13 June 2005
Celebrating the man who put Canterbury/Westland on the map
A new book from Canterbury University Press celebrates a pioneer geologist who produced the first maps of New Zealand’s
Southern Alps.
Julius Haast in the Southern Alps, by Dr Colin Burrows, looks at the accomplishments of the central South Island’s
pioneer glacial geologist, a man whose name lives on in many of the region’s landscape features and flora.
Julius Haast (1822-87) was the first scientist to enter the central Southern Alps. As provincial geologist for
Canterbury, he was employed to make topographic and geological maps of the vast, unsurveyed hill and mountain country of
the Canterbury/Westland region and to look for mineral resources.
The book traces the expeditions of Haast’s survey parties between 1861 and 1869 and outlines their results, illustrated
by many of Haast’s original drawings as well as modern images.
In particular, the book focuses on Haast’s innovative studies of the glacial geology of the central Southern Alps. It
looks at Haast’s observations on the evidence for glacial activity in the region, alongside chapters which cover the
information accumulated since Haast’s time.
Using much of his own research, Dr Burrows updates Haast’s work by examining the region’s glacial record back to the
beginning of the Ice Age, two and a half million years ago, to the present day.
Dr Burrows says his inspiration for writing the book was to see that Haast got due credit for his contribution to
science and to ensure many of Haast’s watercolours, that depict that landscape as he found it in the 1860s, got to see
the light of day.
“I hope this book will focus attention anew on the role of Julius Haast as the main founder of a mountain research
tradition in this country.”
Dr Burrows is a Christchurch-based plant scientist interested in the glaciers of Canterbury-Westland and their history,
as well as in the biology of the Ice Age times. He formerly taught at the University of Canterbury and is now a member
of its Council, an ecological consultant and a conservationist helping to preserve natural areas. His research career
and keen interest in mountaineering took him to many of the locations that Haast visited in the 1860s.
Among his many life achievements, Haast founded the Canterbury Museum and was later appointed director, and so it is
fitting that Julius Haast in the Southern Alps will be officially launched at the museum this Thursday, 16 June, at 6pm.
Julius Haast in the Southern Alps was published with the help of a generous grant from the Brian Mason Scientific and
Technical Trust, a charitable trust supporting the advancement of science and technology in Canterbury and Westland.
ENDS