(1887– ).

Farmer and agricultural authority.

A new biography of Mulholland, William Walter appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

William Walter Mulholland was born on 8 January 1887 at Darfield, Canterbury, where he was educated. A successful farmer, he has long been particularly interested in the organisation of the farming industry, from the commercial aspect as well as the industrial. He has been a member of the Primary Production Council, National Services Council, Canterbury Rural Intermediate Credit Association, Agricultural Distributing Agency, and United Wheatgrowers Association. He has also been Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, president of the Federated Farmers, and has served on several other national, rural, and scientific organisations, to all of which he has contributed much in counsel and leadership. He was awarded an O.B.E. in 1946, and knighted in 1956.

(1911–45).

Novelist.

Elder son of Alan Mulgan, well-known journalist and author, John Alan Edward Mulgan was born in Christchurch on 31 December 1911, a descendant on his father's side from Ulstermen of the Katikati Settlement, and on his mother's (Marguerita Pickmere) from earlier English settlers with a missionary connection. He was educated at Wellington College and Auckland Grammar School, where he became known as a good athlete and natural leader; and at Auckland University College, where he took an arts degree in 1933. He went on to Merton College, Oxford, where he read English with Edmund Blunden as his tutor and took a first class in the Schools in 1935. That year he joined the staff of the Clarendon Press in Oxford and was chiefly engaged in editorial work on English studies, though he also wrote articles for New Zealand papers on European affairs and attended one session of the League of Nations as observer for the New Zealand Government. In 1937 he married Gabrielle Wanklyn, and next year brought out his first independent publication, a verse anthology, Poems of Freedom. The novel Man Alone, in which a story bare as an Icelandic saga carries something of the author's radical sympathies and much of his concentrated feeling for his own country, was hastily completed and published in 1939: plates and stock were destroyed by German bombing in London and the book was not widely read in New Zealand until its reissue in 1949. Before the outbreak of war John Mulgan held a commission in a territorial battalion of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; he therefore served throughout the war with British units, including the Royal West Kent Regiment in North Africa, and Force 133 in German-occupied Greece. At the time of his death in Cairo on 26 April 1945 he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was awarded the M.C. for his operations with the partisans in Thessaly and the Pindus mountains. Some of his finest writing – always deeply humane, generally terse and at times lapidary – is to be found in the posthumous Report on Experience, published with a memoir by Jack Bennett in 1947. This book, with other reflections on war and politics, contains a classical tribute to the men of the New Zealand Division. To contemporaries, John Mulgan seemed one of the most mature and clear-sighted members of his uneasy generation; these qualities, and the disciplined control of his writing, give lasting significance to the small body of literary work he was able to complete.

by James Munro Bertram, M.A.(N.Z., OXON.), Associate Professor of English, Victoria University of Wellington.

Dominion, 3 Apr 1945 (Obit).

(1881–1962).

Journalist and author.

Alan Edward Mulgan was born at Katikati on 18 May 1881, the eldest son of Edward Ker Mulgan, a farmer who had emigrated from Ballanahinch, County Down, Ireland, and who later became an Inspector of Schools. His mother was Frances Maria, née Johnston, of Connor, County Antrim, Ireland. Alan Mulgan was educated at Auckland Grammar School. He entered journalism in 1900 as a cadet on the Auckland Star, which he left for a term on the Press, Christchurch. But he returned to the Star in 1916, remaining until 1935. For the greater part of his life thereafter he continued to do literary articles and reviews for the same journal under the pseudonym of “Cyrano”. In 1935 he joined the Broadcasting Service as supervisor of talks, from which post he retired in 1946. Mulgan was lecturer in journalism at Auckland University, 1924–35, and president of the New Zealand P.E.N., 1940–42. He was awarded an O.B.E. in 1947.

On 9 April 1907, at St. Mark's Church, Remuera, Mulgan married Marguerita Blumfield, daughter of Ralph Pickmere. The Mulgans had two sons and one daughter. One of the sons, John, later became well known as a novelist. Alan Mulgan died at Lower Hutt on 29 August 1962.

