Viewshaft is a geo-linguistic drift, from north to south, through the volcanic fields of Tāmaki Makaurau. It shows mountains still to be seen, and others that are not — except sometimes through the pictures or the words of those who felt a need to describe them at the time. Those words and images come into play here through the writings of the geologists Firth, Searle and Hayward, and through two small but notable publications, Auckland's Unique Heritage: 63 Wonderful Volcanic Cones and Craters. An Appeal to Save Them of 1928, and Auckland Volcanic Cones: A Report on Their Condition and a Plea for Their Preservation of 1957 — both attempts to preserve the city's volcanic features at a time when they were being rapidly consumed by twentieth-century demands.

It is accompanied by an essay by Rangihiroa Panoho, Āku Maunga Haere, my travelling mountains.