THE HERMIT OF MILFORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1919, Page 5

THE HERMIT OF MILFORD.

MR. DONALD SUTHERLAND'S i DEATH. ' "I The death of Mr. Donald StrtherUid, of tho Milford Sound accommod&tlbn house, removes one whose personality was not without historic interefltj upd who had become known to la very wide Circle hi tourists and travellers. He ««d his wife lived alone in the bouse on tho flat, nearly two mibs from Sandfly Point. He had been aiUvg -J for about thi°ee years, asthma • - weakness of the heart compelling Utn to lie up frequently. Mr. Sutherland J was an old sailor of Highland birth, Mild inherited the tough endurance and adf-

reliance combined with the edventnriM -w£ spirit of his race. He took part to. . • ths Maori war, and sought hi* fttffnife on more than one of the goldfleids of s; New Zealand in the early days. It wm «o far back as 1678 that ht hw»n to ' t ruise round the Otago Sounds in a little £ l)oat entirely alone, living on siwtk Mfds and flub as he could catch. Be fcft notices and records at various 4p?ti where he had landed and campS^,'god « when the Rotorua, a little vesMl of '« 128 tons, visited Milford Souiid in De- | cember, IS7S, he was found • - under a tent fly near the Site o! the '"Si present accommodation house. He hid "8 been exploring up the Arthur' fiivef, wd had discovered Lake Ada, which vu io

named by one of the Rotorua'* pas- ' scngers after a lady who formed on* . of the company. Mr. Sutherland sqld , to the passengers bird skina opd eflwri • odds and ends sthd received flour |H tea and other provisions in return. B#tt» V ' erland continued, with lwt rare ys£t*r ; .,' to civilisation, his lonely existence in 1 -*''J this remote spot, till, in 1891, he took home to share his isolation a vrldewpd '& lady whom he married in Dunedih. He* ■, j fore this he had earned his chief'title to fame by the discovery in 1888 of the wonderful Sutherland Falls, named after 1 him, and generally spoken of as the highest waterfalls in the world. The > discovery of McKinnon Pass ,ftbout this time, and the subsequent opening up of >i the To Anau-Milford track led to Mr and Mrs. Sutherland taking charge of an vi accommodation house which is really I .Jj the terminus of this far-famed walk. The :J§j

track ends at Sandfly Point, opposite tile ''iM house, and Mr. Sutherland had a motor . boat in which to bring traveller* across, .jH To the very end it was only while the '-9 track was open during the summer sea. son that ho was at all in touch with. the outside world, and for the greater part of the year he was quite content to remain in complete isolation. Mr. v'fl ■Sutherland was a man well over 80 years of age, and was a figure of ro- . ■nantic interest, who will be much i\H misßed by thoso who have opportunity to visit the magnificent scenery of the Milford district.—Otago Daily Time*. ' ' H