Walter Scott Reserve
Mt Pirongia, Waikato
Ngahere Kōrero. Artist: Dannika Tukua
Going without
Writer: Lindsey Dawson
So much change.
That noise is a drone
herding sheep
without dogs.
Those collars corral cows
obeying GPS signals
without fences.
But this bushy slope
on the mountain’s shoulder thrives
without technology.
These 100 acres hum with silence,
glow with green,
smell of loam and leaf fall
and showcase tender baby ferns
that draw circles in the air.
No whizzy gadgets here.
But only one pīwakawaka speaks up,
one kererū lumbers by,
one distant tūī calls.
Shouldn’t there be more?
Just as well kind people
mindfully tend this place,
for without their care
there will be
Oh, so much change.
I once met an engaging Māori man from Pirongia in the Waikato. His Scottish surname matched one in my family tree. Maybe we were cuzzies, we joked. We talked about lovely Mt Pirongia, and he said that, when he was troubled, he would climb its slopes to talk with the patupaiarehe, the fairy people. I went all goose-bumpy. ‘What did they look like?’ I asked. Small, he replied. And pale. And most definitely real. They always eased his mind. Some time I’ll go there, I thought, and finally, I did. I saw no creatures of spirit, but Pirongia’s spirit embraced me. Stepping into Forest & Bird’s Walter Scott Reserve felt like entering ancient glades – deeply shadowed, lush, quiet and fragrant, and blessed by kererū and pīwakawaka. Such balm for the soul.
This 100-acre reserve on the mountain’s southern side was gifted to the Society in 1963 by Mollie and Lilian Valder. They had earlier left it largely untouched, fenced off from their own adjoining farm. Running it was a mighty job for unmarried sisters in the 1930s and 40s. Their friend and neighbour, Walter Scott, mentored them, and so they named the reserve for him. The doughty Valders were cultured – musician Mollie had a grand piano. Lilian was not just handy with axe and gun but was a good soprano as well. What a beautiful legacy they left. And how proud they would be of the local Waikato Branch volunteers who maintain it, clearing tracks and managing 145 bait stations to target rats and possums.
Writer Lindsey Dawson
Ngahere Kōrero
Artist: Dannika Tukua
Artist Dannika Tukua
This place is very dear to my heart. My family have lived and farmed in this area for many generations. While visiting, we were followed by a fantail and greeted by a kererū, and they became the stars of my painting alongside the reserve’s stunning flora. The greenstone taonga represents a large patu found by my grandfather when clearing scrub at Ngutunui.
With moa and huia remains, one can’t help feeling a spiritual connection and immense curiosity about who and what walked before us. It was a privilege to paint my interpretation of this place, a unique treasure and piece of Aotearoa New Zealand history.
Medium: Acrylic paint and pen.