Four locations significant in the life of pioneering outdoorswoman Mavis Davidson.

One of the more extraordinary outdoors people of the twentieth century was tramper, mountaineer, hunter, scientist, guidebook author, and photographer Mavis Davidson.

Mavis spent much of her life in Wellington and was an influential member of the Tararua Tramping Club (TTC). As well as spending much time in the Tararua Range, she climbed and explored throughout Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana the Southern Alps. With friend and fellow mountaineer Rod Hewitt she researched and wrote one of the first guidebooks to the Southern Alps. 

Mavis was also a keen hunter, and her love of hunting and interest in zoology grew into a scientific career in which she became a world expert on Sika deer. While pursuing a zoology degree, Mavis studied the deer in the southern Kāweka Range, based at a tiny wooden hut at Blowhard Bush. She soon realised the site had limitations for her research, however, and shifted her operation to the adjacent Kaimanawa Range. 

Matiu/Somes

World War II interrupted Mavis’s research. She joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service and learned to operate semaphores to guard against the anticipated threat of a Japanese invasion. She was based on Matiu Somes Island in the middle of Wellington Harbour. These days Matiu can be reached by a short ferry ride across the harbour from Queens Wharf, and visitors can walk to the site where Mavis worked.

Tasman Valley

With so many men away in service, Mavis and other TTC women took over the key roles in the club, and it’s true to say the club may not have survived without their efforts. On their return at the end of their war service, some of the men did not appreciate this changing of the guard. Mavis was incensed to learn she was not allowed to join a Southern Alps mountaineering expedition, a trip she knew she was more than capable of. Revenge was sweet, however. In 1953 Mavis organised the first all-women ascent of Aoraki Mt Cook with Sheila McMurray and Doreen Urquhart, via the Linda Glacier route. Many of the short walks in the Tasman Valley offer grand views of the route Mavis and her companions took on this historic journey.

Dominie Biv

Meanwhile, Mavis’s old deer hide at Blowhard Bush lay neglected and unused, so Mavis offered it to her TTC friend Ashley Cunningham, who worked for the Forest Service. In 1952 Cunningham had the hut relocated to Makahu Spur, in the soon-to-be-established Kāweka Forest Park, where it served as a shelter on the exposed route to Mt Kāweka. It has remained there ever since and is known as Dominie Biv. Reached via a two to three-hour tramp from Makahu Saddle, it has two bunks and magnificent views over the forest park. The Backcountry Trust has plans to upgrade the historic bivouac.

Old Manson Hut and Alpha Hut

Two other huts for which Mavis had a particular fondness are the Old Manson Hut in the Kāweka Range and Alpha Hut in the Tararua Range. Mavis was involved in building the latter with members of TTC during the 1950s. Alpha Hut was replaced in 1982 and is an important refuge on the classic Southern Crossing track. Old Manson Hut has a dirt floor, an open fire and plenty of rustic charm. Mavis visited Old Manson with Norman Elder on her many forays into the Kāweka Range. The hut is reached on a three to four-day tramp from Kuriapapango, and was beautifully restored by a Backcountry Trust team in 2023.