Mulgan was a facile, versatile, and sensitive writer of poetry and plays, as well as of more factual work. He published one novel, Spur of Morning, in 1934. His other works include Maori and Pakeha (1921) (with A. W. Shrimpton); The New Zealand Citizen (1914) (with E. K. Mulgan); Three Plays of New Zealand (1922); The English of the Line (1925); Home, a New Zealander's Adventure (1927); Golden Wedding (1932); A Pilgrim's Way in New Zealand (1935); Aldebaran and Other Verses (1940); The City of The Strait (1940); Literature and Authorship in New Zealand (1943); A Book of Australian and New Zealand Verse (edited with Professor Walter Murdoch) (1950), and The Making of a New Zealander (autobiography) (1958).

by Clyde Romer Hughes Taylor, M.A., DIP.JOURN., formerly Chief Librarian, Turnbull Library, Wellington.

(1835–1918).

Explorer and surveyor.

A new biography of Mueller, Gerhard appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Gerhard Mueller was born in 1835 of Danish parents in the German university town of Darmstadt, where his father was professor of mathematics. Inspired by the call of adventure, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 18. He stayed in America for three years, covering an astonishing amount of ground from New York to the Pacific coast as far south as Nicaragua in Central America, where he took part in an expedition. He migrated to Sydney, Australia, in 1857 and worked for a year in goldfields in Victoria. In 1858 he arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, and later in the same year moved south to Invercargill. From 1859 to 1862 he studied to become a surveyor and civil engineer, and in 1862 went into partnership with F. H. Geisow in a survey and land agency business. In September 1862 he married Elizabeth Bannatyne McArthur, daughter of a Scottish farmer and merchant, and, by her, had four sons and two daughters.

Mueller's real work in New Zealand began when he left Southland because of deteriorating economic conditions and travelled to Christchurch where he obtained contract survey work on the native reserves and later on the goldfields townships. This eventually led to his appointment as first District Surveyor of South Westland, with headquarters at Okarito. His wife joined him and it became their home for 15 years. The first year of his stay on the West Coast is well documented in his letters written home to his wife, recently published by his daughter, M. V. Mueller, in My Dear Bannie. During this period (September 1865 – August 1866) Mueller was out in the field in South Westland surveying the many new townships that had sprung up with the influx of thousands of diggers from elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas. His account of this period tells of life in the raw in the isolated gold-mining settlements. We read of his experiences with the friendly tribes and families of Maoris, some of whom he hired as field assistants, of the periods of near starvation, and of the difficulties of travelling along the coast before the days of ferries and bridges. He writes of frequent drownings in the great rivers, of narrow escapes in canoes and rafts, and in “crossing the bar” in larger vessels at the various ports, and of the obstacles, inherent in the West Coast, of climate, insects, swamps, flooded rivers, mountain peaks and gorges, and the luxuriant rain forests.

His later life is documented only in official publications of the Department of Lands and Survey, and the personal touch is missing. In association with those other great Westland pioneers – Charles Douglas, J. Browning, and G. J. Roberts – he explored and surveyed much of the West Coast between the Grey and Arawata Rivers, providing maps and names still in use today. His most notable explorations were those of the Haast-Arawata region in 1885 and of the inaccessible Landsborough Valley in 1887, both expeditions in association with Charles Douglas. Mueller moved to Hokitika in 1871 to take over the position of Chief Surveyor for Westland. He next became Commissioner of Crown Lands and, in 1891, moved to Auckland where he was first Commissioner of Crown Lands and, later, Assistant Surveyor-General. He died at his home in Victoria Avenue, Remuera, Auckland, on 20 February 1918.

Mueller's notable achievements were his survey and exploratory work on the West Coast and his documentation in the Letters to Bannie of life and conditions on the West Coast in that most stirring period of its history – the great gold rush of the mid-sixties.

by George William Grindley, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

• My Dear Bannie–Gerhard Mueller's Letters from the West Coast, 1865–66, Mueller, M. V. (ed.) (1958)
• New Zealand Herald, 21 Feb 1918 (Obit).

(1824–98).

Architect.

A new biography of Mountfort, Benjamin Woolfield appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Mountfort was born in England in 1824, his parents being Thomas Mountfort and Susanna Wale, née Woolfield. In 1849 he married Emily Elizabeth Newman, by whom he had four sons and two daughters.

