Numerous traditions provide accounts of the naming of the Tararua Range. Whātonga, who captained the Kurahaupō waka and originally settled at Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula, encountered the range during his exploration of Te Ika a Māui and the north of Te Wai Pounamu and named it after his two wives, Hotuwaipara and Reretua. Another tradition maintains that the range is named after the son of Hotuwaipara, Tara Ika I Noho (Tara), from whom the people of Muaūpoko are descended. Subsequently travelled by generations of tangata whenua of different iwi, trails developed along the ridges of the range. In the mid-nineteenth century, Māori guides assisted Pākeha surveyors and geologists, and the range enticed further exploration in following decades, drawing prospectors, hunters, and walkers. By the early twentieth century the popularity of the range increased with the formation of organised outdoor groups, spurring a growing awareness of backcountry safety and the construction of huts.
Tararua Tramping Club was formed in 1919 and their first purpose-built tramping hut was Field Hut, constructed with a donation from the club’s inaugural president, W H (Willie) Field, and a government grant. Legendary bushman Joe Gibbs and Jack Fisk were contracted to build the hut, which they did over five months, using timber from trees felled in the bush surrounding the hut site, worked at an onsite bench saw pit. The pit sawing method produced distinctive saw marks that are visible on surviving original timber. The hut’s design reflects the club’s ethos through its provision of communal
and democratised spaces, marking a departure from earlier hut designs that provided separate sleeping quarters for men and women.
When Field Hut was threatened with removal in the 1990s, the outdoors community petitioned for its preservation. Renovation and maintenance work has been undertaken at different times, but the structure largely retains its original form. Furthermore, the archaeological remains of the bench saw pit used in the construction are mostly extant. The hut has influenced the design of subsequent recreational huts, which in turn have influenced contemporary domestic architecture. Its location has ensured the hut’s accessibility – it shelters and brings together high numbers of trampers, day walkers, hunters, climbers, biodiversity workers, and tourists each year. Originally named to commemorate a founding member of Tararua Tramping Club, Field Hut has become a tribute to the club’s contributions, a source of pride, and a symbol of tramping’s place within the national culture.



List Entry Information
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 1
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
9821
Date Entered
20th June 2024
Date of Effect
11th July 2024
City/District Council
Kāpiti Coast District
Region
Wellington Region
Extent of List Entry
Extent includes part of the land described as Part Ngakaroro 2B Block, Tararua Forest Park (NZ Gazette 1900 p.103 & NZ Gazette 1967 p.1551), Wellington Land District, and the building known as Field Hut thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).
Legal description
Part Ngakaroro 2B Block, Tararua Forest Park (NZ Gazette 1900 pp.103-104 & NZ Gazette 1967 pp.1551-1553), Wellington Land District. Field Hut has no specific legal description. It is contained within a State forest park.
Location Description
E1790021.09m; N5469027.35m (NZTM)
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 1
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
9821
Date Entered
20th June 2024
Date of Effect
11th July 2024
City/District Council
Kāpiti Coast District
Region
Wellington Region
Extent of List Entry
Extent includes part of the land described as Part Ngakaroro 2B Block, Tararua Forest Park (NZ Gazette 1900 p.103 & NZ Gazette 1967 p.1551), Wellington Land District, and the building known as Field Hut thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).
Legal description
Part Ngakaroro 2B Block, Tararua Forest Park (NZ Gazette 1900 pp.103-104 & NZ Gazette 1967 pp.1551-1553), Wellington Land District. Field Hut has no specific legal description. It is contained within a State forest park.
Location Description
E1790021.09m; N5469027.35m (NZTM)
Why is this place significant?
Cultural Significance
Archaeological Significance or Value Field Hut’s largely intact bench saw pit site, which is not well represented in historical documents, is likely to provide significant information about pit saw technology in New Zealand, a country in which timber has been an especially popular building material. The saw pit was used for the construction of both Field Hut (1924) and Kime Hut (1930), which are rare examples of the use of pit-sawn construction in the twentieth century and are believed to be amongst the most recent uses of this method of construction in New Zealand. Furthermore, the remains of Field Hut’s early verandahs and rubbish pits have the potential to provide information about hut construction, the early use of the hut, and recreational activities in the vicinity that are not well covered in documentation. Social Significance or Value Since 1924, Field Hut has sheltered thousands of trampers, day walkers, hunters, climbers, biodiversity workers, and tourists, both local and international. Beyond its practical value to these communities and individuals, the special social significance of the hut lies in its role in bringing people together to meet friends, celebrate life events, and share the natural environment with family. The hut has facilitated collective and personal connections, and its very purpose speaks to communal benefit and enjoyment. When Leslie Adkin stayed in the hut during the Levin-Waiopehu Tramping Club’s 1938 trip to Mount Hector, it was dark when the group reached Field Hut, but they had soon lit a fire and cooked a ‘hearty meal’, which was followed by ‘a continuous barrage of jest & humour…continuing to about midnight.’ Tararua Tramping Club has been described as ‘the most successful marriage bureau in Wellington’, and tramps and work party trips to Field Hut are regularly included on the club’s fixture card. When Field Hut was threatened with removal in the 1990s, the outdoors community petitioned for its preservation. It has been in constant use since 1924. It continues to be maintained by its communities and its milestone anniversaries are celebrated, demonstrating the sense of pride that is felt towards this place.
Historic Significance
Historical Significance or Value Back country huts have played a significant role in the exploration of the New Zealand wilderness. Field Hut has special historical significance for being New Zealand’s first purpose-built public tramping hut. The hut reflects the establishment of tramping as a national recreation pursuit and, as such, it contributes to an understanding of the history of outdoor recreation in this country. This value is enhanced through the continued use of the hut for its original purpose and by Field Hut being largely intact, particularly its floorplan, which marked a departure from earlier hut designs. Its construction helped establish the Tararua Tramping Club as an influential organisation. This club modelled values and behaviours that have helped shape New Zealanders’ association with the outdoors in respect to both recreation and conservation.
Physical Significance
Architectural Significance or Value Field Hut is a significant example of architecture associated with the New Zealand bush. Constructed using locally sourced pit-sawn timber that was prepared on site, the hut literally draws upon its natural setting. It strongly demonstrates the emergence of a New Zealand vernacular tradition of hut building and provides insight into the planning, construction methods, and materials used in building in remote locations in this country. Furthermore, the place represents an important shift in the design of alpine huts of the period. Field Hut’s design did not allocate dedicated spaces for eating or separate sleeping quarters for men and women. Instead, its larger and more open floorplan marked a move towards more communal and democratised spaces, thereby acting as a physical embodiment of Tararua Tramping Club’s ethos. The original modest and utilitarian design, including its layout, is still intact, increasing Field Hut’s significance. It is an early and influential example of this building type, which has influenced modern New Zealand architecture by serving as a source of inspiration for architects designing contemporary houses. Technological Significance or Value Field Hut has technological significance as one of the latest examples of pit-sawn timber construction in New Zealand. Although powered sawmills became the norm in the nineteenth century, pit sawing continued in the early 1900s because it provided a solution to the challenges of building in isolated places and in areas with difficult terrain. Trees from the bush surrounding Field Hut’s site were felled and then worked at a pit that had been dug onsite. The pit sawing method produced distinctive saw marks, which are visible on some of the original pit-sawn timber that is extant in Field Hut, which includes the structure of the loft floor, some roof framing and sarking, individual members in some walls, and individual piles. The significance of this physical evidence within Field Hut is strengthened by the existence of the archaeological remains of the bench saw pit adjacent to the hut.
Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?
