52 LISTENER AUGUST 3 2019
BOOKS&CULTURE
by GREG DIXONT
he Tararua Range is my new neigh-
bour. Since moving to Wairarapa,
I’ve looked over the fence and up at
its mountain peaks, admired them,
seen them in all weathers – but never up
close. Though I’ve tramped on and off
for more than 20 years, I’ve been keep-
ing my distance because, and here’s the
embarrassing truth of it, the rough-bastard
Tararuas scare the bejesus out of
me. They are notoriously rugged,
plagued by unpredictable weather,
and they take lives, the most
recent just last month.
I will have to gather my courage.
After reading Shaun Barnett and
Chris Maclean’s Leading the Way, a
vivid, compelling, richly illustrated
centenary history of the Welling-
ton-based Tararua Tramping Club
(TTC), I just want to pull on my
boots and head for them thar hills.
This is a detailed account of the
life and climbs of the TTC. But
it says much about Barnett and
Maclean’s care and craft that, as well as
documenting 100 years of such tramping-
club drudge as subcommittee meetings
and track maintenance, their book fills
you with excitement for the outdoors.
This book exists because the TTC is spe-
cial; it was our first “tramping” club, and
it would inspire and often assist the many
similar clubs that followed it.
In July 1919, after advertising in the
Dominion, Wellington businessman Fred
Vosseler and Ōtaki MP Willie Field con-
vened a meeting of “those interested in
the delightful tramping ground that existsbetween Greytown and Ōtaki”. That first
TTC gathering attracted more than two
dozen people who were keen to go bush.
Before the month was out, members of
the country’s first self-described tramping
club, led by Vosseler, went hiking together
in the Tararuas. Fittingly, they ran into a
blizzard and were reported missing by theŌtaki Mail. However, they emerged from
the ranges unassisted, in good spirits and
keen for more.
The stories that follow, certainly for
the first 50 years, are of exploration and
discovery: walking and mapping every
far-flung hill and hidden valley of the
largely unexplored southern and northern
Tararuas, then seeking fresh excitements
away from the home range, first in the
mountains of the South Island and then
abroad.
It is a story of energetic creation – new
tracks established, huts built, lifelongfriendships and wonderful traditions – as
well as hastily organised search parties to
help find lost (usually non-TTC) trampers
in the Tararuas, an unselfish service that
contributed hugely to the formation of
what would become New Zealand Land
Search and Rescue. The club was also pro-
actively conservationist to its core from
the first.
From the 1990s, Barnett and
Maclean’s story flags a little,
perhaps because the TTC’s pio-
neering days were behind it and
its membership was ageing, but
also because the country, as well
as what New Zealanders now do
in the outdoors, has changed so
much since the club’s early years.
I’ve never been a joiner. And
I’ve never really understood what
makes clubs – or any kind of
self-governing social group – so
attractive to belong to. But in
Leading The Way, I’ve found an
explanation. The TTC epitomises how
individuals can channel their passions to
create something bigger and better than
themselves. And, if they’re lucky, some-
thing that will
outlive them
all. l
LEADING THE WAY:
100 Years of the
Tararua Tramping
Club, by Shaun
Barnett and Chris
Maclean (Whitcombe
Press, $59.95)Telling tales
of the trails
A compelling history
of New Zealand’s first
tramping club makes
you want to head for
the hills.
Fun and frolics at Twin Forks in
1960; below, TTC members climbing
Dasler Pinnacles in the 1980s.