North Head
Clifftop volcanic headland riddled with hand-cut tunnels and nineteenth-century disappearing guns guarding a harbour entrance.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to North Head in Auckland opens with an 1873 newspaper hoax claiming a Russian warship had seized the harbour overnight, and the citywide panic it caused. It follows the real fortifications built in response: convict labourers cutting tunnels through the rock, disappearing guns that sank into pits after firing, and three batteries named after the engineer who oversaw them. Walk into the tunnels behind you to feel the damp stone the prisoners cut by hand.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Devonport
Volcanic headland laced with prisoner-dug tunnels built to repel an invasion that never came.
Takarunga / Mount Victoria
Scoria-cone volcano crowned by a hidden disappearing gun and Maori pa earthworks above the harbour.
Waiheke Island
Vineyard-dotted island laced with beaches, art studios, and a hidden wartime gun fortress.
Torpedo Bay Navy Museum
Restored nineteenth-century mine depot turned naval museum on a harbourside bay in Devonport.
Cheltenham Beach
Golden crescent beach at a volcanic headland's foot, facing Rangitoto across calm water.
Maungawhau / Mount Eden
Dormant scoria volcano with a deep crater once a fortified Māori hilltop stronghold.