Detail Of Assessed Criteria
This place was assessed against the Section 66(3) criteria and found to qualify under the following criteria: a, b, e, g, and h. The assessment concludes that this place should be listed as a Category 1 historic place. (a) The extent to which the place reflects important or representative aspects of New Zealand history The hut is intimately linked to the development of tramping as a national recreational pursuit. Built at a time when New Zealanders were formalising their association with the natural environment through the development of clubs and associations, Field Hut provided shelter in a part of the country renowned for challenging and quickly changing weather. This place is of special significance for being the first purpose-built hut built by the country’s earliest tramping club. Furthermore, despite the fact Field Hut is approaching its centenary, its form and layout are little altered from when it was first opened. (b) The association of the place with events, persons, or ideas of importance in New Zealand history Field Hut has significance for its association with William Hughes Field, who pioneered the Southern Crossing, contributed funds to the hut’s construction, and was both a founding member and the first president of the Tararua Tramping Club, the country’s earliest tramping club. Field was particularly influential in improving access to the Tararua Range and increasing the safety of visitors. The place’s association with the Tararua Tramping Club reinforces its special significance due to the club’s major contributions, including influencing the establishment of tramping as a national recreational pursuit, supporting conservation, and modelling gender equality through club activities. Field Hut was the first purpose-built shelter built by the club. It influenced subsequent recreational backcountry huts through its design, including its departure from separate sleeping quarters for men and women. This is further augmented by the hut having continually served its original purpose for almost a century, with a largely unchanged floor plan. (e) The community association with, or public esteem for the place Since its construction Field Hut has been a public hut and its location within the Tararua Range has ensured its accessibility to most levels of trampers, hunters, and other recreationists. It is regularly used by clubs, most notably the Tararua Tramping Club, as well as high school and tertiary groups, family and whānau groups, as well as individuals who benefit from the communal aspects of the hut’s use. There is a high level of community association with Field Hut, with meaningful connections being reinforced through celebrations of milestone anniversaries, working parties to maintain the hut, and calls to retain the hut when its future is threatened. The Tararua Tramping Club honours the place’s age – it is amongst the country’s first purpose-built tramping huts – and acknowledge its role in representing the purpose of the club, its founding, and its longevity, as well as the club’s strong association with the Tararua Range. (g) The technical accomplishment, value, or design of the place Despite several instances of repair, Field Hut has technical value for its relatively little-altered design, which remains close to its original form. Field Hut was one of the country’s earliest purpose-built tramping huts and it has influenced the design of recreational huts, which in turn has influenced contemporary domestic architecture. The form of the basic gable-roofed structure is largely intact and parts of its walls and roof hold particular value because they date from the time of original construction. The pit-sawn timber used for the structure was produced onsite from trees felled in the vicinity of the hut and the significance of the surviving timber is strengthened by the archaeological remains of the bench saw pit. (h) The symbolic or commemorative value of the place Field Hut is dedicated to William Hughes Field, who donated money towards the costs of its construction. Field is a person of significance in New Zealand history as a founder of the Tararua Tramping Club, the earliest tramping club in the country, and as its inaugural president. The building of the hut was entrusted to Joe Gibbs, a ‘legendary bushman’ who has been commemorated within popular culture in both a tramping song and a novel. The place’s association with these two men continues to be remembered, most notably through the hut’s name, the celebration of its significant anniversaries, and an interpretative display within the hut that documents their contributions. Furthermore, the hut has special significance as a tribute to the tradition of the Tararua Tramping Club and as a symbol of the establishment of tramping as a national recreational pursuit. As such, for almost a century Field Hut has been celebrated by a community that both maintains it, honours its history, and advocates for its protection. Summary of Significance or Values Field Hut is of special heritage significance to New Zealand. It is a significant landmark within the Tararua Range, being strongly linked to both the development of tramping as a national recreational pursuit and a growing awareness of, and appreciation for, the country’s natural environment, in particular its alpine areas and bush. Little altered from its original floorplan, the hut is intimately connected to the period in which tramping began to be formally supported through the construction of tracks and shelters. Furthermore, it is one of the latest examples of pit-sawn timber construction in New Zealand. Field Hut has been held in high esteem by the community since its opening, demonstrated through its continued use for almost 100 years; efforts by parties to retain and maintain the hut; the installation of interpretative panels in the hut; and numerous commemorative events for both the hut and its builder. Originally named to commemorate a founding member of Tararua Tramping Club, the hut has become a tribute to the club’s contributions and a symbol of tramping’s place within the national culture.
Why is this place significant?
Cultural Significance
Archaeological Significance or Value Field Hut’s largely intact bench saw pit site, which is not well represented in historical documents, is likely to provide significant information about pit saw technology in New Zealand, a country in which timber has been an especially popular building material. The saw pit was used for the construction of both Field Hut (1924) and Kime Hut (1930), which are rare examples of the use of pit-sawn construction in the twentieth century and are believed to be amongst the most recent uses of this method of construction in New Zealand. Furthermore, the remains of Field Hut’s early verandahs and rubbish pits have the potential to provide information about hut construction, the early use of the hut, and recreational activities in the vicinity that are not well covered in documentation. Social Significance or Value Since 1924, Field Hut has sheltered thousands of trampers, day walkers, hunters, climbers, biodiversity workers, and tourists, both local and international. Beyond its practical value to these communities and individuals, the special social significance of the hut lies in its role in bringing people together to meet friends, celebrate life events, and share the natural environment with family. The hut has facilitated collective and personal connections, and its very purpose speaks to communal benefit and enjoyment. When Leslie Adkin stayed in the hut during the Levin-Waiopehu Tramping Club’s 1938 trip to Mount Hector, it was dark when the group reached Field Hut, but they had soon lit a fire and cooked a ‘hearty meal’, which was followed by ‘a continuous barrage of jest & humour…continuing to about midnight.’ Tararua Tramping Club has been described as ‘the most successful marriage bureau in Wellington’, and tramps and work party trips to Field Hut are regularly included on the club’s fixture card. When Field Hut was threatened with removal in the 1990s, the outdoors community petitioned for its preservation. It has been in constant use since 1924. It continues to be maintained by its communities and its milestone anniversaries are celebrated, demonstrating the sense of pride that is felt towards this place.
Historic Significance
Historical Significance or Value Back country huts have played a significant role in the exploration of the New Zealand wilderness. Field Hut has special historical significance for being New Zealand’s first purpose-built public tramping hut. The hut reflects the establishment of tramping as a national recreation pursuit and, as such, it contributes to an understanding of the history of outdoor recreation in this country. This value is enhanced through the continued use of the hut for its original purpose and by Field Hut being largely intact, particularly its floorplan, which marked a departure from earlier hut designs. Its construction helped establish the Tararua Tramping Club as an influential organisation. This club modelled values and behaviours that have helped shape New Zealanders’ association with the outdoors in respect to both recreation and conservation.
Physical Significance
Architectural Significance or Value Field Hut is a significant example of architecture associated with the New Zealand bush. Constructed using locally sourced pit-sawn timber that was prepared on site, the hut literally draws upon its natural setting. It strongly demonstrates the emergence of a New Zealand vernacular tradition of hut building and provides insight into the planning, construction methods, and materials used in building in remote locations in this country. Furthermore, the place represents an important shift in the design of alpine huts of the period. Field Hut’s design did not allocate dedicated spaces for eating or separate sleeping quarters for men and women. Instead, its larger and more open floorplan marked a move towards more communal and democratised spaces, thereby acting as a physical embodiment of Tararua Tramping Club’s ethos. The original modest and utilitarian design, including its layout, is still intact, increasing Field Hut’s significance. It is an early and influential example of this building type, which has influenced modern New Zealand architecture by serving as a source of inspiration for architects designing contemporary houses. Technological Significance or Value Field Hut has technological significance as one of the latest examples of pit-sawn timber construction in New Zealand. Although powered sawmills became the norm in the nineteenth century, pit sawing continued in the early 1900s because it provided a solution to the challenges of building in isolated places and in areas with difficult terrain. Trees from the bush surrounding Field Hut’s site were felled and then worked at a pit that had been dug onsite. The pit sawing method produced distinctive saw marks, which are visible on some of the original pit-sawn timber that is extant in Field Hut, which includes the structure of the loft floor, some roof framing and sarking, individual members in some walls, and individual piles. The significance of this physical evidence within Field Hut is strengthened by the existence of the archaeological remains of the bench saw pit adjacent to the hut.
Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?
Detail Of Assessed Criteria
This place was assessed against the Section 66(3) criteria and found to qualify under the following criteria: a, b, e, g, and h. The assessment concludes that this place should be listed as a Category 1 historic place. (a) The extent to which the place reflects important or representative aspects of New Zealand history The hut is intimately linked to the development of tramping as a national recreational pursuit. Built at a time when New Zealanders were formalising their association with the natural environment through the development of clubs and associations, Field Hut provided shelter in a part of the country renowned for challenging and quickly changing weather. This place is of special significance for being the first purpose-built hut built by the country’s earliest tramping club. Furthermore, despite the fact Field Hut is approaching its centenary, its form and layout are little altered from when it was first opened. (b) The association of the place with events, persons, or ideas of importance in New Zealand history Field Hut has significance for its association with William Hughes Field, who pioneered the Southern Crossing, contributed funds to the hut’s construction, and was both a founding member and the first president of the Tararua Tramping Club, the country’s earliest tramping club. Field was particularly influential in improving access to the Tararua Range and increasing the safety of visitors. The place’s association with the Tararua Tramping Club reinforces its special significance due to the club’s major contributions, including influencing the establishment of tramping as a national recreational pursuit, supporting conservation, and modelling gender equality through club activities. Field Hut was the first purpose-built shelter built by the club. It influenced subsequent recreational backcountry huts through its design, including its departure from separate sleeping quarters for men and women. This is further augmented by the hut having continually served its original purpose for almost a century, with a largely unchanged floor plan. (e) The community association with, or public esteem for the place Since its construction Field Hut has been a public hut and its location within the Tararua Range has ensured its accessibility to most levels of trampers, hunters, and other recreationists. It is regularly used by clubs, most notably the Tararua Tramping Club, as well as high school and tertiary groups, family and whānau groups, as well as individuals who benefit from the communal aspects of the hut’s use. There is a high level of community association with Field Hut, with meaningful connections being reinforced through celebrations of milestone anniversaries, working parties to maintain the hut, and calls to retain the hut when its future is threatened. The Tararua Tramping Club honours the place’s age – it is amongst the country’s first purpose-built tramping huts – and acknowledge its role in representing the purpose of the club, its founding, and its longevity, as well as the club’s strong association with the Tararua Range. (g) The technical accomplishment, value, or design of the place Despite several instances of repair, Field Hut has technical value for its relatively little-altered design, which remains close to its original form. Field Hut was one of the country’s earliest purpose-built tramping huts and it has influenced the design of recreational huts, which in turn has influenced contemporary domestic architecture. The form of the basic gable-roofed structure is largely intact and parts of its walls and roof hold particular value because they date from the time of original construction. The pit-sawn timber used for the structure was produced onsite from trees felled in the vicinity of the hut and the significance of the surviving timber is strengthened by the archaeological remains of the bench saw pit. (h) The symbolic or commemorative value of the place Field Hut is dedicated to William Hughes Field, who donated money towards the costs of its construction. Field is a person of significance in New Zealand history as a founder of the Tararua Tramping Club, the earliest tramping club in the country, and as its inaugural president. The building of the hut was entrusted to Joe Gibbs, a ‘legendary bushman’ who has been commemorated within popular culture in both a tramping song and a novel. The place’s association with these two men continues to be remembered, most notably through the hut’s name, the celebration of its significant anniversaries, and an interpretative display within the hut that documents their contributions. Furthermore, the hut has special significance as a tribute to the tradition of the Tararua Tramping Club and as a symbol of the establishment of tramping as a national recreational pursuit. As such, for almost a century Field Hut has been celebrated by a community that both maintains it, honours its history, and advocates for its protection. Summary of Significance or Values Field Hut is of special heritage significance to New Zealand. It is a significant landmark within the Tararua Range, being strongly linked to both the development of tramping as a national recreational pursuit and a growing awareness of, and appreciation for, the country’s natural environment, in particular its alpine areas and bush. Little altered from its original floorplan, the hut is intimately connected to the period in which tramping began to be formally supported through the construction of tracks and shelters. Furthermore, it is one of the latest examples of pit-sawn timber construction in New Zealand. Field Hut has been held in high esteem by the community since its opening, demonstrated through its continued use for almost 100 years; efforts by parties to retain and maintain the hut; the installation of interpretative panels in the hut; and numerous commemorative events for both the hut and its builder. Originally named to commemorate a founding member of Tararua Tramping Club, the hut has become a tribute to the club’s contributions and a symbol of tramping’s place within the national culture.
