North Head is one of the many extinct volcanoes in the Auckland region and was once an island. Active within the last 40,000 years, volcanic eruptions of lava and ash eventually linked the island to the mainland. The volcanic cone of solidified rock formed from hot lava, called scoria, overlies beds of volcanic ash, called tuff, into which tunnels were carved to house the coastal defences that were constructed atop North Head in the later 1800s.
The Maori called the volcano Maungauika, named after Uika, an ancestor who lived here approximately 800 years ago. They built the fortification of Takapuna atop the volcano to spot waka canoes returning from fishing or trading expeditions, as well as war parties. Maori lived on Maungauika until 1863.
In 1836, a pilot station was established on North Head due to the sweeping views of Waitematā Harbour. A Russian invasion scare in the late 1800s led to the fortification of North Head, along with other sites in the Auckland region, the stationing of a torpedo boat at the nearby town of Devonport (now home to the Royal New Zealand Navy's main base), and the laying of a minefield across the harbour entrance. North Head formed part of a chain of forts defending the Hauraki Gulf, with North Head originally known as Fort Cautley. To move the 13-ton 8-inch coastal artillery guns to their positions in the batteries atop North Head, military engineers constructed a tramway from sea level to the summit in 1886; the tramway was reconstructed in 1893 in order to remove a damaged 8-inch gun and haul its replacement up the hill.
North Head continued to be used by the military throughout the First and Second World Wars, though the gun batteries were never fired in anger and were only used for training and ceremonial events. In 1972, North Head was protected as a heritage reserve when it was included in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, managed by the Department of Conservation.
Photos taken 20 November 2016
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| The entrance to the North Head Reserve / Maungauika, an ancient volcanic cone, site of Auckland's 19th and 20th century coastal artillery defences, and now part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. |
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| The entrance to one of the tunnels that linked the various parts of the coastal defence fortifications on North Head. Here, the North Tunnel served North Battery, one of three artillery batteries on North Head in the colonial era. The main armament of the North Head defences were 7-inch rifled muzzle loading guns between 1870 and 1888, subsequently replaced by 8-inch disappearing guns (1888-1920), and later by a pair of 4-inch guns (1939-1941). |
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| A diagram of the subterranean fortifications of the North Battery, including ammunition storage rooms and accommodations for military personnel. One of three artillery batteries on North Head, North Battery covered the Rangitoto Channel, with construction of the tunnels commencing in 1885 in response to an expanding Russian Empire and the fear of a Russian invasion of New Zealand. North Battery was completed in 1892. |
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| Inside the tunnels of North Battery. |
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| Continuing through the tunnels, past the ammunition magazine, guards' quarters (later horse stables), and the field gun storeroom, toward the gun pit. Ammunition for the North Battery's original 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns (1870-1888) was stored in the magazine off this corridor. |
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| The North Battery's gun pit, originally designed to accommodate a 7-inch rifled, muzzle loading gun which was replaced in 1892 by an 8-inch disappearing gun. During the Second World War, the 8-inch gun was removed, the gun pit was roofed over, and two 4-inch guns were installed in front of the old battery. After the Second World War, the tunnels and magazines of North Battery were used as a mushroom farm for a while. |
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| The battery observation post. |
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| The observation post overlooks the Hauraki Gulf and permitted gunners to sight any enemy ships that may have approached Auckland Harbour. Across the channel is Rangitoto Island. |
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| Historic artillery pieces on display at the North Head Reserve. |
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| Displayed on a concrete pad that was formerly the floor of an Army drying room are obsolete guns from the North Head coastal defences. The first guns were placed on North Head in 1870 to defend the harbour defences. The two cut-up sections of barrel are from the 13-ton disappearing gun from the South Battery, scrapped in 1925. This gun fired shells of eight-inch diameter, capable of piercing the armour of ships offshore. The area around this display was used as a practice ground by gunners who trained in moving around heavy artillery pieces using block and tackle, levers, jacks, and brute human strength. |
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| A view of the Hauraki Gulf from the northern slope of North Head Reserve. |
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| Looking northwest, with Cheltenham Beach stretching out below. |
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| Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf, as seen from the slopes around North Battery. |
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| An observation post used to survey the Rangitoto Channel for enemy warships during the Second World War. The observers used a mural painted on the inside of the post, above the windows, to guide the fire of the 4-inch guns operated from North Battery below. Firing the coastal defence guns required knowledge of mechanics, meteorology, and physics. Knowing the range of the gun and the position of the target, the gunners could set the gun at the correct angle to fire accurately. |
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| A diagram of South Battery, which originally housed a 64-pounder gun when built in 1885, replaced by a state of the art 8-inch disappearing gun in 1887. South Battery covered the entrance to Waitematā Harbour. A complex of tunnels links the gun pit with magazines storing ammunition, an observation post, gun crew quarters, and an engine room. |
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| The entrance to the South Battery tunnels. |
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| A look inside the cave area that was part of the South Battery tunnels. |
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| The main access tunnel at South Battery. Narrow lamp passages ran around the outside of the ammunition magazines, with candles placed in small recesses covered by a pane of glass; this allowed the magazines to be illuminated without having an open flame, which would have represented an extreme fire risk, given the hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder stored in the magazines. Each silk gunpowder cartridge used to propel an 8-inch artillery shell out of a gun weighed 50 kilograms (110 pounds) and was kept in a zinc container to minimise the risk of accidental detonation. Similarly, men working around gunpowder had to wear special clothing that would not generate static electricity and which had no metal fittings in order to avoid causing sparks around the gunpowder. |
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| South Battery's 8-inch disappearing gun, installed in 1887. In an era when gunnery was based on visual sighting, the disappearing gun reduced the risk of being targeted by ships offshore: after each shot, the recoil pushed the gun down into its gun pit. The gunners would then reload the gun in the protection of the pit and the gun would be hydraulically raised to fire again. Each 8-inch shell weighed more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds). |
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| The 8-inch disappearing gun, overlooking Waitematā Harbour, installed in 1887. Whilst a clever design, disappearing guns suffered from a very slow rate of fire, and all three of North Head's disappearing guns were sold for scrap by the 1920s; however, only one gun was actually removed and cut up. The development of rapid fire long-range artillery in the First World War and its refinement in the Second World War changed warfare, with the key to victory being the use of more accurate, faster-firing, and more powerful weapons than those possessed by one's enemy. |
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| First World War era 18-pounder field guns installed at South Battery as saluting guns for use during ceremonial occasions. These four guns were last fired on 23 December 1953 to welcome Queen Elizabeth II as she entered Waitematā Harbour aboard the Royal Yacht Gothic during a visit to Auckland. |
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| The South Battery covering Waitematā Harbour. The 8-inch disappearing gun stands raised in its gun pit, with the observation post (covered by the umbrella-shaped green roof) stands on the hill behind it. |
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| The observation post for South Battery's 8-inch disappearing gun. This is one of the oldest surviving structures on North Head, built in 1889. The gunners in the gun pit relied on the fire command team in this observation post to tell them where to aim the gun. The fire command team blew a whistle to get the gunners' attention and shouted orders down speaking tubes fashioned out of lengths of water pipe. This was the method of communication for seven years until telephones were installed on North Head. In addition to the metal 'umbrella' roof, the fire command team were protected by a steel shield, part of a turntable unit on which the team could swivel, using a wheel mechanism, to follow the movement of a target ship. |
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| Waitematā Harbour, with Auckland in the distance, as seen from the summit of the North Head Reserve. |
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| One of the pits for an 8-inch disappearing gun. |
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| One of the oldest buildings on North Head is the barracks, built in 1885 by the Armed Constabulary, the forerunner of both the New Zealand Army and the New Zealand Police. It housed the soldiers of the fort, was used as a band room, and accommodated the Royal New Zealand Navy's communications school. Additionally, in 1914, the barracks was used to house up to 40 prisoners, who constructed the fortifications. The building continued in use by the Royal New Zealand Navy and the New Zealand Army until 1996. |
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| The stone kitchen, located next to the barracks building, was built in 1885. The kitchen was built out of stone and was separate from the barracks building to limit the risk of fire caused by errant sparks from the timber or coal used to cook food. In the 1800s, each man posted to the North Head fortifications received, on a daily basis, 1.5 pounds of meat, 1.25 pounds of bread or 1 pound of biscuit, 1 pound of potatoes, and 5 ounces of groceries. To cook these rations, the men were each issued 2 pounds of wood or 1 pound of coal. The cooking was done in groups called 'messes' and the men ate either in their barracks or in mess tents if there were many mouths to feed. |
