Green Hill

Hidden beneath a blanket of grass, Green Hill holds a secret. It’s a story of fire and earth, of people and progress. Green Hill, also known as Matanginui or Greenmount, isn’t just a hill. It’s a dormant volcano, part of the Auckland volcanic field. It erupted around 20,000 years ago. Its scoria cone once reached 78 meters above sea level, crowned with a grove of karaka trees. Green Hill was more than just a geological feature. It was a significant site for the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki people. Matanginui, meaning “The Pā Taken with Much Crying” or “Big Breeze,” was their traditional settlement. Their ancestor, Toi-te-huatahi, visited the site and planted karaka trees. By the 16th century, the fertile volcanic soil supported extensive stonefield gardens, and a defensive pā stood atop the hill. Ngāi Tai occupied Matanginui until the early 19th century. Later, the Styak family farmed Green Hill and the surrounding area. The name “Greenmount” echoes Mrs. Styak’s home in Northern Ireland, called Green Bank. Quarrying began around 1870, and Green Hill, along with nearby Otara Hill, was nicknamed “Bessy Bell and Mary Gray” after a Scottish ballad. In 1932, Sarah Jane Lushington (née Styak) gifted 40 hectares of land to create Styak-Lushington Park. However, instead of a park, the council leased the land for farming and quarrying, ultimately reducing Green Hill almost entirely by the 1960s. The site then became a landfill. By 1992, methane from the landfill fueled a power plant. The landfill closed in 2005, and from 2006 to 2016, the site was restored, recreating the hill using clean fill. Today, Green Hill stands as a testament to change. It whispers stories of its volcanic past, its importance to the Ngāi Tai, the industry that shaped it, and the efforts to restore it. Green Hill awaits its transformation into an urban park, a 70-meter high, flat-topped grassy expanse. It will be a place where the past and the future meet.