This refers to the time some 300 years ago when Ngāi Tahu kaumātua Te Rangi-whakaputa and his followers captured the area from the Kāti Māmoe.

[9] In July 2020, the hill was officially assigned the dual name Ōrongomai / Cass Peak by the New Zealand Geographic Board.

[14] Harry Ell, famous for his preservation work in the Port Hills, made the area accessible through the construction of the Summit Road; much of it was built during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Shortcomings in the legislation did not prevent, however, the construction of the Sugarloaf communications tower or the radar dome on Cass Peak.

[17][18] The prominent radar dome on top of Cass Peak is part of a nationwide system of air traffic management and is operated by Airways New Zealand.

[19] Of the six secondary radar stations supplying the two air traffic control centres in Auckland and Christchurch with aircraft position data, Cass Peak is the southernmost in New Zealand.