EXPLORING EGMONT

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1938, Page 10

EXPLORING EGMONT

NAMING OF BEAUTY SPOTS MEMORIES OF VISITOR Early exploration on Mount Egmont was recalled yesterday by Mr. G. A. Hurley, Auckland, an early resident of Manaia, in an interview. He mentioned the reasons for Ihe naming of Dawson Falls and Fantham's Peak, with both of which incidents he was connected. He took an active part in. making the first tracks on the southern slones of the mountain. Mr. Hurley and Mr. Thomas Dawson. postmaster at Manaia, were companions on many exploring expeditions, but on , the day of the discovery. of the falls, Mr. Dawson was alone. Mr. Dawson heard a roaring sound which he decided to investigate, and, after following it for some time, came upon the waterfall. On the following Saturday Mr. Hurley organised a party, including Mr. Dawson, and a further trip was made to the falls, then called Rere Anoke, after a Maori who according to legend jumped over them rather than be taken prisoner. During an excursion made to the top of the mountain by a party of 18 men and women, Miss Fantham, a daughter of the late Mr. A. A. Fantham, was the first woman to reach the top of the peak, which has since borne her name. Lake Dive Discovered. Lake Dive was named after Mr. Bradshaw Dive, formerly a well known resident of Hawera. He and Mr. Hurley were looking down from the top of the mountain, when Mr. Dive said he thought he saw a pool of water. Mr. Hurley at first disagreed but later they found his companion was correct. "Wilkie's Pool was named by Mr. Dawson after one of his "companions of many excursions to the mountain, a Mr. W. Wilkie. Kendall's Cascade received its name in honour of a well known settler of the Waimate Plains. All of these names were used by Mr. Skeet when surveying the mountain, and they were recorded on the Government maps. One of Mr. Hurley's mountain trips led to the discontinuance of a still operated on the slopes of the mountain. He had been intrigued by smpke seen rising through the bush and by the theories about its origiii. He did not actually then find the still but his investigation led the operator, who had a lucrative busii ness, to give it up. Mr. Hurley met him on the mountain and found that he was armed with a gun, but the man said he was just shooting pigeons and they talked on friendly terms. During his absence of nearly 40 years there had been many changes, said Mr. Hurley. Among the most noticeable feature of the landscape, he said, was the remarkable growth of the African boxthorn, which had added very considerably to the wealth of Taranaki on account of its sheltering qualities as far as stock was concerned. The roads, too, were vastly different from what he had experienced in the 'eighties and 'nineties.