In the mid 1950s, my parents moved to Devonport, bringing an old removal truck full of furniture and the family across on the vehicular ferry as the Auckland Harbour Bridge was still a distant dream. Mum and dad rented a house at 43a Church Street, right next door to a Dr Grant. The house backed onto Mount Victoria, which rapidly became our adventure playground.

Mount Victoria was named after Queen Victoria, traditionally named as Takarunga. Mount Takarunga was an important Māori pa site for many years, with its terracing and kumara pits still visible. Another early European name for the mountain was Flagstaff Hill, after a signal station for the Port of Auckland was sited on its summit in 1841. The flagstaff used to signal to another signalman in downtown Auckland when ship sails appeared on the horizon, usually coming in from the vicinity of Great Barrier Island or through the Tiri channel.
Takarunga has been a public reserve since 1880. It was used for military purposes until after the Second World War. There is still a muzzle-loading disappearing gun visible from when it was a fort in 1885. The steep rampway where the disappearing gun was hauled to the summit is also still visible on the southern side. There is also a buried water reservoir at the top of the mountain, which is still marked by colourful mushroom vents. The cone of Takarunga or Mount Victoria was formed by fire-fountaining of frothy scoria from the crater. Lava from the southern base of the volcano flowed out to create a stretch of basalt rock that reaches out to the Devonport foreshore. During the eruption, the south side of the crater was breached by lava flows. Scoria from the top of Takarunga was carried down the mountain and came to rest at the southern end of modern-day Church Street. This small mound became known as Duder’s Hill until it was quarried away in the early 20th century. The dark rocks on the Devonport foreshore between Torpedo Bay and the Devonport wharf are the southern lava flows from Mt Victoria.
Another flow from Mount Victoria formed Mount Cambria. This was slowly quarried away in the 1930s, '40s and '50s with the metal used to form a lot of the Devonport roads. During the abolition of the Devonport Borough Council (when North Shore City was formed), parties were trying to sell off Mount Cambria for housing estates. The Devonport Borough Council stymied that and turned it into the Mount Cambria we know today, which was an absolute blessing for the Devonport community. Walking into Mount Cambria from Church Street, dog cages are still visible on the right-hand side from when the council used the area as a dog pound. The metal bars have long disappeared, but the small dog caves are still visible to this day.
In the mid-1950s, with Mount Victoria as our playground, it was indeed a wilderness to behold. In those days, it was run as a sheep farm by the Devonport Borough Council and, at times, a cattle farm. I can remember many times sheep escaping from Mount Victoria through holes in the fence and wandering down the main street of Devonport to graze at Windsor Reserve or stop at the shops on the main street. Sometimes 40 or 50 at a time, just for the Council to come and round them up again.
Cardboard boxes were the toys of the day. We used to get in 
large empty fridge or stove boxes and slide down the slippery southern side, ending up nearly in the cemetery, both literally and physically. My own boys slid down on finless surfboards. It was lucky nobody died.
There used to be vehicle access to the top of Mt Victoria, where tourists and locals could drive to take in the spectacular views of Auckland city and the inner Hauraki Gulf, but this access was permanently closed to private motor vehicles in 2018. To Mana Whenua, the tihi (top) of a maunga holds great spiritual and cultural significance and has always been a place to be treated with respect and reverence. Honouring these values alongside creating an enhanced experience for pedestrians was at the heart of the authority’s decision to make the tihi vehicle-free.
There was a tennis court on the southern side of the mountain opposite the Michael King Writer’s Centre that I believe was carved out during the First World War to give the soldiers a bit of relaxation from waiting for the Russians (or during the Second World War, waiting for the Japanese). This tennis court is currently used by enthusiastic amateurs to have a hit around on a balmy summer's evening or a quiet Sunday morning. It is usually used by locals, as they are the only people who know it exists.
I’ve heard recently from my impeccable sources, my men at the coal face, my sources who know, that the Tupuna Maunga Authority (TMA), which is the guardian of Mount Takarunga/Mount Victoria/Mount Flagstaff, is spending in excess of 2.2 million dollars on the reconstruction of the old tennis courts, new fencing, new sealing, public toilets, casual viewing areas, picnic tables, planting, the full noise landscaping and cultural designed paving. This is again coming out of rate payer’s money. There is no scope of works for contractors to price. They are just getting it done with no expense on the funds. There is no accountability, no one there to answer the difficult questions and again, no respect for the rate payer’s money. Devonport is abundant with tennis courts, with Stanley Bay and Woodall Park, so why does this money have to be spent so extravagantly? I also believe they have allowances for bus drop-offs up near the Devonport school. God only knows how that is going to work.