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Arthur Dunn passes away

  • 29 Aug 2008

 

Arthur Dunn on a Te Araroa stile - Dunn's bush beyond.
Fiona Mackenzie

Arthur Dunn on a Te Araroa stile - Dunn's bush beyond.

 

Arthur Dunn died Monday, aged 69. The Puhoi sheep farmer was well-known for the work he and wife Val undertook to protect native forest, the birdlife within it, and to open that forest to people.

 

Monday evening, Arthur had not returned from a bait run within Dunn's Bush, and a Search and Rescue Operations (SAROP) team found him within the forest later that night.

 

Arthur and Val donated Remiger's Bush Scenic Reserve to the nation, and created the two QEII National Trust Reserves known as Dunn's Bush. Arthur did botanical surveys right across the Rodney district. He and Val also ran a nursery for native plants. The money raised went to Forest and Bird projects.

 

In 2006, when Te Araroa was seeking a route south from Moirs Hill to Puhoi, Arthur contacted the trust to say he'd be putting an easement 3.5 kilometres across the back of his farm to take walkers from Ahuroa Road, just below the Moirs Hill summit through to Remigers Road, within a few kilometres of Puhoi.

 

He then rolled up his sleeves to help build the stiles that would take Te Araroa walkers through the western margin of Dunn's bush, and across the farm. When our construction team's ute got stuck, Arthur brought up his tractor to pull it out.

 

Arthur and Val have five children. He will be buried at the historic Puhoi cemetery today.

Page last updated: Jul 28, 2020, 5:08 PM