Enjoying Arthur’s Pass

Press, 27 June 1987, Page 23

Enjoying Arthur’s Pass

The Story of Arthur’s Pass National Park. Edited by Jane Pearson. Department ot Conservation with Cobb/Horwood Publications, 1986. ' 128 pp. Illustrations. Arthur’s Pass was the first National Park in the South Island, created in 1929 once the new rail link through Otira had opened up a wide stretch of rugged country to more and more visitors.

The pass was first used regularly during the West Coast gold rushes of the 1860 s. Today it remains the main route across the South Island, a vast sweep of grandeur readily accessible to a major city, and a place where the dramatic changes in vegetation between west and east coasts cannot fail to impress even the most casual observer. ■ This is the fourth handbook on the park to appear in more than 50 years. It is not a revision of the older works but a completely new book, profusely illustrated in colour, and intended to serve a variety of users. It has thorough sections on the plants and wildlife of the region, on the climate and geography; and on the history — human and geological. It is especially interesting in its accounts of the manner in which the road and railway were pushed through forbidding terrain, and on the way human intrusions in the mountains changed from those driven by necessity to those seeking pleasure and refreshment;

For those visiting the park today, the book has an adequate map (although a second map of the area round the township, on a larger scale, would have been useful) and clear descriptions of the more interesting and venturesome walks and tramps. On place-names, thisbook gives information on the origins of most names visitors are likely to meet, and refers readers to the more complete accounts of R. S. Odell’s original handbook.

The name of the pass itself deserves notice. Arthur Dudley Dobson and his younger brother,. Edward, were the

first Europeans to reach the pas, on March 12,1864, but Dobson was not so arrogant as to bestow his own name there. He thought the pass led to the Arahura River and called it the “Arahura Saddle.” A . year later another Dobson brother, George, reached the pass and in an article in the Christchurch “Press” on March 13, 1865, referred to it as “Arthur’s Pass” for the first time.

The name stuck. Dobson deserves his place on the map. Summer and winter alike, the pass and its surrounding mountains and bush have become a great playground, especially for the people of Christchurch. This book Is a worthy celebration of the region and its part and present delights.—Literary Editor.