Apart from his architectural work Mountfort had few interests and these appeared to lie in church affairs. He was one of the earliest members of the Diocesan Synod, and a church warden in Phillipstown. He took no part in political or local government matters, perhaps wisely since he was provincial architect for many years. Subsidiary interests were photography, and studies of heraldry, history, and art as allied to architecture.

Mountfort arrived in Lyttelton in one of the first four ships in 1850. His works were prolific. One of his earliest buildings, a church at Lyttelton, suffered near structural failure. The story is interesting. His design was for a high church, if anything rather high for its length. It was far too ambitious and economy was made by cutting off its length and leaving it at the same height which made it look rather ridiculous. The construction was of the brick noggin type (i.e., brick infill), and the timber was supposed to be seasoned. The timber began to shrink and some bricks fell out; further, the building swayed visibly in a strong wind. It was finally demolished. It appears as if ignorance of the qualities of local materials caused this trouble. In England seasoned timber would have been readily available. This misfortune wrecked his career for years and he became a professional photographer, kept a stationery shop, and was a newspaper agent. He also taught drawing at Christ's College. He must have had great character and determination to recover from this unhappy beginning to his career as architect.

Being trained in the office of Sir Gilbert Scott (not to be confused with his grandson, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, architect of Liverpool Cathedral fame), Mountfort must have been well versed in the technical details of Gothic. In 1861 an interesting episode occurred. The Cathedral Commission had chosen Gilbert Scott (later Sir Gilbert) to draw the Christchurch Cathedral plans in England, and the question came up of the choice of a supervising architect in New Zealand. Mountfort expected to be appointed and when the commission insisted on someone being sent from England, the local newspapers made a stir. The other architects in the town wrote a letter to the Christchurch Press of 15 February 1861, saying that Mountfort would be the most suitable choice. The outcome was, however, that Robert Speechley was sent from England and he arrived in September 1864.

Speechley returned to England a few years later when the work was suspended for financial reasons. In 1873 Mountfort was appointed supervising architect. He varied Scott's design, notably the tower, and carried out individual details himself, such including the west entrance porch, font, Harper Memorial, and north porch.

His other major work, one of the treasures of New Zealand, is the Canterbury Provincial Building, situated in the centre of Christchurch. The main part of this was completed in 1865 and by this time Mountfort's reputation was established. Other works he designed were the Canterbury College Hall, Trinity Congregational Church, cathedral churches of Auckland and Napier, cathedral church of Jesselton, the capital of British North Borneo, the Canterbury Museum, some of the early houses, portions of the Christ's College chapel, the Christchurch Club, and office buildings in central Christchurch. He had a partner named Luck (brother-in-law), and his work was carried on by his son Cyril J. Mountfort, who was not in the same class as his father in design ability.

Today an assessment of his work shows us an architectural giant among the sandhills, swamps, and open spaces of the Canterbury Plains. His ability and dedication were unquestionable. It is said that towards the end of his life professional jealousy tended to diminish his splendour. That, however, has not clouded the issue to posterity, that here was a genius working in the raw materials and severely crude limitations of the early days. Had he been practising in England with its opportunities of money and variety, no doubt he would have become famous there. He was the founder of an architectural tradition, the roots of which run back to the establishment of the settlement of the province of Canterbury.

Mountfort died at Christchurch on 15 March 1898.

by Paul Pascoe, A.R.I.B.A., Architect, Christchurch.

• History of Christchurch Cathedral, McKenzie, A. M. (1931)
• History of the Canterbury Provincial Buildings, Taylor, C. R. H. (1929).

Throughout the country there are many mountain clubs which have played an important role in the encouragement of tramping and mountaineering, the senior being the New Zealand Alpine Club. This was formed in 1891 largely on the model of the Alpine Club, London, and has branches in each of the principal cities, as well as one in Sydney to represent Australia. The other major climbing club is the Canterbury Mountaineering Club in Christchurch, and both have built a considerable number of huts in the Southern Alps. In the North Island there are over 26 tramping clubs and in the South Island over nine. Total membership today amounts to about 4,500. The Tararua Tramping Club, which was founded in 1919, is the largest. With the Tararua Ranges so readily accessible from Wellington, it was in fact the first home of tramping. Although clubs are mainly concerned with tramping and have built huts and tracks throughout most of the tramping areas, many of them encourage some mountaineering among their members. Because of the nature of New Zealand bush and hill country, tramping is a craft of some standing in itself and makes a smooth transition into mountaineering proper. To coordinate and represent the joint interests of all the mountain clubs, the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand was founded as a national body in 1931. This has representatives on most of the National Park Boards and on a number of other national and regional bodies. Ski-ing clubs and deer-stalking associations are affiliated to it. It plays a major part in the national Search and Rescue Organisation, in the fostering of safety in the mountains, and, more recently, in the organisation of mountain-craft instruction.

