Te Hopua a Rangi, also known as Gloucester Park, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in Auckland, New Zealand, and is located in Onehunga. Its 300 m wide, sediment-filled explosion (maar) crater was used as a boat harbour in early European times and known first as Onehunga Basin then as Geddes Basin. It was reclaimed in the 1930s and named Gloucester Park in 1935 after the visit to New Zealand by the Duke of Gloucester in that year. From 1975 into the early 1980s the Southwestern Motorway was built right through the middle of the park and crater. The southern side was turned into a sports ground, and the western side as a wetland with activity space for Aotea Sea Scouts who took ownership of the Manukau Yacht and Motor Boat Club (MYMBC) club house in 1977 (the white building in the postcard).
According to Mogford, during Edward Morton's term of office as Mayor of Onehunga Borough, 1929–1935:
...the controversial decision was made to use the old crater near the wharf for a council rubbish tip. There was some protest that this unique geological formation was to be destroyed and lost forever in this reclamation, but the authorities and general public were not so environmentally aware of our heritage as they are today. In the span of a few years the crater was cut off by road, filled in, levelled, grassed and renamed with due ceremony Gloucester Park in honour of the King's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who had paid a goodwill visit to New Zealand at the end of 1934.
Gloucester Park speedway was opened on 5 January 1935 by the Governor-general. Onehunga Borough, however, were still filling and reclaiming at the park up to at least 1941.[ citation needed ]
The army occupied Te Hopua a Rangi between 1941 and 1946, building barracks along its western side close to the sea, and occupying the MYMBC club house until 1945, when the MYMBC celebrated the return of the building with a grand re-opening dance on 21 July 1945. Evidence of the camp was all but gone in an aerial photograph from 1948. During the army occupation the Speedway was closed, but reopened again after this and was still active in 1961.
the 2016 Auckland Council Unitary Plan defined Te Hopua a Rangi as an Outstanding Natural Feature as follows.
Item 46 – Hōpua explosion crater and tuff exposure – Hōpua volcano is a small explosion crater with a low tuff ring about 500m in diameter. The original crater was breached by the sea and filled with marine sediments. Although damaged by reclamation and motorway construction, the tuff ring is still discernible as a volcanic feature. An inter-tidal exposure of Hōpua tuff in the Manukau Harbour foreshore contains large blocks of basalt.
The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse array of maars, tuff rings, scoria cones, and lava flows. With the exception of Rangitoto, no volcano has erupted more than once, but the other eruptions lasted for various periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. Rangitoto erupted several times and recently twice; in an eruption that occurred about 600 years ago, followed by a second eruption approximately 50 years later. The field is fuelled entirely by basaltic magma, unlike the explosive subduction-driven volcanism in the central North Island, such as at Mount Ruapehu and Lake Taupō.
The Panmure Basin, also sometimes known as the Panmure Lagoon, is a tidal estuary within a volcanic crater or maar in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field. It is located to the south of Panmure town centre.
Tank Farm is the name of a volcanic explosion crater on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand, near the approaches to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Onepoto is the name of a volcanic explosion crater on the North Shore in Auckland, New Zealand. It is a part of the Auckland volcanic field. It should not be confused with Onepoto Hill, which is a volcanic feature of the South Auckland volcanic field.
Waitomokia is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field. Waitomokia's 600 m (2,000 ft) wide tuff crater contained three small scoria cones up to 20 m (66 ft) high, one with a crater, which were quarried in the 1950s.
Ash Hill is a volcano in Wiri, in the Auckland volcanic field, in New Zealand. A low tuff cone with an explosion crater about 150m wide, it is now covered by industrial development. It peaked at roughly 30 metres above sea level.
Maungataketake is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It had a 76 m high scoria cone, beside a 100 m wide crater, before they were quarried away. It was the site of a pā. Layers of volcanic tuff and ash from Maungataketake overlay the fallen trunks of the nearby Ihumātao fossil forest. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "broad mountain" for Maungataketake.
Pukaki Lagoon, located in the suburb of Māngere, New Zealand, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. The lagoon, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Crater Hill, Kohuora and Robertson Hill, is one of the volcanic features collectively referred to as Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho, referring to the deity in Tāmaki Māori myths who was involved in their creation.
Little Rangitoto, officially known as Maungarāhiri / Little Rangitoto, and also as Rangitoto-iti, is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field in Remuera, New Zealand. The name Maungarāhiri refers to Rāhiri, an ancestor of Ngāpuhi, who journeyed around the North Island. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the volcano was the site of Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei seasonal farms.
Pukewairiki located in Highbrook Park is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand.
Robertson Hill is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It erupted approximately 24,300 years ago. The hill, alongside Māngere Lagoon, Waitomokia, Crater Hill, Kohuora and Pukaki Lagoon, is one of the volcanic features collectively referred to as Nga Tapuwae a Mataoho, referring to the deity in Tāmaki Māori myths who was involved in their creation.
Hampton Park is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. A small scoria cone reaching 35 metres above sea level, with a shallow crater around 50 metres wide, which has been modified by quarrying. The scoria cone sits in the centre of a much larger explosion crater, the eastern arc of the surrounding tuff ring is still present. Stone from the volcano was used to build dry-stone walls and the nearby St John's Church built on the tuff ring crest.
Otara Hill is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. Its scoria cone reached 89 m above sea level before it was quarried away. The hill was the site of a pā named “Te Puke Ō Tara” meaning ‘hill belonging to Tara’, who was a Ngāi Tai Rangatira of the area.
Styaks Swamp is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field, found in the suburb of East Tāmaki.
McLennan Hills is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. It was a group of cratered scoria mounds up to 45 m high, before it was quarried away. A 1940 aerial photo shows a crater around 100 m wide, one around 50 m wide, and 2 or 3 smaller craters. McLennan Hills, alongside neighbouring Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond, were the sites of fortified pā in pre-European times, important due to their location between the Waitematā Harbour/Tāmaki River and the Manukau Harbour. Since the European settlement of Auckland, the scoria cone was quarried. The former quarry site was used for greenhouses before being redeveloped for housing.
Cemetery Crater is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. It is an explosion crater roughly 200 metres (660 ft) wide, located east of Crater Hill. Hard to see even in early aerial photos due to its shallowness, it is now covered by housing.
Kohuora, located in the suburb of Papatoetoe, is one of the volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand.
Boggust Park Crater is a volcano in the Auckland volcanic field, New Zealand. Located in the Favona area of the Māngere suburb, it is one of Auckland city's older volcanoes. It was first recognised as a volcano in 2011. The park in which it is located is named after Ralph Boggust, former superintendent of Manukau Parks Dept.
Grafton Volcano is a buried volcano in New Zealand's Auckland volcanic field that underlies much of the Auckland suburb of Grafton. First recognised in 2010, it includes the Outhwaite Park scoria cone that was first mapped by Hochstetter (1864) and inferred by later geologists to be a late phase vent of adjacent Pukekawa Volcano. Borehole drilling and building excavations in the Grafton-Auckland Domain area during the 1990s and 2000s provided new subsurface geological information that allowed geologists to recognise the buried Grafton Volcano.
The Puhinui Craters are located in Auckland's Puhinui Reserve and are part of the Auckland volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. They were first recognised as volcanic craters in 2011. A cluster of three small maar craters like these is unique in the Auckland volcanic field. Their ages are unknown but most probably all three erupted during the same eruptive episode. They could have been associated with the eruption of nearby Matukutureia but this is speculation at present.