Fiordland Families History - Burnby family, Fiordland National Park entrance
Shared by
Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive
Fiordland Families History - Burnby family, Fiordland National Park entrance: These pillars marked the entrance to the Fiordland National Park or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko. The donor recalls that for some reason the pillars have been replaced several times. If anyone can add to this information or if you have other photos of these pillars through the years, please let us know. IMAGES: 1 - The Burnby children, Stewart & Rozanne, son and daughter of George & Carley Burnby of Knob's Flat, image taken around 1956/57 Photo CC BY. NOTE: This photo has been taken off a slide and sent to us by the family, we are attempting to access the original so we can copy in high resolution. The donor of these photos from the Burnby family, says that their parents and grandparents have many memories of early times in Fiordland and tell us how the Chartres Family had a farm around Te Anau Downs. Apparently in those days a shearing shed sat just before these pillars. This property's sheep were mustered in and shorn before being let out onto the road again where they would wander back towards Knobs Flat, keeping the roadsides tidy all the way... this would never happen today, there are no longer sheep anywhere near National Park! Protection is now the name of the game, and our DOC or Department of Conservation cares for Fiordland National Park. The Burnby's were the first family to at Knobs Flat. This was a MOW or Ministry of Works Camp, where all the workers building the road to Milford Sound and Homer Tunnel lived, apparently into the 1980's. More photos of the family are shown in these online collections, and more are to come, and these cover the various places that the family lived, worked and visited. SOME EARLY HISTORY: Te Rua-o-te-moko - to Māori, Fiordland is known as Te Rua-o-te-moko, A place of towering peaks and plunging valleys, a place where light and shadow create beauty and intrigue. This is certainly an apt description. Few Māori were permanent residents of the region, but well-worn trails linked seasonal food-gathering camps. Takiwai, a translucent greenstone or New Zealand jade, was sought from Anita Bay and elsewhere near the mouth of Milford Sound, according to records researched for this entry. Explorer and future Prime Minister Thomas Mackenzie had suggested in 1894 that the Fiordland region be declared a national park. The creation of Tongariro National Park (23 September) gave impetus to efforts to preserve other scenic areas. But it was a few decades before this was to eventuate. In 1903, Southland Commissioner of Crown Lands John Hay, who as a younger man had produced a remarkable reconnaissance map of southern Fiordland, suggested that the West Coast Sounds be preserved as a national park. ‘The country is excessively rugged, and quite unfit for pastoral purposes.’ The area set aside the following year included the iconic Milford Track, Mitre Peak, the Sutherland Falls and the eponymous fiords (steep-sided valleys gouged out by glaciers that were submerged when the sea level rose). The first step in creation of Fiordland National Park was when on the 23rd February 1904, nearly 1 million ha of far western Southland and Otago was set aside as a national reserve in 1904. This became New Zealand’s largest national park in 1952. The inclusion of the Hollyford Valley, Waitutu Forest and Solander Island subsequently enlarged this area to 1.26 million ha. Fiordland National Park has well fulfilled Tourist Department head Thomas Donne’s 1903 prediction that ‘if carefully preserved’ it would become one of New Zealand’s ‘foremost attractions’ and ‘greatest assets’. It sure has, and at times it is a real balance between allowing tourists to see the wonders it shows with preserving delicate ecosystems found within this pristine area. The Fiordland National Park was officially constituted in 1952 and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986. Today, the park is now part of Te Wai Pounamu or Wahipounamu in the South West New Zealand (The place of Greenstone) which also incorporates Aoraki/Mt Cook, Fiordland, Mt Aspiring and Westland National Parks. It is one of three World Heritage sites across Aotearoa New Zealand, and has been described as having 'superlative natural phenomena' and 'outstanding examples of the earth's evolutionary history'. It provides a protective habitat for many of our threatened native species, including marine animals, birds, bats, insects, also fungi and plants. But looking even further back, Fiordland had a very active past before any humans were ever to encounter it. Evidence of Indo-Australian and Pacific Continental plates continual crashing, can be seen throughout the majestic Ka Tiritiri-o-te-Moana/Southern Alps. Creating an almost spinal structure, the mountain range which extends the full length of the South Island, is 4,000 metres (2.5 miles) at its highest point, and fourteen fiords are carved out of the rocks along the Fiordland coastline, remnants of the ice ages. Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko really does have to be seen to be believed. Archivists comment: At the CWA Community & Heritage Hub, operated by Central & Western Archive - Murihiku Southland, we have books, records and photos on the history of this area, bush, mountains, tracks and more. CURRENT DAY Today, Knobs Flat is the site of a large information centre with facilities that can accommodate tour buses, there is also an adjacent site offering accommodation. It is a great place to stop for a picnic and with the last flush toilets until you reach Milford, it is also a popular stopping place. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information on the history comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Knobs Flat, the Eglinton Valley or this wider area of Fiordland or Te Rua-o-Te-Moko, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.
Ngā whakamārama
Details
-
Title
Fiordland Families History - Burnby family, Fiordland National Park entrance
-
Maker
Unknown
-
Date made
1950's
-
Subject
Fiordland, Te Rua-o-te-moko, Western Southland, Great outdoors, Fiordland National Park, Outdoor Adventure, Early Exploration, Early Travel, Tourism, Milford Road, Ministry of Works, (MOW), Te Anau, Fiordland, Te Rua-o-Te-Moko, SouthWest, Burnby Family, Conservation, Department of Conservation, DOC, Wildlife Preservation, Sheep, Te Anau Downs, Chartres, Environmental Protection, Native Species
-
Additional information
Digital only image in archive
-
Rights
Attribution (cc)
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ -
View source record for this item
Kei hea tēnei taonga?
Where is this item held?
-
Additional information including high resolution images may be available.
-
Location
Main Rd, Tūātapere, next to the old Railway Station. We also belong to the internationally recognised 'Safe Space Alliance'.
Whare taonga | Organisation
Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive
Ngā here ki runga i ngā whakaahua o tēnei taonga?
What can you do with images of this item?
-
You must check with Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive to confirm terms of use and any attribution requirements, but this is our understanding:
-
Use for private study, research, criticism, review, or education
NZ Copyright law allows for the use of copyrighted works in specific circumstances. Consider what you can do under copyright law.
-
Share
You can share this image without further permission.
-
Modify or remix
You can modify, remix or add to this image without further permission.
-
Commercial use
You can use this image to make money.
-
Text adapted with permission from Te Papa and Digital NZ
Tāpirihia he kōrero anō
Improve this record
-
Can you help us? Share names, details and stories to help enrich the collection.