Construction Professional
Name
Joseph (Joe) Henry Gibbs
Type
Builder
Biography
An experienced bushman, horseman, and deer hunter, Joseph Henry (known as Joe or Old Joe) Gibbs (1879-1969), son of Joseph and Ellen Gibbs, spent his early life in Longford on the Buller River. As a young adult, he served in the South African War, travelled and worked in North America, managed packhorses in New Zealand high country stations, and fossicked for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9821 30 gold on the Buller River. Gibbs was introduced to the Tararua Range while working on Wellington’s waterfront and he joined the Tararua Tramping Club in 1921, just two years after its formation. He led trips, served as club vice president for a term, and received life membership in 1944.
Name
Jack Fisk
Type
Builder
Biography
Jack Fisk and Joe Gibbs were contracted to cut the Marchant Ridge track (1922), extend Alpha Hut (1922), and build Field Hut (1924), all within the Tararua Range.
Construction Details
Start Year
1924
Type
Other
Description
Work begins on pack track to the site of Field Hut June 1924
Start Year
1924
Type
Original Construction
Description
August-November 1924
Start Year
1945
Finish Year
1946
Type
Refurbishment/renovation
Description
New concrete fireplace, floor repaired, chimney extended, porch enclosed, stand built for water tank, tap installed inside hut
Start Year
1966
Type
Refurbishment/renovation
Description
Chimney repaired; porch constructed
Start Year
1978
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
New toilet; broken window glass replaced with perspex
Start Year
1983
Type
Addition
Description
South wall rebuilt including new verandah; extension of the south slope of the roof and loft floor
Start Year
1983
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
New corrugated iron fixed to roof; framing timbers repaired
Start Year
1983
Type
Structural upgrade
Description
Piles strengthened
Start Year
2003
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
Laminated safety glass on windows; new toilet; new deck; mattresses installed for the first time
Construction Materials
Pit-sawn timber (beech), radiata pine, corrugated iron, chicken mesh, plywood
Construction Professional
Name
Joseph (Joe) Henry Gibbs
Type
Builder
Biography
An experienced bushman, horseman, and deer hunter, Joseph Henry (known as Joe or Old Joe) Gibbs (1879-1969), son of Joseph and Ellen Gibbs, spent his early life in Longford on the Buller River. As a young adult, he served in the South African War, travelled and worked in North America, managed packhorses in New Zealand high country stations, and fossicked for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9821 30 gold on the Buller River. Gibbs was introduced to the Tararua Range while working on Wellington’s waterfront and he joined the Tararua Tramping Club in 1921, just two years after its formation. He led trips, served as club vice president for a term, and received life membership in 1944.
Name
Jack Fisk
Type
Builder
Biography
Jack Fisk and Joe Gibbs were contracted to cut the Marchant Ridge track (1922), extend Alpha Hut (1922), and build Field Hut (1924), all within the Tararua Range.
Construction Details
Start Year
1924
Type
Other
Description
Work begins on pack track to the site of Field Hut June 1924
Start Year
1924
Type
Original Construction
Description
August-November 1924
Start Year
1945
Finish Year
1946
Type
Refurbishment/renovation
Description
New concrete fireplace, floor repaired, chimney extended, porch enclosed, stand built for water tank, tap installed inside hut
Start Year
1966
Type
Refurbishment/renovation
Description
Chimney repaired; porch constructed
Start Year
1978
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
New toilet; broken window glass replaced with perspex
Start Year
1983
Type
Addition
Description
South wall rebuilt including new verandah; extension of the south slope of the roof and loft floor
Start Year
1983
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
New corrugated iron fixed to roof; framing timbers repaired
Start Year
1983
Type
Structural upgrade
Description
Piles strengthened
Start Year
2003
Type
Maintenance/repairs
Description
Laminated safety glass on windows; new toilet; new deck; mattresses installed for the first time
Construction Materials
Pit-sawn timber (beech), radiata pine, corrugated iron, chicken mesh, plywood
Tangata whenua in the Tararua Range The Tararua Range, visible from Wellington, comprises parallel ranges stretching 100 kilometres from the Manawatū Gorge in the north to the Remutaka Range. Once part of an ancient plain, most of its summits are between 1,300 and 1,500 metres, and the range has two distinct parts: northern and southern, each centred on a central peak, with Arete in the north and Mount Hector in the south, the latter having been named after Sir James Hector but is also known as Pukemoumou (hill of desolation). There are numerous accounts of the naming of the Tararua Range, two of which maintain the range was named by Whātonga, who captained the Kurahaupō waka and originally settled at Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula. Whātonga explored Te Ika a Māui and the north of Te Wai Pounamu, and after he encountered the range, he named it after his two wives, Hotuwaipara and Reretua. Another tradition maintains the range was named for Tara Ika I Noho (Tara). The people of Muaūpoko are descended from Hotuwaipara, through her son Tara Ika I Noho (Tara), and the people of Rangitāne are descended from Reretua, through her son Tautoki; both have lived beside these mountains for centuries. In the early twentieth century, Pākehā ethnologists and historians recorded other accounts of the naming of this mountain range, including a Ngāti Kahungunu oral tradition that maintains it was named by Rangi Kaikore (Rangi the foodless), who broke two bird spears (tara) while hunting there. After Whātonga returned to the Māhia Peninsula, members of his community undertook their own exploration of this area, and the journey of Haunui-a-Nanaia (Hau) led to his naming of many of the Tararua waterways including Ōtaki River. These reconnaissance journeys prefaced the migration of tangata whenua south into the lower North Island. Tara and his descendants who became Ngāi Tara, settled around Wellington Harbour (Te Whanganui a Tara) and on the Kāpiti Coast. They subsequently became Muaūpoko, signalling that they lived at the head (ūpoko) of Te Ika a Māui. Tautoki married Waipuna, a descendant of Kupe, and it was from their son that the iwi Rangitāne took their name, subsequently migrating to Tāmakinui-a-Rua, Wairarapa, Te Whanganui a Tara, Wairau, Manawatū, and Horowhenua. The Tararua Range had been explored as early as the twelfth century, shortly after the reconnaissance of Whātonga, and then travelled by subsequent generations, resulting in trails that extended along the top of the range. The introduction of muskets in Aotearoa triggered a significant restructuring of iwi in Te Ika a Māui. From the 1820s iwi including Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa moved to the south of the North Island on both sides of the Tararua Range, and Muaūpoko were forced to move to Horowhenua and Manawatū. The Tararua Range became tapu after Te Rauparaha declared it to be the backbone of his nephew, warrior and leader Te Rangihaeata, but tracks across the range continued to be used, for instance, by Ngāti Kahungunu warriors who escaped captivity in the Horowhenua and traversed the southern Tararua mountains to reach the Wairarapa. In the early 1800s, people of Ngāti Raukawa migrated south from the Maungatautari and Wharepūhunga districts, settling eventually in the Rangitīkei, Manawatū, Horowhenua, and Kāpiti districts. A claim presented to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2023 included evidence that Ngāti Raukawa had advocated for their mana in the Tararua range during the 1870s and 1880s but despite receiving small payments and some acknowledgement of mana, the Crown had purchased a large part of the Tararua Range, known as the Tararua Block (103,000 acres), from Muaūpoko, Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu in 1873. Pākehā exploration of the Tararua Range Although the Tararua Range was initially viewed as an obstacle to those wishing to advance Pākehā settlement, exploration of the range began soon after organised immigration commenced. Ngāti Raukawa guides accompanied early Pākehā explorers such as New Zealand Company surveyor Charles Kettle (1842) and Provincial Geologist James Coutts Crawford (1862-1864) on their expeditions into the Tararua Range, searching for viable crossings to the Wairarapa, arable land, and gold. Surveyors had placed trig stations on the some of the key summits by 1870 and surveyor Morgan Carkeek produced the first partial map of the range in 1875. Crawford’s recollections of his expeditions in the Tararua Range with his guide Manahi show how struck he was by the extensive views, achieved through hours of steady climbing, at times through dense forest; the changeable weather; and the remoteness, noting that from his camp beside a small stream that feeds into the Waiotauru River: ‘[i]t is impossible to imagine in any part of the world a more secluded spot…At a distance of a day and a half’s wading from any settlement we reposed under the base of Tararua…The only sounds were those of the wind and of the constant rush of water….I can recommend the locality as an admirable site for a hermitage; the seclusion is complete.’ The botanical exploration of the Tararua range began in 1872 when a surveyor, J Mitchell, brought alpine plants down for identification. John Buchanan, excited by the samples, visited Holdsworth and in the early 1880s organised a major expedition, during which over 1500 plants were collected. In 1881 approximately one-third of the Tararua Block (36,000 acres) was classified as State Forest; this was extended to 250,000 acres by 1900. At the same time that the government was increasing its commitment to conservation, public attitudes towards indigenous flora and fauna were changing. More New Zealanders began exploring bush and alpine areas for enjoyment, reflecting an international trend, and attempts to open up the Tararua Range began in 1895, with a committee starting work on a tourist track from Greytown to Ōtaki. By 1900, Ōtaki Forks had become the established western entry point to the Tararua Range. Tramping in the Tararua Range To tramp is to ‘tread or walk with a firm, heavy, resonant step’. In New Zealand the term describes the outdoor activity that is known as hiking, trekking, rambling, and bushwalking in other countries. The popularisation and formalisation of tramping grew out of changing attitudes towards the New Zealand bush and alpine areas. Some early Pākeha settlers had regarded the country’s bush and mountains as oppressive and obstructive, but by the 1890s tourism was increasing, fuelled by a growing appreciation of wilderness areas, which was partly a response to significant levels of forest clearance. The development of infrastructure facilitated access to scenic areas, but in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries the expansion of outdoor recreation generally depended upon government funding, which was not wholly reliable. Track committees were formed on either side of the Tararua Range in 1895, but work lapsed until 1909 when money was eventually committed and track cutting could be resumed, ultimately resulting in the Southern Crossing. By 1910 as many as 1,000 visitors a year were visiting the range’s most accessible peak, Mount Holdsworth, and after the formation of the Tararua Tramping Club in 1919, both the Tararua Range and tramping in general rose in popularity. For generations of trampers it has been a special place. Club member Mavis Davidson, who began tramping in the Tararua Range in 1934 and went on to become one of New Zealand’s top climbers, reflected: ‘I have tramped and climbed in the Southern Alps for over forty years, and yet the Tararua retains its magic for me.…drifting down to sanctuary in Field in absolute peace and contentment.’ The range has also received strong criticism from trampers though. John Pascoe declared: ‘For sheer miserable monotony of contour, rigour of weather, and bleakness of outlook it is hard to beat the Tararuas. They are to Wellington trampers what oatmeal is to Scottish people; dull solid fare which gives them staple virtues.’ Tramper and historian Chris Maclean describes this as ‘Tararua bashing’, a popular prejudice that saw the ranges ‘become known for their reputedly bad weather, muddy tracks and lack of spectacular features…[tramped by] dour, joyless sloggers’. In fact, it is the climate and geological complexity of the Tararua Ranges that has made it an ideal location for search and rescue training, including the School of Bush and Mountain Warfare during the Second World War and police training in the 1990s. Edmund Hillary was stationed at Ohakea during the war and he made several Tararua excursions, including a winter Southern Crossing. Today, the Tararua Range is one of the most frequented alpine areas in the country. Tararua Tramping Club: The country’s first tramping club Outdoor recreation clubs began in New Zealand with the formation of geologist James Park’s Alpine Club in 1883. By the beginning of the First World War, other outdoor clubs had formed, including the Ohakune Ruapehu Alpine Club (1910), the Ruapehu Ski Club (1913), and the Stratford Mountain Club (1914). Tramping, which had begun in the late nineteenth century, became established with the Tararua Tramping Club (1919), and gained momentum with the example of support they provided, including transportation, guidance and expertise. The co-founders were William Hughes Field (1861-1944) and Fred Vosseler. Field, known as Willie, was a politician who represented the Ōtaki electorate, a lawyer, and a lifelong tramper. He served as the club’s first president, succeeded by Vosseler, and Field Hut, along with Field Peak and Field Track, are memorials to him. The club built tracks and huts in the Tararua and Remutaka ranges; contributed to search and rescue; taught botany; wrote about the outdoors; instructed in bushcraft, mountain skills and skiing; introduced members to places of beauty and wildness; and advocated for preservation of the natural environment. The club’s large membership has at times boasted three generations of the same families and it has been called ‘the most successful marriage bureau in Wellington.’ The club reached its centenary in 2019 and continues to celebrate its history. The club’s legacy extends beyond its membership and the Tararua Range. It has played a significant role in the development and flourishing of organised tramping throughout New Zealand. The club’s culture and activities, such as being open and unrestrictive to women members, have helped mould the country’s outdoor culture. Tramping is now a well-established recreational activity with its own traditions, literature and even language. Meeting places of an outdoor culture: The construction of backcountry huts Backcountry huts have been constructed in New Zealand since the 1890s for private or commercial use; Sayer Hut (Waiohine River, 1909), for instance, was Tararua Range’s first private hut. Just three years after the formation of the Tararua Tramping Club, Esmond Kime and Alan Bollons were attempting the Southern Crossing and had almost reached Mount Hector when a south-easterly storm prevented them from continuing. Although found by a club search party, Kime did not survive and the need for shelter was brought into stark focus. Field Hut, the club’s first purpose-built tramping hut, was built in 1924 to protect travellers in what can be a very harsh, inhospitable environment. Increasing safety has generally driven hut construction but huts have also served as places to meet people or to enjoy isolation; bases for outdoor recreation, biodiversity work, and search and rescue parties; and places for quiet reflection and fellowship. Even for strangers, sharing a hut can evoke ‘the intimacy and intensity of family life.’ Tramper and author Geoff Spearpoint argues that tramping huts are special and memorable because they are: ‘the meetings places of an outdoor culture and are about the only tangible expression of it…we have a responsibility to value them as cultural treasures, to look after them and maintain them as we do our biodiversity.’ The basic amenities in most huts mean that visitors must carry their food, bedding, and other necessities. Hut maintenance has often been undertaken by active trampers, with working parties serving as ways for clubs to build morale and camaraderie. Day-to-day management requires all users to contribute, for instance, hut etiquette requires visitors to keep huts clean, replace firewood, and sign the intentions book. Tararua Tramping Club’s first hut: The construction of Field Hut and its early years Joseph (Joe or Old Joe) Henry Gibbs (1879-1969) had only been a member of the Tararua Tramping Club for a year when the club decided to cut the Marchant Ridge track in order to provide access to the Tararua Range from Kaitoke. Renowned for his bush skills, Gibbs was contracted to do this work, which he undertook with Jack Fisk in 1922. Improved access led to higher visitor numbers and a greater need for shelter. Gibbs and Fisk were contracted to enlarge Alpha Hut (1915-1952, Tararua Range) in 1922, then, having proved their abilities, were contracted to build Field Hut. Before the hut could be built, however, a track was needed for packhorse access. The Public Works Department agreed to assist with the building of the hut and track, and Willie Field donated £100. Gibbs and Fisk were paid £460. They worked on the track from 3 June to 17 August 1924 and on the hut until 10 November 1924, labouring seven days a week. After cutting the track, they felled trees from the bush surrounding the hut site and used Gibbs’ horses to draw the logs to a sawpit that had been dug close to the site. Although steam-powered sawmills became the norm in the nineteenth century, pit sawing continued to be used in isolated or difficult areas. It was used for backcountry shelters such as Ellis Hut (1884, Ruahine Range) and Waihohonu Hut (1904, Tongariro National Park), but was very rare by the 1920s, and therefore Field Hut is one of the most recent buildings constructed in New Zealand using this method. Pit sawing could be carried out on site by two people, with the ‘top notcher’ working on top guiding the blade of a 3-metre saw, and the second person working in the pit, making it viable for Gibbs and Fisk, although hard and slow. Pit sawing produces distinctive straight saw marks, some of which can be seen on the original timber in Field Hut. Early outdoor recreation huts typically featured a room for eating and separate sleeping quarters for men and women. Waihohonu Hut, for instance, conceded ‘to Edwardian social requirements…with two bunk rooms so that men and women were separated.’ Field Hut’s interior comprised two open rooms, one of which was a loft, accessed by a ladder. By not having separate sleeping spaces, the hut marked a significant departure from early backcountry hut designs. Although originally designed to have a doorway and external gangway from the loft, the main access was, and remains to be, a door on the south elevation. A verandah ran along the west and south facades. The hut was opened on Sunday, 26 October 1924, shortly before construction was completed. The event was attended by 20-30 members of the Tararua Tramping Club who had tramped from the west; bad weather prevented a further 40 people from joining from the east. Club president F W Vosseler ‘congratulated the contractors upon the exceptionally good job…in making so commodious and comfortable a hut’. In 1930 Gibbs and Fisk were contracted to build Kime Hut, a job that would not have been possible without having Field Hut as a base. Gibbs also built the first Tauherenikau Hut (1930). His contribution has been acknowledged at events such as Field Hut’s jubilee celebrations (1974) and its 80th anniversary (2004). At the former, Wally Neill delivered a toast to the hut’s builders, stating: ‘[i]t was a wonderful thing for the Tararua Tramping Club when Gibby became a member in 1921… he found his heart’s desire…and he did all these wonderful things for the Tararua Tramping Club.’ Gibbs has also been celebrated in popular culture. Ian Mackersey’s novel Crusader Fox King (1955) features a bushman named Joe Taranui who was based upon Gibbs. Furthermore, Tony Nolan’s tramping song ‘Up at the Kime’ begins with lyrics about Gibbs. Until the establishment of the 40-hour working week, trampers would only have one and a half day weekends. At Field Hut’s jubilee celebrations, John Gaffertys proposed a toast in which he shared his memories of staying in the hut in the 1930s: ‘In those days of course we worked till midday on Saturday and by the time we came out to the Forks, particularly during wintertime, we had a long slog up here in the dark and I can assure you we were mighty grateful to get here.’ Leslie Adkin, who lived near and frequently explored the Tararua Range, stayed at Field Hut on 16 July 1938 with members of various tramping clubs of the Wellington region. He noted the downside of short weekends: ‘Daylight was just about gone when we reached Field Hut, our immediate objective, at 5.22.’ The hut, however, provided more than just shelter – it was a space for socialising and amusement: ‘Despite damp & green wood a good fire was soon going under the expert hands of Wilf. Ransom, & the customary hearty meal prepared for the hungry gathering. Sleeping bags were sought about 9.30, but not for sleep, a continuous barrage of jest & humour, largely sustained by the wit of Arthur Harvey, continuing until about midnight.’ Ten members of the group decided to climb Mount Hector in time to ‘witness the sunrise’. They returned to Field Hut at 1 pm, where Adkin photographed the hut, and then made the return trip, with Adkin arriving home at 5.30 pm: ‘A hot bath, tea & bed brought a most interesting outing & experience to an appropriate ending.’ Groups of US Marines visited Field Hut in 1943. Several thousand Marines arrived in the country from June 1942 and were based in camps predominantly in the Wellington and Wairarapa regions. In preparation for deployment in the Pacific, training was provided in the Tararua Range. Members of the Tararua Tramping Club joined the School of Bush and Mountain Warfare and led exercises for groups of soldiers. Lt Carson wrote in the hut’s logbook on 21 March 1943: ‘There can be little doubt that it always rains here. Beautiful weather for duck hunting but no ducks. Beautiful weather for a fire but no wood in. Ah well, plenty of shelter and it can’t rain for ever. Look [sic] like no shooting to-day.’ On 31 August 1943, 31 members of the Third Platoon (Scouts) D Co 2nd Tank Bn visited Field Hut during a five-day trip. Through the middle of the twentieth century the hut continued to provide shelter, often serving as a place for people to have new experiences and to be challenged. Pete Lusk, during a speech entitled ‘How Tramping Changed My Life’ given to the Massey University Alpine Club in 1975, recalled: ‘In the Tararua huts you’d all sleep together on the wide sleeping platforms, called Maori bunks, and for the first time in your life you slept with other people, including women, and really enjoyed it.’ Numerous members of the Tararua Tramping Club met their future spouse through tramping. A place of happy memories: Preserving and celebrating Field Hut Field Hut’s fiftieth jubilee was a weekend-long event attended by 120 people, comprising: a dinner for approximately eighty people; toasts to Queen Elizabeth II, the founders of the Tararua Tramping Club, and past and present members who contributed to the hut and the club; singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Tararua Ranges’; banners; a cake that took the form of the hut; and the sharing of memories, including those of Bill Young who described the hut as a ‘place of happy memories’. During his speech on this occasion, a former Tararua Tramping Club guide stated that at the end of its first half century, Field Hut: ‘[is] not only is a standing memorial to the builders but also a tribute to the tradition of this club, which we are all justly proud, and this doesn’t just happen, it happens throughout the years by their effort and determination to keep the club to the tradition and standard we all know. When we first put the celebration of this hut on the fixture card, we thought oh well, perhaps maybe half dozen or dozen or couple of dozen people come up just to celebrate it. We had no idea the turnout to be like this.’ The builders of the hut, particularly Joe Gibbs, were also acknowledged, as well as those who had looked after it since its construction. Alongside celebrating the hut’s milestone anniversaries, its community has maintained Field Hut, with substantial refurbishments in 1983 costing just over $6000. Working parties spent many hours replacing the roof, putting in new piles, and building a new verandah; wherever possible, the original structural timber was retained. At an event marking the work’s completion, Ross Hodder, chairman of the Tararua Forest Park advisory committee praised the Tararua Tramping Club for its ‘very fine and substantial effort in the reconstitution of this hut’, further noting that the club had ‘made a substantial contribution to the Forest Park.’ The ownership of Field Hut has remained with the Tararua Tramping Club, but management shifted to the Department of Conservation (DOC). When DOC began a major review of their outdoor facilities in the 1990s, it was proposed that the number of huts in Tararua Forest Park be reduced and Field Hut be replaced with a 36-bunk hut on Table Top. It was argued that the hut was too small and its facilities did not meet the expectations of trampers, in terms of comfort and bed numbers. This proposal was opposed by Tararua Tramping Club and the wider outdoors community. A report commissioned by DOC, written by conservation architect Chris Cochran in 1996, recognised the importance of Field Hut. A maintenance plan was drafted in 2001 and the hut continues to be one of the heritage sites looked after by DOC. The history of the hut and key people associated with it are acknowledged in a display of historic photographs within the hut, opened on 25 April 1998. An additional panel, which celebrates the hut’s builder, Joe Gibbs, was unveiled by the Director General of DOC, Hugh Logan, on 6 November 2004 as part of Field Hut’s 80th birthday. In 2003, work costing $35,000 (partly funded by revenue generated by hut fees) was undertaken by DOC to address issues with increased use and health and safety. Mattresses were installed for the first time, long after most other huts in the range had them; an upstairs fire exit was built; the windows were fitted with laminated safety glass; and a new toilet and a deck were installed. Field Hut has been in continual use since its initial construction and remains a popular overnight hut. DOC’s records show that each year around 1,000 people reach Table Top, and it is believed that use of the hut itself is likely to be even higher. Prior to a large slip that forced the closure of the Ōtaki Forks Road and increased the walk to the hut by 1-2 hours, approximately 3,200 persons used the track to Field Hut each year. DOC’s intentions books provide insight into the range of people who have used Field Hut and their experience. While visitors are predominantly from the lower North Island, international visitors have frequently visited the hut. British tourists, including two-year-old Olive Rigby, stayed in the hut in October 2016. Despite wet weather, their entry shows they were: ‘[h]appy we came to such a historic hut for our daughter’s first hut night, and she didn’t walk a step!’ Keely and Lucy made a daytrip in fine but snowy conditions in July 2015 to ‘[s]ave our souls from the concrete jungle’ of Wellington; they reported it was a ‘[b]eautiful hut. Just what we needed xoxo thanks DOC/W H Fields’. Tramping huts have inspired the design of contemporary domestic architecture. Luggate House by Chaney & Norman Architects is an alpine home inspired by DOC huts. A holiday house in the Coromandel, designed by Richard Naish and RTA Studio (2015), fulfilled the desire of one of its owners to reproduce the simplicity and robustness of tramping huts where he had found solace. Mitchell Stout Dodds Architects Ltd’s clients suggested a tramping hut design for their King Country house, which won the 2013 Waikato/Bay of Plenty architecture award. Tramper and author Shaun Barnett has stated: ‘To me, Field is a symbol of that great endeavour by clubs to open up the backcountry, not for some pecuniary purpose, but for the sheer love of tramping through bush and over mountains. For recreation, not remuneration.’ In his introduction to A Bunk for the Night: A Guide to New Zealand’s Best Backcountry Huts, Geoff Spearpoint writes: ‘[f]ew things are so utterly, deeply satisfying as reaching a hut in a storm. But huts aren’t just about shelter. They are also places where people celebrate life events, meet friends and introduce kids to the hills. They provide a base for fishing, hunting, tramping and climbing. They offer handy refuges for those doing biodiversity work. And they are fantastic places to enjoy a brew and discuss all the issues of the world deep into the night, or hole up with a book on a wet day.’
