The slopes of Mount Taranaki/Egmont were originally reserved to protect the adjacent farm lands from the effects of erosion and flash flood. In 1900 these lands became New Zealand's second national park.
For nearly 50 years Perrine Moncrieff was this country's foremost female conservationist. Born into an upper-class British family, she immigrated to New Zealand in 1921, settled in Nelson and bought land on the shores of Tasman Bay, which became a scenic reserve in the 1930s.
Born in England, Edward Phillips-Turner grew up in Tasmania before settling in New Zealand in 1884. He trained as a surveyor and worked in various parts of New Zealand as well as in Tasmania and New South Wales.
