his hut on top of Mount Pleasant, and it is still known as Major Hornbrook's Track. Hornbrook went bankrupt in 1871 at a time when he owned 47,000 sheep across three stations (his Mount Pleasant run had 6,000 sheep), and the land was sold to Richard May Morten and William White.[12] Morten and White dissolved their partnership in 1879 and put up the land for auction.[non sequitur
] Both of them bid for it, and Morten purchased the 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) at £6 per acre.

After Morten's death, on 20 August 1909, the land (by then 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) and stretching along the hills from Godley Head to St. Martins) was subdivided.[13][14] After various bequests of land and reserves, including some for the Summit Road, were made, the homestead block and 36 section of various sizes for building sites and small farms were put up for auction on 23 March 1912.[15][16] The largest remaining block had 1,500 acres (610 ha), was owned by J. S. Scott and later on his son Peter Scott, and stretched from Mount Pleasant to the Rapaki Track.[17]

The old Hornbrook homestead just below the summit burned down just before World War I,[clarification needed] and tearooms and accommodation opened in March 1914 on the site. The buildings, no longer accessible to the public,[further explanation needed] are still present and are located just above the junction where Mount Pleasant Road meets the Summit Road.[18]

Between late 1942 and early 1943, a heavy anti-aircraft artillery (HAA) battery was established near the summit. A total of 91 buildings were erected, and the battery was staffed between January 1943 and September 1944. It was never used in combat.[19]

After the Second World War the New Zealand Post Office used the peak for land mobile radio services.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Decisions of The New Zealand Geographic Board". Land Information New Zealand. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  2. ^ Harriss, Gavin. "Topomap". Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Tauhinu Korokio". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  4. ^ a b Ogilvie 2009, p. 89.
  5. ^ Harper, Margaret. "Christchurch Place Names: A-M" (PDF). Christchurch City Libraries. pp. 146–147. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  6. ^ HightStraubel 1957, p. 35.
  7. ^ a b c d e Ogilvie 2009, p. 90.
  8. ^ Jackson 2006, pp. 17–19.
  9. ^ "JOURNAL OF THE WEEK". Lyttelton Times. Vol. I, no. 25. 28 June 1851. p. 5. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  10. ^ Scholefield 1940, p. 413.
  11. ^ Ogilvie 2009, pp. 90–91.
  12. ^ Ogilvie 2009, pp. 91–92.
  13. ^ "MR R. M. MORTEN". The Press. Vol. LXV, no. 13507. Christchurch, New Zealand. 21 August 1909. p. 10. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  14. ^ "OBITUARY". Lyttelton Times. Vol. CXX, no. 15079. 21 August 1909. p. 10. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  15. ^ "MOUNT PLEASANT". The Press. Vol. LXVIII, no. 14297. Christchurch, New Zealand. 7 March 1912. p. 4. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  16. ^ "AUCTIONS". Lyttelton Times. Vol. CXXIII, no. 15884. Christchurch, New Zealand. 23 March 1912. p. 16. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  17. ^ Ogilvie 2009, pp. 92–93.
  18. ^ Ogilvie 2009, p. 92.
  19. ^ "Historic Mt Pleasant Heavy Anti-aircraft Artillery Battery". Department of Conservation. March 2000. Retrieved 31 March 2013.

References

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