McLaughlins Mountain, Extinct volcano in Auckland volcanic field, New Zealand

Matukutūreia / McLaughlin's Mountain is a 73-metre scoria cone in the Auckland volcanic field, formed around 50,000 years ago. Its crescent-shaped cone was largely quarried away from the 1960s, leaving a pyramid-shaped mound with part of the eastern side intact. Lava flows to the south remain, and the remnants form the Matukurua Stonefields reserve.

Matukutūreia was terraced and occupied as a pā by Te Waiohua until about 1740, when Te Taoū attacked, killed chief Kiwi Tāmaki and drove the survivors to Waikato. In 1845 Thomas McLaughlin bought the land around the cone and the southern Puhinui Stream; his son William later built a homestead on the mountain. From the 1960s most of the cone was quarried away, and an industrial subdivision now covers the former quarry.

Matukutūreia is the 'watchful bittern' of the pair Matukurua, named for a chief whose vigilance saved his pā; some sources switch the names. The proverb 'Ka mae a mata hi tuna, ka ara a mata hi taua' recalls the mid-18th-century Te Taoū attack. Stone walls dividing garden plots remain, with kūmara and taro once grown.

The reserve can be accessed through a fence beside the locked gate on the main driveway or from the end of Wilco Place. Both routes lead you easily onto the open mountain area.

Matukutūreia and nearby Matukutūruru are together called Matukurua, 'the two bitterns'. A proverb warns that the eel-watcher sleeps while the war-party watcher stays awake, recalling a mid-18th-century attack by Te Taoū. Matukutūreia is the watchful bittern, though some sources swap the names.