'Te Matua Ngahere' - Father of the Forest, is considered the second largest living Kauri tree in New Zealand although it achieves greater points that Tane Mahuta. It is also considered to be the oldest out of the two largest living Kauri trees and is estimated to exceed 2000 years old. The tree was discovered by Nicholas Yakas in 1928 when he and other men were working to build the road that is now known as State Highway 12.
Ref; Department of Conservation, Te Matua Ngahere Walk track notes.

'The often quoted height (29.9 m) volume (208.1 m3) and diameter (522.6 cm) of Te Matua Ngahere is taken from Burstall and Sale's 1984 book 'Great Trees of New Zealand. The calculations were made using forestry methodology of the time and were sourced from a 1971 New Zealand Forest Service survey of 13 named kauri (and later 20) in Waipoua and Omahuta Forests. The volumes established for each tree were of merchantable timber volumes inside bark. The 2002 measurements quoted on this record are taken from visiting U.S.A. tree researcher Robert Van Pelt's calculations where he used very accurate laser based technology and tree measurement methodology.' (Cadwallader 2011)

A storm in July 2007 caused considerable damage to the tree, with the loss of one major leader and several branches. The crown has been significantly reduced. The highest foliage was measured at 38 m above the viewing platform.
(Smillie 2016)


ref: Burstall, S.W. NZFS, Forest Research Institute, 'Mensuration Report No. 16, 1971 (unpublished)', Burstall S.W. & Sale E.V. 'Great Trees of New Zealand' 1984, Robert Van Pelt 2002 & 2009 NZ Summary spreadsheet.