Auckland Domain

This guide to Auckland Domain traces the volcanic crater the Maori called Pukekawa, the hill of bitter memories, born from wars fought here between the northern Ngapuhi under Hongi Hika and the local Ngati Whatua and Waikato under Te Wherowhero. It follows the 1828 peace agreement reached on this same hilltop, the totara tree planted in 1940 to mark its centenary, and the fortified village whose swamp and eels once let it outlast a siege before colonial governors drained the crater into today's sports fields. Look for the plaque near the main entrance marking where about seventeen hundred American soldiers camped here during the Second World War.