North Shore Heritage Thematic Review Report ... - Auckland Council

Places that represent this theme include:
Former Devonport Borough Council offices / former Post Office, 3 Victoria Road
Mount Cambria Reserve, Devonport Museum
Pa, Tokaroro Volcanic Hill
Mount Cambria, Vauxhall Road
5.2 Defence
The volcanic cones of Devonport were used for defence purposes by the earliest Maori inhabitants and the
occupying iwi groups fortified both Takapuna (North Head) and Takarunga (Mt Victoria) multiple times.
The remains of these fortifications were evident when the first European ship, the Astrolabe, visited in 1827.
New Zealand‟s defence forces have had a long and close association with the Devonport community and
the civilian and military populations have mixed and grown side by side.
When the imperial troops were withdrawn after the 1860s, a succession of militia and volunteer units were
raised to defend the harbor, including the Armed Constabulary, Auckland Volunteer Coastguard,
Auckland Artillery Volunteers, and the Devonport Naval Artillery Volunteers.
Fig. 31. Artillery Volunteers 1910 Garrison, Fort Cautley. W.L. Ruffell, Devonport Historical Society and Museum.
The geographical suitability of the Flagstaff foreshore for naval operations was noted by Governor Hobson
in 1840 and the following year an ammunition store was built on the „Naval Reserve‟ (Windsor Reserve).
The naval presence grew until, by 1886 and during the time of the „Russian scare‟, there was blacksmith‟s
shop, two storey barracks and a carpenter‟s shop with a capstan for hauling up small vessels, a boatshed
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