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Huts: Untold Stories from Back-Country New Zealand
In honor of the more than 1,500 huts that dot New Zealand's back roads, this guide provides a fascinating look at 15 of these iconic dwellings. Setting out to discover why and how these huts were built—and to learn something about the lives of the men who lived there—the book uses historical records to find huts of hunters, shepherds, and boundary-keepers. As the years went by, the huts started to shelter drovers, roadmen, and gold miners, and in the 20th century the huts were used by climbers, skiers, and tourists. The result is a satisfying social and historical appreciation of New Zealand's glorious landscape.
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2020
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that he measured the worth of a man by the number of shoes they had worn out. Tramper and author Mark Pickering must have gone through dozens of pairs of tramping boots, and there are precious few corners of the back-country into which he has not poked at least an exploratory toe. In addition, he’s seemingly absorbed back-country history through the pores of his skin. With books like 101 Great Tramps in New Zealand, The Hills, A Tramper’s Journey and 12 others to his credit, his contribution to tramping literature remains unsurpassed, and this latest book on huts is his finest yet.
No one knows back-country huts like Pickering: he’s visited more than 1,170 of the estimated 1,500 in the country (about 950 on the conservation estate, and most of the rest on high country stations). In this book, Mark has grouped huts into five broad historical eras:
Water racemen, miners 1860-80
Packers, roadmen 1860-1920
Shepherds, musterers 1860-1950
Rabbiters, deer cullers 1890-1970
Trampers, hunters, skiers, tourists 1920-
Pickering carefully selected 15 huts, spread geographically across the country, to represent these broad building eras. Take Sutherlands Hut in South Canterbury, one of the nation’s oldest. Built from stone and thatch in 1867, it initially served as a Bounday Keeper’s Hut. These lonely buildings housed men who kept sheep from wandering into the neighbour’s run.
Another stone hut, Shute’s in the Ruahines, is the one Pickering chose to represent a rabbiter’s hut: the eccentric Alex Shute called it home for some 20 years. Howlett’s Hut, also in the Ruahines, symbolises club huts, while Roger’s Hut (Whirinaki Forest Park) is the deer culling example. Sefton Biv (Aoraki/Mt Cook) respresents climbing huts, Freeman Hut (Fiordland) tourism and Blowfly Hut (South Westland) a roadman’s hut.
While he focuses on these 15 huts, the book encompasses much broader themes than simply huts. Huts are the vehicle by which Pickering explores back-country history: farming, mining, road building, corrugated iron, water races, hunting and tramping to name a few.
Huts, Pickering asserts, are both egalitarian (‘There is a sense of common ownership, as if the huts belong to everyman’) and a monument to the working class men who largely built them and lived in them. Each of the 15 chapters ends with a photographic selection of other aligned huts. I consider myself a hut nut, but there are many here I’ve never heard of, let alone visited. Pickering has certainly done his homework – and footwork. While the book is not without minor errors, overall Pickering’s scholarship is impressive. A book of this depth reflects knowledge accumulated over decades. My one quibble is that Pickering hasn’t used endnotes to link specific facts with his references.
Information is one strength of Huts, another is Pickering’s honed ability to write exceedingly well. Of the landscape occupied by an Otago water race hut: ‘The hillsides may be soft and textured as teddy bear fur, but there’s nothing cuddly up here. In fact there’s nothing here at all, except black rock teeth and endless tussock. At this altitude the wind bites hard.’ Personal stories add considerable charm to the text, effortlessly weaved into more prosaic facts of history.
Many fine photographs feature in the book: most of them Pickering’s but a considerable number of historic images and paintings too. Lovely details of such things as a hut book lit by a solitary candle, a deer antler fashioned into a door handle or a bulbous candle holder framed in a window. Pickering’s camera even renders corrugated iron into artwork, lit by the flattering glow of sunset. Some pictures have suffered from being used too large, or poorly reproduced, but that won’t matter to most. A good index and location maps round out the book.
