Mount Smart ( or ; officially Rarotonga / Mount Smart) is one of the volcanoes and Tà «puna Maunga (ancestral mountain) in the Auckland volcanic field. A century of quarrying removed almost all the 87 metre scoria cone along with extensive terracing excavated by MÃÂori. The former quarry is now the site of Mount Smart Stadium.
The volcano erupted around 20,000 years ago. The scoria cone was formerly 87 metres high with a small crater (around 57 m higher than the surrounding land). Lava flowed about 300 hectares from the eruption, reaching the Manukau Harbour at MÃÂngere. It was the site of defensive MÃÂori pÃÂ built on extensive excavated terracing.
The name Rarotonga means "the lower south" and was brought from Hawaiki. In MÃÂori oral tradition, Rarotonga is where Rakataura, a tohunga of the Tainui waka, first settled in Aotearoa. After a period of time, Rakataura decided to travel south with his wife Kahukeke, who died during the journey. Te Ipu kura a Maki means "the red bowl of Maki".
Rarotonga was renamed Mount Smart by Felton Mathew, Surveyor General, after Lieutenant Henry Dalton Smart, 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, commanding the Mounted Police in New Zealand from 1840.
During 1865 to the 1960s Mount Smart was mostly quarried away. Lower southern and eastern slopes remain and were planted in pà Âhutukawa during the 1940s. At the same time, the quarry was reserved, and Mt Smart Stadium was built in the 1960s.
In the 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the Crown and the NgàMana Whenua o TÃÂmaki Makaurau collective of 13 Auckland iwi and hapà « (also known as the TÃÂmaki Collective), ownership of the 14 Tà «puna Maunga of TÃÂmaki Makaurau / Auckland, was vested to the collective, including the volcano officially named Rarotonga / Mount Smart. The legislation specified that the land be held in trust "for the common benefit of NgàMana Whenua o TÃÂmaki Makaurau and the other people of Auckland". The Tà «puna Maunga o TÃÂmaki Makaurau Authority or Tà «puna Maunga Authority (TMA) is the co-governance organisation established to administer the 14 Tà «puna Maunga. Auckland Council manages the Tà «puna Maunga under the direction of the TMA.