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According to Maori myth, the volcano was called Taranaki and was originally part of the central range of the North Island. Taranaki and Tongariro eventually came into conflict over the lovely maiden, Pihanga, and a battle ensued. Taranaki lost and was exiled from the range, retreating west, carving out the Wanganui River and, while resting near Stratford, forming Te Ngaere Swamp.
Finally he settled on the coast and when the Maoris saw the summit surrounded by mist they felt the volcano was weeping.
Taranaki was a sacred place to the Maoris, a place where the bones of their chiefs were buried, and a place to escape from the terrorism of other tribes. The legendary Tahurangi was said to be the first person to climb the summit and when he lit a fire on it, he claimed the surrounding land for his tribe. The Maori lived around the base until the Waikato invaders massacred them with muskets, despite their secret caves, in the 1820s and 1830s.
The first European to see Mt Taranaki was Cook in 1770 and one of his ship's company later wrote it was 'the noblest hill I have ever seen'. Cook renamed the mountain in honour of Earl Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman had actually been the first European to sail past the mountain in 1642 but the cone had been shrouded in clouds and was passed by unnoticed. Two years after Cook's visit, Mt Egmont was the first thing French explorer Marion du Fresne saw of New Zealand. He thought it was an islet until he noticed snow on the summit.
Both Cook and du Fresne recorded seeing fires of Maori settlers but never made contact with them. Naturalist Ernest Dieffenbach did, however, in 1839. Working for the New Zealand Company, he told the local Maori of his plans to climb the summit. The native tribes tried passionately to dissuade him but Dieffenbach set off in early December anyway. Although the first attempt was unsuccessful, the naturalist set out again on 23 December and after bashing through thick bush he finally reached the peak. His Maori guides did not go beyond the snowline as the upper slopes were 'tapu' to them.
By boiling water and using thermometers, Dieffenbach calculated the height of the mountain to be 2694 metres. In 1850, a trigonometrical survey of the peak was performed by the crew aboard HMS Acheron, anchored in New Plymouth. They measured the height as 2520 metres and it wasn't until 110 years later in 1960 when a theodolite was carried to the summit that the present height' was determined at 2517 metres.
The volcano early became a popular spot for trampers and adventurers. The second European ascent of the mountain took place in 1848 and the first woman, Jane Maria Richmond, reached the peak seven years later. By the 1870s a track and bridle path had been cut over the Pouakai Range to the final slopes at Holly Flats and organised climbs to the summit became a popular summer activity. In 1885 Thomas Dawson discovered the falls that now bear his name and pushed for the development of a track and campground in the area of Dawson Falls Tourist Lodge.
Fanny Fantham became the first woman to climb the parasite cone on the south side of Mt Egmont in 1887 and Panitahi was quickly renamed Fanthams Peak in her honour .A year later the summit route from Stratford Plateau was developed, while in 1901 Harry Skeet completed the monumental task of surveying the area for the first topographical map. After that, development went ahead at a feverish pace with the construction of huts, access roads and additional tracks around the mountain.
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