MOW Mackay Downs Hut to be preserved as an historic hut
Media contacts:
John Mason, DOC Golden Bay Area Manager:
+64 3 525 8026
or
Trish Grant, DOC Communications Advisor:
+64 3 546 3146
Date: 15 September 2008
The Department of Conservation says the Ministry of Works hut in the Mackay Downs area of Kahurangi National Park is to be preserved as an historic hut with people tramping in that area still able to use it for accommodation.
The hut, known as the MOW Hut, was built in 1970 by the then Ministry of Works for engineers and staff assessing and surveying possible road routes between Collingwood and Karamea.
MOW Mackay Downs Hut
DOC Golden Bay Area Manager John Mason said a just-completed historic assessment of the hut determined it was historically significant in relation to the Collingwood-Karamea road route investigation and also as a rare example of a New Zealand Forest Service hut of its type built exactly as designed.
"Our historic assessment found the MOW Hut is the only structure directly related to the investigation into a road route between Collingwood and Karamea that the Government in 1966 authorised the Ministry of Works to carry out. It was built on the site of the first MOW assessment team's tent camp which hadn't sufficiently protected them from wet weather. The site was a base for assessing and surveying the preferred road route down Saxon Ridge to the mouth of Big River.
"Opposition to the road proposal developed out of concern to preserve the Heaphy Track and the environment. The Government did not proceed with building a road, stating there were other road funding priorities.
"The hut is assessed as being nationally significant as a poignant reminder of the hopes and planning for this last new major road building proposal and the national debate that surrounded it. It is also a reminder of the skill of Ministry of Works' staff in planning and undertaking major construction projects, such as roads, in often remote parts of New Zealand.
"Our historical assessment has also determined that it is a nationally rare example of a New Zealand Forest Service SF70 hut built exactly to the original plan with minimal subsequent modification. The SF70 was one of the New Zealand Forest Service standard designs for huts for its hunters and for backcountry recreation.
"Between 1958, when the SF70 was designed, and 1985, more than 150 SF70 huts were built nationally. Most had modifications from the standard design, made either at the time of construction or with later improvements. The MOW Hut is the only one in DOC's Nelson/Marlborough Conservancy built exactly to the original plan.
"The hut is also rare example of a SF70 hut built by an agency other than the New Zealand Forest Service or Lands and Survey Department and for a purpose other than wild animal control or recreation."
The department, following its 2003-2004 review of recreational facilities, had been investigating an option to relocate the hut because it had low use at its current site which doesn't have a track leading to it.
Mr Mason said possible relocation of the hut had been subject to the findings of an historic assessment of the hut and the assessment had established that it was important to its historical significance that it remained where it was. A bunk that had been removed from the hut will be reinstalled to return it to its original six bunks in line with keeping it historically intact.
People staying in the MOW hut have generally been experienced trampers exploring the Mackay Downs area or going to the coast around Kahurangi Point.
DOC talked to five former MOW staff, who either built the MOW hut or were part of the road assessment team, to compile the Historic Heritage Assessment report on the hut, as well as speaking with people who had stayed in the hut in the 1970s and 1980s and drawing on records and documents.