Tangata whenua in the Tararua Range The Tararua Range, visible from Wellington, comprises parallel ranges stretching 100 kilometres from the Manawatū Gorge in the north to the Remutaka Range. Once part of an ancient plain, most of its summits are between 1,300 and 1,500 metres, and the range has two distinct parts: northern and southern, each centred on a central peak, with Arete in the north and Mount Hector in the south, the latter having been named after Sir James Hector but is also known as Pukemoumou (hill of desolation). There are numerous accounts of the naming of the Tararua Range, two of which maintain the range was named by Whātonga, who captained the Kurahaupō waka and originally settled at Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula. Whātonga explored Te Ika a Māui and the north of Te Wai Pounamu, and after he encountered the range, he named it after his two wives, Hotuwaipara and Reretua. Another tradition maintains the range was named for Tara Ika I Noho (Tara). The people of Muaūpoko are descended from Hotuwaipara, through her son Tara Ika I Noho (Tara), and the people of Rangitāne are descended from Reretua, through her son Tautoki; both have lived beside these mountains for centuries. In the early twentieth century, Pākehā ethnologists and historians recorded other accounts of the naming of this mountain range, including a Ngāti Kahungunu oral tradition that maintains it was named by Rangi Kaikore (Rangi the foodless), who broke two bird spears (tara) while hunting there. After Whātonga returned to the Māhia Peninsula, members of his community undertook their own exploration of this area, and the journey of Haunui-a-Nanaia (Hau) led to his naming of many of the Tararua waterways including Ōtaki River. These reconnaissance journeys prefaced the migration of tangata whenua south into the lower North Island. Tara and his descendants who became Ngāi Tara, settled around Wellington Harbour (Te Whanganui a Tara) and on the Kāpiti Coast. They subsequently became Muaūpoko, signalling that they lived at the head (ūpoko) of Te Ika a Māui. Tautoki married Waipuna, a descendant of Kupe, and it was from their son that the iwi Rangitāne took their name, subsequently migrating to Tāmakinui-a-Rua, Wairarapa, Te Whanganui a Tara, Wairau, Manawatū, and Horowhenua. The Tararua Range had been explored as early as the twelfth century, shortly after the reconnaissance of Whātonga, and then travelled by subsequent generations, resulting in trails that extended along the top of the range. The introduction of muskets in Aotearoa triggered a significant restructuring of iwi in Te Ika a Māui. From the 1820s iwi including Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa moved to the south of the North Island on both sides of the Tararua Range, and Muaūpoko were forced to move to Horowhenua and Manawatū. The Tararua Range became tapu after Te Rauparaha declared it to be the backbone of his nephew, warrior and leader Te Rangihaeata, but tracks across the range continued to be used, for instance, by Ngāti Kahungunu warriors who escaped captivity in the Horowhenua and traversed the southern Tararua mountains to reach the Wairarapa. In the early 1800s, people of Ngāti Raukawa migrated south from the Maungatautari and Wharepūhunga districts, settling eventually in the Rangitīkei, Manawatū, Horowhenua, and Kāpiti districts. A claim presented to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2023 included evidence that Ngāti Raukawa had advocated for their mana in the Tararua range during the 1870s and 1880s but despite receiving small payments and some acknowledgement of mana, the Crown had purchased a large part of the Tararua Range, known as the Tararua Block (103,000 acres), from Muaūpoko, Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu in 1873. Pākehā exploration of the Tararua Range Although the Tararua Range was initially viewed as an obstacle to those wishing to advance Pākehā settlement, exploration of the range began soon after organised immigration commenced. Ngāti Raukawa guides accompanied early Pākehā explorers such as New Zealand Company surveyor Charles Kettle (1842) and Provincial Geologist James Coutts Crawford (1862-1864) on their expeditions into the Tararua Range, searching for viable crossings to the Wairarapa, arable land, and gold. Surveyors had placed trig stations on the some of the key summits by 1870 and surveyor Morgan Carkeek produced the first partial map of the range in 1875. Crawford’s recollections of his expeditions in the Tararua Range with his guide Manahi show how struck he was by the extensive views, achieved through hours of steady climbing, at times through dense forest; the changeable weather; and the remoteness, noting that from his camp beside a small stream that feeds into the Waiotauru River: ‘[i]t is impossible to imagine in any part of the world a more secluded spot…At a distance of a day and a half’s wading from any settlement we reposed under the base of Tararua…The only sounds were those of the wind and of the constant rush of water….I can recommend the locality as an admirable site for a hermitage; the seclusion is complete.’ The botanical exploration of the Tararua range began in 1872 when a surveyor, J Mitchell, brought alpine plants down for identification. John Buchanan, excited by the samples, visited Holdsworth and in the early 1880s organised a major expedition, during which over 1500 plants were collected. In 1881 approximately one-third of the Tararua Block (36,000 acres) was classified as State Forest; this was extended to 250,000 acres by 1900. At the same time that the government was increasing its commitment to conservation, public attitudes towards indigenous flora and fauna were changing. More New Zealanders began exploring bush and alpine areas for enjoyment, reflecting an international trend, and attempts to open up the Tararua Range began in 1895, with a committee starting work on a tourist track from Greytown to Ōtaki. By 1900, Ōtaki Forks had become the established western entry point to the Tararua Range. Tramping in the Tararua Range To tramp is to ‘tread or walk with a firm, heavy, resonant step’. In New Zealand the term describes the outdoor activity that is known as hiking, trekking, rambling, and bushwalking in other countries. The popularisation and formalisation of tramping grew out of changing attitudes towards the New Zealand bush and alpine areas. Some early Pākeha settlers had regarded the country’s bush and mountains as oppressive and obstructive, but by the 1890s tourism was increasing, fuelled by a growing appreciation of wilderness areas, which was partly a response to significant levels of forest clearance. The development of infrastructure facilitated access to scenic areas, but in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries the expansion of outdoor recreation generally depended upon government funding, which was not wholly reliable. Track committees were formed on either side of the Tararua Range in 1895, but work lapsed until 1909 when money was eventually committed and track cutting could be resumed, ultimately resulting in the Southern Crossing. By 1910 as many as 1,000 visitors a year were visiting the range’s most accessible peak, Mount Holdsworth, and after the formation of the Tararua Tramping Club in 1919, both the Tararua Range and tramping in general rose in popularity. For generations of trampers it has been a special place. Club member Mavis Davidson, who began tramping in the Tararua Range in 1934 and went on to become one of New Zealand’s top climbers, reflected: ‘I have tramped and climbed in the Southern Alps for over forty years, and yet the Tararua retains its magic for me.…drifting down to sanctuary in Field in absolute peace and contentment.’ The range has also received strong criticism from trampers though. John Pascoe declared: ‘For sheer miserable monotony of contour, rigour of weather, and bleakness of outlook it is hard to beat the Tararuas. They are to Wellington trampers what oatmeal is to Scottish people; dull solid fare which gives them staple virtues.’ Tramper and historian Chris Maclean describes this as ‘Tararua bashing’, a popular prejudice that saw the ranges ‘become known for their reputedly bad weather, muddy tracks and lack of spectacular features…[tramped by] dour, joyless sloggers’. In fact, it is the climate and geological complexity of the Tararua Ranges that has made it an ideal location for search and rescue training, including the School of Bush and Mountain Warfare during the Second World War and police training in the 1990s. Edmund Hillary was stationed at Ohakea during the war and he made several Tararua excursions, including a winter Southern Crossing. Today, the Tararua Range is one of the most frequented alpine areas in the country. Tararua Tramping Club: The country’s first tramping club Outdoor recreation clubs began in New Zealand with the formation of geologist James Park’s Alpine Club in 1883. By the beginning of the First World War, other outdoor clubs had formed, including the Ohakune Ruapehu Alpine Club (1910), the Ruapehu Ski Club (1913), and the Stratford Mountain Club (1914). Tramping, which had begun in the late nineteenth century, became established with the Tararua Tramping Club (1919), and gained momentum with the example of support they provided, including transportation, guidance and expertise. The co-founders were William Hughes Field (1861-1944) and Fred Vosseler. Field, known as Willie, was a politician who represented the Ōtaki electorate, a lawyer, and a lifelong tramper. He served as the club’s first president, succeeded by Vosseler, and Field Hut, along with Field Peak and Field Track, are memorials to him. The club built tracks and huts in the Tararua and Remutaka ranges; contributed to search and rescue; taught botany; wrote about the outdoors; instructed in bushcraft, mountain skills and skiing; introduced members to places of beauty and wildness; and advocated for preservation of the natural environment. The club’s large membership has at times boasted three generations of the same families and it has been called ‘the most successful marriage bureau in Wellington.’ The club reached its centenary in 2019 and continues to celebrate its history. The club’s legacy extends beyond its membership and the Tararua Range. It has played a significant role in the development and flourishing of organised tramping throughout New Zealand. The club’s culture and activities, such as being open and unrestrictive to women members, have helped mould the country’s outdoor culture. Tramping is now a well-established recreational activity with its own traditions, literature and even language. Meeting places of an outdoor culture: The construction of backcountry huts Backcountry huts have been constructed in New Zealand since the 1890s for private or commercial use; Sayer Hut (Waiohine River, 1909), for instance, was Tararua Range’s first private hut. Just three years after the formation of the Tararua Tramping Club, Esmond Kime and Alan Bollons were attempting the Southern Crossing and had almost reached Mount Hector when a south-easterly storm prevented them from continuing. Although found by a club search party, Kime did not survive and the need for shelter was brought into stark focus. Field Hut, the club’s first purpose-built tramping hut, was built in 1924 to protect travellers in what can be a very harsh, inhospitable environment. Increasing safety has generally driven hut construction but huts have also served as places to meet people or to enjoy isolation; bases for outdoor recreation, biodiversity work, and search and rescue parties; and places for quiet reflection and fellowship. Even for strangers, sharing a hut can evoke ‘the intimacy and intensity of family life.’ Tramper and author Geoff Spearpoint argues that tramping huts are special and memorable because they are: ‘the meetings places of an outdoor culture and are about the only tangible expression of it…we have a responsibility to value them as cultural treasures, to look after them and maintain them as we do our biodiversity.’ The basic amenities in most huts mean that visitors must carry their food, bedding, and other necessities. Hut maintenance has often been undertaken by active trampers, with working parties serving as ways for clubs to build morale and camaraderie. Day-to-day management requires all users to contribute, for instance, hut etiquette requires visitors to keep huts clean, replace firewood, and sign the intentions book. Tararua Tramping Club’s first hut: The construction of Field Hut and its early years Joseph (Joe or Old Joe) Henry Gibbs (1879-1969) had only been a member of the Tararua Tramping Club for a year when the club decided to cut the Marchant Ridge track in order to provide access to the Tararua Range from Kaitoke. Renowned for his bush skills, Gibbs was contracted to do this work, which he undertook with Jack Fisk in 1922. Improved access led to higher visitor numbers and a greater need for shelter. Gibbs and Fisk were contracted to enlarge Alpha Hut (1915-1952, Tararua Range) in 1922, then, having proved their abilities, were contracted to build Field Hut. Before the hut could be built, however, a track was needed for packhorse access. The Public Works Department agreed to assist with the building of the hut and track, and Willie Field donated £100. Gibbs and Fisk were paid £460. They worked on the track from 3 June to 17 August 1924 and on the hut until 10 November 1924, labouring seven days a week. After cutting the track, they felled trees from the bush surrounding the hut site and used Gibbs’ horses to draw the logs to a sawpit that had been dug close to the site. Although steam-powered sawmills became the norm in the nineteenth century, pit sawing continued to be used in isolated or difficult areas. It was used for backcountry shelters such as Ellis Hut (1884, Ruahine Range) and Waihohonu Hut (1904, Tongariro National Park), but was very rare by the 1920s, and therefore Field Hut is one of the most recent buildings constructed in New Zealand using this method. Pit sawing could be carried out on site by two people, with the ‘top notcher’ working on top guiding the blade of a 3-metre saw, and the second person working in the pit, making it viable for Gibbs and Fisk, although hard and slow. Pit sawing produces distinctive straight saw marks, some of which can be seen on the original timber in Field Hut. Early outdoor recreation huts typically featured a room for eating and separate sleeping quarters for men and women. Waihohonu Hut, for instance, conceded ‘to Edwardian social requirements…with two bunk rooms so that men and women were separated.’ Field Hut’s interior comprised two open rooms, one of which was a loft, accessed by a ladder. By not having separate sleeping spaces, the hut marked a significant departure from early backcountry hut designs. Although originally designed to have a doorway and external gangway from the loft, the main access was, and remains to be, a door on the south elevation. A verandah ran along the west and south facades. The hut was opened on Sunday, 26 October 1924, shortly before construction was completed. The event was attended by 20-30 members of the Tararua Tramping Club who had tramped from the west; bad weather prevented a further 40 people from joining from the east. Club president F W Vosseler ‘congratulated the contractors upon the exceptionally good job…in making so commodious and comfortable a hut’. In 1930 Gibbs and Fisk were contracted to build Kime Hut, a job that would not have been possible without having Field Hut as a base. Gibbs also built the first Tauherenikau Hut (1930). His contribution has been acknowledged at events such as Field Hut’s jubilee celebrations (1974) and its 80th anniversary (2004). At the former, Wally Neill delivered a toast to the hut’s builders, stating: ‘[i]t was a wonderful thing for the Tararua Tramping Club when Gibby became a member in 1921… he found his heart’s desire…and he did all these wonderful things for the Tararua Tramping Club.’ Gibbs has also been celebrated in popular culture. Ian Mackersey’s novel Crusader Fox King (1955) features a bushman named Joe Taranui who was based upon Gibbs. Furthermore, Tony Nolan’s tramping song ‘Up at the Kime’ begins with lyrics about Gibbs. Until the establishment of the 40-hour working week, trampers would only have one and a half day weekends. At Field Hut’s jubilee celebrations, John Gaffertys proposed a toast in which he shared his memories of staying in the hut in the 1930s: ‘In those days of course we worked till midday on Saturday and by the time we came out to the Forks, particularly during wintertime, we had a long slog up here in the dark and I can assure you we were mighty grateful to get here.’ Leslie Adkin, who lived near and frequently explored the Tararua Range, stayed at Field Hut on 16 July 1938 with members of various tramping clubs of the Wellington region. He noted the downside of short weekends: ‘Daylight was just about gone when we reached Field Hut, our immediate objective, at 5.22.’ The hut, however, provided more than just shelter – it was a space for socialising and amusement: ‘Despite damp & green wood a good fire was soon going under the expert hands of Wilf. Ransom, & the customary hearty meal prepared for the hungry gathering. Sleeping bags were sought about 9.30, but not for sleep, a continuous barrage of jest & humour, largely sustained by the wit of Arthur Harvey, continuing until about midnight.’ Ten members of the group decided to climb Mount Hector in time to ‘witness the sunrise’. They returned to Field Hut at 1 pm, where Adkin photographed the hut, and then made the return trip, with Adkin arriving home at 5.30 pm: ‘A hot bath, tea & bed brought a most interesting outing & experience to an appropriate ending.’ Groups of US Marines visited Field Hut in 1943. Several thousand Marines arrived in the country from June 1942 and were based in camps predominantly in the Wellington and Wairarapa regions. In preparation for deployment in the Pacific, training was provided in the Tararua Range. Members of the Tararua Tramping Club joined the School of Bush and Mountain Warfare and led exercises for groups of soldiers. Lt Carson wrote in the hut’s logbook on 21 March 1943: ‘There can be little doubt that it always rains here. Beautiful weather for duck hunting but no ducks. Beautiful weather for a fire but no wood in. Ah well, plenty of shelter and it can’t rain for ever. Look [sic] like no shooting to-day.’ On 31 August 1943, 31 members of the Third Platoon (Scouts) D Co 2nd Tank Bn visited Field Hut during a five-day trip. Through the middle of the twentieth century the hut continued to provide shelter, often serving as a place for people to have new experiences and to be challenged. Pete Lusk, during a speech entitled ‘How Tramping Changed My Life’ given to the Massey University Alpine Club in 1975, recalled: ‘In the Tararua huts you’d all sleep together on the wide sleeping platforms, called Maori bunks, and for the first time in your life you slept with other people, including women, and really enjoyed it.’ Numerous members of the Tararua Tramping Club met their future spouse through tramping. A place of happy memories: Preserving and celebrating Field Hut Field Hut’s fiftieth jubilee was a weekend-long event attended by 120 people, comprising: a dinner for approximately eighty people; toasts to Queen Elizabeth II, the founders of the Tararua Tramping Club, and past and present members who contributed to the hut and the club; singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Tararua Ranges’; banners; a cake that took the form of the hut; and the sharing of memories, including those of Bill Young who described the hut as a ‘place of happy memories’. During his speech on this occasion, a former Tararua Tramping Club guide stated that at the end of its first half century, Field Hut: ‘[is] not only is a standing memorial to the builders but also a tribute to the tradition of this club, which we are all justly proud, and this doesn’t just happen, it happens throughout the years by their effort and determination to keep the club to the tradition and standard we all know. When we first put the celebration of this hut on the fixture card, we thought oh well, perhaps maybe half dozen or dozen or couple of dozen people come up just to celebrate it. We had no idea the turnout to be like this.’ The builders of the hut, particularly Joe Gibbs, were also acknowledged, as well as those who had looked after it since its construction. Alongside celebrating the hut’s milestone anniversaries, its community has maintained Field Hut, with substantial refurbishments in 1983 costing just over $6000. Working parties spent many hours replacing the roof, putting in new piles, and building a new verandah; wherever possible, the original structural timber was retained. At an event marking the work’s completion, Ross Hodder, chairman of the Tararua Forest Park advisory committee praised the Tararua Tramping Club for its ‘very fine and substantial effort in the reconstitution of this hut’, further noting that the club had ‘made a substantial contribution to the Forest Park.’ The ownership of Field Hut has remained with the Tararua Tramping Club, but management shifted to the Department of Conservation (DOC). When DOC began a major review of their outdoor facilities in the 1990s, it was proposed that the number of huts in Tararua Forest Park be reduced and Field Hut be replaced with a 36-bunk hut on Table Top. It was argued that the hut was too small and its facilities did not meet the expectations of trampers, in terms of comfort and bed numbers. This proposal was opposed by Tararua Tramping Club and the wider outdoors community. A report commissioned by DOC, written by conservation architect Chris Cochran in 1996, recognised the importance of Field Hut. A maintenance plan was drafted in 2001 and the hut continues to be one of the heritage sites looked after by DOC. The history of the hut and key people associated with it are acknowledged in a display of historic photographs within the hut, opened on 25 April 1998. An additional panel, which celebrates the hut’s builder, Joe Gibbs, was unveiled by the Director General of DOC, Hugh Logan, on 6 November 2004 as part of Field Hut’s 80th birthday. In 2003, work costing $35,000 (partly funded by revenue generated by hut fees) was undertaken by DOC to address issues with increased use and health and safety. Mattresses were installed for the first time, long after most other huts in the range had them; an upstairs fire exit was built; the windows were fitted with laminated safety glass; and a new toilet and a deck were installed. Field Hut has been in continual use since its initial construction and remains a popular overnight hut. DOC’s records show that each year around 1,000 people reach Table Top, and it is believed that use of the hut itself is likely to be even higher. Prior to a large slip that forced the closure of the Ōtaki Forks Road and increased the walk to the hut by 1-2 hours, approximately 3,200 persons used the track to Field Hut each year. DOC’s intentions books provide insight into the range of people who have used Field Hut and their experience. While visitors are predominantly from the lower North Island, international visitors have frequently visited the hut. British tourists, including two-year-old Olive Rigby, stayed in the hut in October 2016. Despite wet weather, their entry shows they were: ‘[h]appy we came to such a historic hut for our daughter’s first hut night, and she didn’t walk a step!’ Keely and Lucy made a daytrip in fine but snowy conditions in July 2015 to ‘[s]ave our souls from the concrete jungle’ of Wellington; they reported it was a ‘[b]eautiful hut. Just what we needed xoxo thanks DOC/W H Fields’. Tramping huts have inspired the design of contemporary domestic architecture. Luggate House by Chaney & Norman Architects is an alpine home inspired by DOC huts. A holiday house in the Coromandel, designed by Richard Naish and RTA Studio (2015), fulfilled the desire of one of its owners to reproduce the simplicity and robustness of tramping huts where he had found solace. Mitchell Stout Dodds Architects Ltd’s clients suggested a tramping hut design for their King Country house, which won the 2013 Waikato/Bay of Plenty architecture award. Tramper and author Shaun Barnett has stated: ‘To me, Field is a symbol of that great endeavour by clubs to open up the backcountry, not for some pecuniary purpose, but for the sheer love of tramping through bush and over mountains. For recreation, not remuneration.’ In his introduction to A Bunk for the Night: A Guide to New Zealand’s Best Backcountry Huts, Geoff Spearpoint writes: ‘[f]ew things are so utterly, deeply satisfying as reaching a hut in a storm. But huts aren’t just about shelter. They are also places where people celebrate life events, meet friends and introduce kids to the hills. They provide a base for fishing, hunting, tramping and climbing. They offer handy refuges for those doing biodiversity work. And they are fantastic places to enjoy a brew and discuss all the issues of the world deep into the night, or hole up with a book on a wet day.’