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| A view of the buildings at the summit of North Head Reserve: the 1885 barracks, the stone kitchen, and newer barracks dating from the Second World War. |
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| A diagram of the 6-inch Mk VII gun battery that was built here between 1908 and 1911 at the behest of the British government, which wanted to defend the approaches to the Devonport Naval Base. These guns covered the Rangitoto Channel. |
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| The dilapidated concrete gun shelter (left) next to the remnants of the 6-inch Mark VII Battery. |
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| One of the empty gun pits that housed a 6-inch gun from the First World War through to 1941. The two guns in this battery were built by Elswick Ordnance Company in the United Kingdom, weighed 7.4 tonnes each, and fired shells out to a range of 11 kilometres (6.8 miles). A crew of 12 men was required to operate them. The guns were later moved north to Whangaparoa but returned to North Head after the end of the Second World War, when they were used to train conscripts. In 1959, the 6-inch guns were scrapped. |
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| Stairs lead down to a complex of subterranean rooms that housed shells, powder bags, and gunners on watch. |
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| One of the underground rooms used to store shells or powder for the 6-inch Mk VII guns. |
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| Another of the underground storage rooms. Shells and powder cartridges were stored in separate rooms. |
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| The entrance to the engine room, which housed generators used to power the network of searchlights mounted on North Head. The engine room was sited on the side of North Head, out of sight of any enemy ship. The original 25-horsepower coal-fired steam engine was later replaced by kerosene and diesel generators, which were used until the 1960s. Electrical cables running through the subterranean tunnels and down the cliff faces fed power to the searchlights. Rooms adjacent to the engine room housed the engine crew, workshops, and the fuel supply. |
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| Emerging from a tunnel near the engine room, one of several tunnels burrowed through North Head and integrated into the system of coastal defences here. |
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| A trench leads out from the tunnel exit. |
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| The minefield control post from where military personnel surveyed the minefield laid between North Head and Bastion Point between 1892 and 1908. If an enemy vessel had entered the minefield, the defenders would have detonated the minefield at a time calculated to cause the most damage to the enemy. The mines were linked in lines across the harbour and each mine needed to be checked regularly as corrosive seawater and debris could easily damage them. |
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| Steps lead down the hillside of North Head, part of the paths comprising the Maungauika/North Head Historic Walk. |
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| A stairwell descends into a tunnel leading to the South Battery searchlight complex on the lower slopes of North Head. An original shaft with a ladder was replaced by a sloping tunnel in 1900. With the dismantlement of the minefield in 1907, the searchlight complex was abandonment. |
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| The sloping tunnel leading to the searchlight complex. This tunnel replaced an earlier ladder shaft for safer and quicker access to the searchlight complex. |
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| The team of engineers excavating the tunnel in 1900 stopped short upon discovering that they would emerge into the garden of the officers' quarters; instead, the tunnellers made a sharp bend in order to come out further up the hill. |
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| A staircase cut into the rock face leads down nearly to the water. |
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| One of the South Battery searchlight positions. The lower footpath hugs the side of North Head as it winds its way around the base of the volcanic cone. |
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| The footpath continues along the edge of the cliff face, with the waters of Waitematā Harbour on one side and lush vegetation on the other. |
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| A concrete bunker once housing one of the South Battery searchlight positions. In 1941, an anti-submarine boom defence was installed across Waitematā Harbour, from the south shore of North Head to Bastion Point. Steel netting hung beneath this barrier to repel enemy submarines. Upon making contact with the netting, a submarine would lose buoyancy and be forced to surface, becoming a target for the coastal defence guns. To allow friendly vessels in and out of the harbour, a small Boom Defence Boat could open a section of the barrier and then close it again after the vessel had passed. All that remains of this wartime boom defence are some of the wooden posts set into the rocks below North Head which served as anchor points for the barrier. |
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| A staircase cut into the rock face leads up to the South Battery. |
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| A receding tide reveals the rocky shoreline around the perimeter of North Head. |
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| Black volcanic rocks along the shoreline, with Rangitoto Island seen in the distance. |
