Browns Island (Auckland)
| Motukorea (Māori) | |
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Browns Island at the centre right of this aerial photo
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| Geography | |
| Location | Hauraki Gulf |
| Coordinates | 36°49′50″S 174°53′41″E / 36.8306°S 174.8948°E |
| Highest elevation | 68 m (223 ft) |
| Administration | |
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New Zealand
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Browns Island or Motukorea is a small New Zealand island, in the Hauraki Gulf north of Musick Point, one of the best preserved volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. The age of eruption is currently unknown. Due to centuries of cultivation, little native bush remains except on the north-eastern cliffs, leaving the volcanic landforms easily visible. It exhibits the landforms from three styles of eruption. The island consists of one main scoria cone with a deep crater, a small remnant arc of the tuff ring forming the cliffs in the northeast, and the upper portions of lava flows. The area was dry land when the eruptions occurred, but much of the lava is now submerged beneath the sea. Coordinates: 36°49′50″S 174°53′41″E / 36.8306°S 174.8948°E
The history of Motukorea prior to European arrival is not well documented, and while many of the sources available speculate as to the origins of Ngāti Tamaterā mana whenua and their right to sell the island in 1840, few dispute it. Phillips makes mention of the Tainui canoe stopping at the island after leaving Wakatiwai on the Firth of Thames, before proceeding to Rangitoto where she met up with the Arawa canoe.
In the intervening years, the general area came to be controlled by Ngāti Paoa and the lands to the west under the control of Ngāti Whātua, but the island remained under the control of Ngāti Tamaterā. Opinion is divided as to why this may be, Phillips postulates that mana may have been vested in return for assistance in battle, whereas Monin regards the occupation and sale of Motukorea as evidence of more widespread penetration of the inner Gulf by numerous Hauraki iwi and hapu.
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Wikipedia