by John Henry Leonard, M.SC., Secretary, Auckland Section, New Zealand Alpine Club, Auckland.

• The High Alps of New Zealand, Green, W. S. (1883)
• Climbs in the New Zealand Alps, Fitzgerald, E. A. (1896)
• Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand, Harper, A. P. (1896)
• Great Days in New Zealand Mountaineering, Pascoe, J. D. (1958)
• New Zealand Alpine Journal (1892–1964).

Then, after a lull around the turn of the century, the second period of major achievements, 1905–14 began. Our two most famous guides, Peter and Alex Graham, made their appearance. Peter Graham led the first traverse of Mount Cook in 1906 and followed it with many outstanding climbs. Newton, Teichelmann, and Alex Graham specialised in the heavily glaciated region at the head of the Fox and made first ascents of a further six peaks – La Perouse, Hicks, Lendenfeld, Haast, Douglas, and Torres, all 10,000 footers. A band of fine guides was gathered at the Hermitage, where Peter Graham, as chief guide from 1906 to 1922, established a tradition and an attitude towards the mountains of which the influence continues still. Within this period, too, some climbers were active in the Otago Alps, where in 1909 the beautiful peak of Aspiring was climbed. Some early climbs were made from the Rangitata, with the first ascent of D'Archiac in 1910.

After the First World War, guideless climbing steadily grew, especially under the inspiration of the Englishman, Porter. Then in the early 1930s it experienced an upsurge of interest which in the course of a few years swept the Alps from end to end with bands of enthusiastic climbers. The valleys and mountains of Otago, Westland, and South and North Canterbury were thoroughly explored, and a succession of new climbs and new crossings has continued down to the present day. These expeditions, which were often of first-class importance, are recorded in the journals of the New Zealand Alpine Club and the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, but are too numerous to be mentioned here. The climbing of the last three decades, however, has been marked by the presence of great numbers of student climbers, a steady progress in the development of mountaineering skills, a growth in the number and influence of mountain clubs, and a parallel increase in the popularity of tramping. Finally, as a natural outcome of this mountaineering flood-tide, several expeditions have been made overseas. The first expedition to the Himalayas took place in 1951. At its conclusion Hillary and Riddiford joined Shipton's reconnaissance of Everest and kindled the spark which resulted in Hillary and Lowe's part in the 1953 ascent. Since then there have been expeditions to the Himalayas, Peru, Antarctic, and New Guinea.

The history of mountaineering in New Zealand, as distinct from exploration, had its beginning in 1882. In that year the English climber W. S. Green, with Boss and Kaufmann, of Grindelwald, climbed to within 200 ft of the summit of Mount Cook by an approach from the Tasman Glacier. The main result of Green's achievement, however, was to arouse the interest of New Zealanders themselves in mountain climbing, and provided the stimulus for its further growth. This interest then led to the first complete ascent of Mount Cook in 1894 by three New Zealanders, Fyfe, Clarke, and Graham. They made their climb from the Hooker Glacier, but on account of its difficulty their route was not repeated until 1955 when it was used again, appropriately, for the hundredth ascent of that mountain.

Not unnaturally the first epoch in New Zealand's alpine history, roughly 1882–1904, was chiefly concerned with the central part of the Alps among the Tasman, Hooker, Murchison, and Godley Glaciers, and with quests for the highest peaks. In the nineties there was a steady but small band of overseas and indigenous climbers struggling against big difficulties and making important climbs. Names such as Mannering, Dixon, Fitzgerald, Zurbriggen, and Ross stand out. Douglas and Harper were exploring the valleys of the West Coast and Grave and his companions the Milford regions. During this period there took place the founding of the New Zealand Alpine Club in 1891, the building in 1884 of a valuable base for expeditions into the Mount Cook area, the Hermitage, and the ascent of seven of the 17 peaks over 10,000 ft.

