Photographer launches Park book

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 18, 29 September 1987, Page 4

Photographer launches Park book

A great number of invited guests, friends and admirers of the photographic skills of New Zealand Craig Potton, crammed into the visitors centre at Park Headquarters last Tuesday afternoon for the launching of his latest book 'Tongariro - A Sacred Gift'. The release of the book coincides with the centennial celebrations of Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest established National Park. To assemble the material for the book, author/ photographer Craig Potton lived for more than a year in the park itself. The park's volcanic origins, human history and flora and fauna, as well as the problems associated with its conservation and exploitation are explored, both in the 140 full colour illustrations and in the text. The foreword begins: 'You open the book and there unfolds a road - its skin is blue, it is summer.' Having previously written four National Park handbooks, Mr Potton said he was happy to be able to concentrate more on aesthetics than the natural history. "I think people respond to beauty more than they do to science. That is something we still don't recognise enough in our

Park interpretation," he said. Mr Potton personally acknowledged the help he received from Park staff while collecting material and compiling the book. The most difficult part of the book, he admitted, was the Maori story. "As a South Island Pakeha, I felt most inadequate trying to deal with that," he said. A chapter of the book is devoted to the concept of 'The Gift' and

Te Heuheu Tukino IV, who in 1887 on behalf of the Tuwharetoa people gifted 6500 acres of land around Tongariro to all New Zealanders. This land became the basis of the Tongariro National Park as we know it today. Mr Potton's interpretation of the park in his book was described as "visually stunning and a fitting tribute to 100 years of the Tongariro National Park."