Current Description Setting Field Hut, on Judd’s Ridge within Tararua Forest Park, is situated along the Southern Crossing, Tararua Range’s classic tramp which runs between Ōtaki Forks and Kaitoke. The hut’s attractive setting, below the bush line at an altitude of 900 metres, provides sweeping views over nearby valleys. Field Hut is accessed by a walk of approximately four hours from Ōtaki Gorge Road, which is 19 kilometres inland from Ōtaki township. The hut is surrounded by trees including beech, kōtukutuku, mountain cabbage tree, and kamahi. Exterior Originally constructed using locally sourced pit sawn timber and corrugated iron, the hut has retained its original form: a simple structure with a 45-degree pitched gable roof enclosing a rectangular plan. Despite repairs and modifications, the building remains largely unaltered. A verandah that was originally on the western and southern sides of the hut was replaced with a new shelter around the main entrance on the southern side in 1983, but parts of the original construction are extant in the walls and roof. A helipad is positioned above the hut on its south side and a modern long drop toilet is located below the hut to the north-west. In the mid-1990s it was estimated that the hut had about 25 percent of its original materials remaining. Since then windows have been replaced and now none of the six (six-light) windows appear to date from the hut’s original construction. The main door (south elevation) is early, if not original, and is lined with modern sheet material. Original material includes pit-sawn timber floor joists in the upper storey, some of the roof framing and sarking, individual piles, and individual members in the east, north and west walls. Some of the original corrugated iron cladding is still in place on the east and north elevations and the gable of the west elevation, as well as the roof of the verandah, where iron from the main roof was reused in 1983. Interior The original plan layout has largely been retained and it comprises two main spaces: an open plan area on the ground floor and a sleeping area on the first floor (loft). The north wall contains some original pit-sawn studs and dwangs. The pit-sawn timber exhibits the texture and wavering line of the cut of this method of timber production. Furthermore, some of the original wall finish is extant, comprising chicken mesh, building paper and the inside face of the corrugated iron, visible between the framing timbers. The interior’s most significant features on the ground floor include the original fireplace on the south wall, which is currently occupied by a cast-iron stove, and a ladder that provides access to the loft. It is not known if the ladder is original but it is early, although some rungs have been replaced. There is a cooking bench along the western wall, with plywood lining above the bench. The western wall has some original pit-sawn studs (beech) and some modern repair material (radiata pine). The interior walls are painted white and are decorated with information panels that include reproductions of early photographs of the hut and people associated with its construction, including an evocative image of Fred Vosseler smoking a pipe while staring into the fire at Field Hut, shortly after its completion. The eastern end of the hut has a bunk with modern plywood lining on the floor and walls. The wall framing on the western end of the loft is pit-sawn timber, as is some of the north-facing roof structure and sarking. The original floor has been covered with plywood sheeting since at least 1996. There is some graffiti dating from the 1960s. External fire exit steps from the upper level were added to the rear of the hut (east elevation) in 2003. Comparative Analysis Most backcountry huts built in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were constructed using basic materials, such as corrugated iron (see, for instance, Defiance Hut (List No. 5046)). They typically took a simple form, comprising just one or two rooms, with the earliest providing separate sleeping quarters for men and women (see, for instance, Waihohonu Hut (List No. 7098)). They were constructed in order to provide shelter and basic amenities, including heating and cooking. Field Hut deviates from this pattern through its democratised spaces, loft space, and its comparatively late use of pit-sawn timber. It is Field Hut’s social and historical associations, however, that make it a hut of outstanding significance.
Current Description Setting Field Hut, on Judd’s Ridge within Tararua Forest Park, is situated along the Southern Crossing, Tararua Range’s classic tramp which runs between Ōtaki Forks and Kaitoke. The hut’s attractive setting, below the bush line at an altitude of 900 metres, provides sweeping views over nearby valleys. Field Hut is accessed by a walk of approximately four hours from Ōtaki Gorge Road, which is 19 kilometres inland from Ōtaki township. The hut is surrounded by trees including beech, kōtukutuku, mountain cabbage tree, and kamahi. Exterior Originally constructed using locally sourced pit sawn timber and corrugated iron, the hut has retained its original form: a simple structure with a 45-degree pitched gable roof enclosing a rectangular plan. Despite repairs and modifications, the building remains largely unaltered. A verandah that was originally on the western and southern sides of the hut was replaced with a new shelter around the main entrance on the southern side in 1983, but parts of the original construction are extant in the walls and roof. A helipad is positioned above the hut on its south side and a modern long drop toilet is located below the hut to the north-west. In the mid-1990s it was estimated that the hut had about 25 percent of its original materials remaining. Since then windows have been replaced and now none of the six (six-light) windows appear to date from the hut’s original construction. The main door (south elevation) is early, if not original, and is lined with modern sheet material. Original material includes pit-sawn timber floor joists in the upper storey, some of the roof framing and sarking, individual piles, and individual members in the east, north and west walls. Some of the original corrugated iron cladding is still in place on the east and north elevations and the gable of the west elevation, as well as the roof of the verandah, where iron from the main roof was reused in 1983. Interior The original plan layout has largely been retained and it comprises two main spaces: an open plan area on the ground floor and a sleeping area on the first floor (loft). The north wall contains some original pit-sawn studs and dwangs. The pit-sawn timber exhibits the texture and wavering line of the cut of this method of timber production. Furthermore, some of the original wall finish is extant, comprising chicken mesh, building paper and the inside face of the corrugated iron, visible between the framing timbers. The interior’s most significant features on the ground floor include the original fireplace on the south wall, which is currently occupied by a cast-iron stove, and a ladder that provides access to the loft. It is not known if the ladder is original but it is early, although some rungs have been replaced. There is a cooking bench along the western wall, with plywood lining above the bench. The western wall has some original pit-sawn studs (beech) and some modern repair material (radiata pine). The interior walls are painted white and are decorated with information panels that include reproductions of early photographs of the hut and people associated with its construction, including an evocative image of Fred Vosseler smoking a pipe while staring into the fire at Field Hut, shortly after its completion. The eastern end of the hut has a bunk with modern plywood lining on the floor and walls. The wall framing on the western end of the loft is pit-sawn timber, as is some of the north-facing roof structure and sarking. The original floor has been covered with plywood sheeting since at least 1996. There is some graffiti dating from the 1960s. External fire exit steps from the upper level were added to the rear of the hut (east elevation) in 2003. Comparative Analysis Most backcountry huts built in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were constructed using basic materials, such as corrugated iron (see, for instance, Defiance Hut (List No. 5046)). They typically took a simple form, comprising just one or two rooms, with the earliest providing separate sleeping quarters for men and women (see, for instance, Waihohonu Hut (List No. 7098)). They were constructed in order to provide shelter and basic amenities, including heating and cooking. Field Hut deviates from this pattern through its democratised spaces, loft space, and its comparatively late use of pit-sawn timber. It is Field Hut’s social and historical associations, however, that make it a hut of outstanding significance.
Historical and Associated Iwi / Hapū / Whānau
Completion Date
30th May 2024
Report Written By
Natalie Marshall
Information Sources
Barnett and Maclean, 2019
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean, Leading the way: 100 Years of the Tararua Tramping Club, Wellington, 2019
Barnett and Maclean, 2014
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean, Tramping: A New Zealand history, Nelson, 2014
Cochran, 1996
Cochran, Chris, ‘Field Hut, Tararua Forest Park, Wellington: Heritage inventory’, Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, 30 April 1996
Maclean, 1994
Maclean, Chris, Tararua: The Story of a mountain range, Wellington, 1994
Ross, 2008
Ross, Kirstie, Going bush: New Zealanders and nature in the twentieth century, Auckland, 2008
Other Information
A fully referenced copy of the Listing Report is available upon request from the Central Reigonal Office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Disclaimer Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions. Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include ‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand office for archaeological advice.
Historical and Associated Iwi / Hapū / Whānau
Completion Date
30th May 2024
Report Written By
Natalie Marshall
Information Sources
Barnett and Maclean, 2019
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean, Leading the way: 100 Years of the Tararua Tramping Club, Wellington, 2019
Barnett and Maclean, 2014
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean, Tramping: A New Zealand history, Nelson, 2014
Cochran, 1996
Cochran, Chris, ‘Field Hut, Tararua Forest Park, Wellington: Heritage inventory’, Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, 30 April 1996
Maclean, 1994
Maclean, Chris, Tararua: The Story of a mountain range, Wellington, 1994
Ross, 2008
Ross, Kirstie, Going bush: New Zealanders and nature in the twentieth century, Auckland, 2008
Other Information
A fully referenced copy of the Listing Report is available upon request from the Central Reigonal Office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Disclaimer Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions. Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include ‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand office for archaeological advice.
Former Usages
General Usage: Civic Facilities
Specific Usage: Tramping/Mountain Hut
Former Usages
General Usage: Civic Facilities
Specific Usage: Tramping/Mountain Hut
Location
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