Mountaineering consists of travelling and climbing in mountain country and encountering the scenes of grandeur and beauty, with the discipline and adventure which all this involves. And New Zealand is a country which offers great opportunities for such a sport which, during the last 30 years especially, has been widely and increasingly followed. The bush, forest, and tussock-clad hills of the North Island – the Waitakere, Ruahine, Kaimanawa, and Tararua Ranges, for example – are mainly fields for tramping, and many clubs actively use them. The four volcanic mountains of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, and Egmont provide some scope for rock and snow climbing, while Ruapehu in particular is a large and growing centre for skiing. But it is the central chain of the Southern Alps, with its innumerable sub-ranges stretching from Arthur's Pass in the north to Mount Tutuko in the south, which gives to this country its reputation among mountaineers. Further north are the Kaikoura and Spenser Ranges and further south the rugged terrain of Fiordland. The greater peaks and glaciers, however, lie between.

The Southern Alps are highly glaciated. This means that the problems of snow, ice, glacier, and icefall are significant, and that many of the major climbs require sustained icecraft of a high standard. Moreover, since the rock faces in many regions tend to be somewhat unsound, New Zealand climbers are inclined to prefer snow routes. Particularly outside the Mount Cook district, climbing trips tend to retain their expeditionary character, for the climber in many areas still has to contend with long days of pack carrying, river crossings, and high camps before he can get to his peaks. Indeed, in the early days these factors played a very considerable part in the climbing programme. But the approach to the mountains has its own charm. There are the wide river flats of Canterbury, the lovely grass and beech-covered valleys of Otago, and the steep-sided gorges of the West Coast.

Motueka is situated on the small Motueka Plain near the Motueka River which enters Tasman Bay about 3 miles north of the town. To the west of the valley the land rises steeply to the Arthur and Pikiruna Ranges, and to the south the flat is broken by the gently rolling Moutere Hills. The Nelson-Collingwood road passes through the town. Motueka is 34 miles north-west of Nelson, 26 miles north-west of Richmond, and 35 miles south-east of Takaka. Port Motueka, 2 miles south-east of Motueka, on a tidal lagoon of some 2,500 acres, provides sheltered berthage for coastal vessels serving the borough and district.

The rural activities of the district include sheep and cattle raising, tobacco and hop growing, fruit-growing, and market gardening. The bulk of New Zealand's tobacco and hops is grown within a 10-mile radius of Motueka. There is a hop research station at Riwaka (3½ miles north), and at Umukuri (4 miles north-west) there is a tobacco research station. At Riwaka tobacco is manufactured from locally grown leaf, and fruit is processed and canned. There is also an agricultural limeworks nearby. At Port Motueka there are cool stores and tobacco kilns, fish is processed and packed, and boat-building is carried on. Motueka is primarily a servicing centre for the district. Industries in the town include tobacco processing and manufacture; fruit packing, processing, and canning; general engineering; the manufacture of orchard and farm equipment, small machines, and appliances; the making of knitwear; timber production and joinery; and the making of concrete products.

The name of the locality is said to have been Motu weka (motu: a small wood or “bush island”; weka: woodhen). Vestiges of old village sites and other evidence of former Maori settlement have been found about Port Motueka. The first known European visitor to the coast near Motueka was d'Urville, of the French corvette Astrolabe. He explored and described much of the Tasman Bay shore line. The three ships carrying the New Zealand Company's Nelson expedition, led by Captain Arthur Wakefield, anchored at Astrolabe Roads, north of Kaiteriteri Beach (about 10 miles due north of Motueka) in October 1841. Kaiteriteri was selected as a site for the first settlement but was later abandoned in favour of “Nelson Haven”. The exceptional fertility of the soil and the suitability of the surrounding land for small farm settlement were the main reasons for the establishment of the second town of the Nelson settlement at Motueka in 1842. It was created a borough in 1900.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 2,464; 1956 census, 2,824; 1961 census, 3,310.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.