Formally created by act of parliament in 1894, this was New Zealand's first, and one of the world's earliest, national park. The initiative came from Te Heuheu Tukino, chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa Maori tribe who was settled in an area comprising the northern parts of the present park.
Observing with concern a European expansion which might result in these most sacred of lands being purchased, divided up and turned into pasture for sheep, he preferred to place them in the guardianship of all the people of New Zealand, provided that they would be protected forever.
The original lands, comprising only the upper parts of the volcanic cones, were thus gifted in 1887. The protected area has been progressively enlarged to its present configuration.