Huts is an exceptional book: brimming with photographs, chock-full of history and highly informative. It’s a celebration of huts, yes, but also a wonderfully digestible way of reading back-country history. Readers have responded accordingly: the first two print runs sold out within weeks.
The last word goes to Pickering: ‘Huts need trampers and hunters and others to use them, and enjoy and maintain their rough and ready charm. It’s the same old story: if we don’t use them, we will lose them.’
No one knows back-country huts like Pickering: he’s visited more than 1,170 of the estimated 1,500 in the country (about 950 on the conservation estate, and most of the rest on high country stations). In this book, Mark has grouped huts into five broad historical eras:
Water racemen, miners 1860-80
Packers, roadmen 1860-1920
Shepherds, musterers 1860-1950
Rabbiters, deer cullers 1890-1970
Trampers, hunters, skiers, tourists 1920-
Pickering carefully selected 15 huts, spread geographically across the country, to represent these broad building eras. Take Sutherlands Hut in South Canterbury, one of the nation’s oldest. Built from stone and thatch in 1867, it initially served as a Bounday Keeper’s Hut. These lonely buildings housed men who kept sheep from wandering into the neighbour’s run.
Another stone hut, Shute’s in the Ruahines, is the one Pickering chose to represent a rabbiter’s hut: the eccentric Alex Shute called it home for some 20 years. Howlett’s Hut, also in the Ruahines, symbolises club huts, while Roger’s Hut (Whirinaki Forest Park) is the deer culling example. Sefton Biv (Aoraki/Mt Cook) respresents climbing huts, Freeman Hut (Fiordland) tourism and Blowfly Hut (South Westland) a roadman’s hut.
While he focuses on these 15 huts, the book encompasses much broader themes than simply huts. Huts are the vehicle by which Pickering explores back-country history: farming, mining, road building, corrugated iron, water races, hunting and tramping to name a few.
Huts, Pickering asserts, are both egalitarian (‘There is a sense of common ownership, as if the huts belong to everyman’) and a monument to the working class men who largely built them and lived in them. Each of the 15 chapters ends with a photographic selection of other aligned huts. I consider myself a hut nut, but there are many here I’ve never heard of, let alone visited. Pickering has certainly done his homework – and footwork. While the book is not without minor errors, overall Pickering’s scholarship is impressive. A book of this depth reflects knowledge accumulated over decades. My one quibble is that Pickering hasn’t used endnotes to link specific facts with his references.
Information is one strength of Huts, another is Pickering’s honed ability to write exceedingly well. Of the landscape occupied by an Otago water race hut: ‘The hillsides may be soft and textured as teddy bear fur, but there’s nothing cuddly up here. In fact there’s nothing here at all, except black rock teeth and endless tussock. At this altitude the wind bites hard.’ Personal stories add considerable charm to the text, effortlessly weaved into more prosaic facts of history.
Many fine photographs feature in the book: most of them Pickering’s but a considerable number of historic images and paintings too. Lovely details of such things as a hut book lit by a solitary candle, a deer antler fashioned into a door handle or a bulbous candle holder framed in a window. Pickering’s camera even renders corrugated iron into artwork, lit by the flattering glow of sunset. Some pictures have suffered from being used too large, or poorly reproduced, but that won’t matter to most. A good index and location maps round out the book.
Huts is an exceptional book: brimming with photographs, chock-full of history and highly informative. It’s a celebration of huts, yes, but also a wonderfully digestible way of reading back-country history. Readers have responded accordingly: the first two print runs sold out within weeks.
The last word goes to Pickering: ‘Huts need trampers and hunters and others to use them, and enjoy and maintain their rough and ready charm. It’s the same old story: if we don’t use them, we will lose them.’
March 28, 2022
Thoroughly enjoyable and well researched look into New Zealand's back country huts, the people who built them, the people who used them. This knowledge adds depth to my enjoyment and use of huts when tramping.
I got this from the library but must see if I can find a copy for myself.
I got this from the library but must see if I can find a copy for myself.
January 22, 2021
A great introduction to some amazing historical New Zealand Huts and their occupants
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews