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Story: Freshwater fishing

Duke of York fishing

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Duke of York fishing

The Duke of York, later King George VI (right), and his gillie Frederick Moorhouse, conservator of Fish and Game, holding a wading staff, fish the Tongariro River in 1927. Both men are wearing chest waders and the Duke is fishing a wet fly downstream. The word gillie describes a non-fishing attendant – derived from Gaelic, it originally meant manservant. Using a gillie was common for the wealthy in England, but did not become an established practice in New Zealand.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PAColl-7081-58

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Freshwater fishing – An imported tradition, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/18237/duke-of-york-fishing (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 1 March 2009.