David John Gunn (1887-1955) was a farmer and bushman who ran cattle in the Hollyford Valley, Fiordland and in South Westland

Westland District

Westland District is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Its population is - Government :The Westland District is governed by an elected Council, headed by an elected Mayor. The Mayor is elected at large. The current Mayor is Maureen Pugh. Councillors are...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Gunn cut a number of well used tracks and erected huts in the more remote parts of his run. Gunn came to public attention in 1936 with a speedy journey to bring assistance to the injured passengers of a cargo plane he had seen crash into the sea. He covered the 90 kilometre, four day journey in just 20 hours, a feat which earned him King George IV's Coronation Medal the following year.

In 1936, he began guiding tramping parties down his Hollyford Track

Hollyford Track

The Hollyford Track is a tramping track in New Zealand. Located at the northern edge of Fiordland, in the southwestern South Island, it is unusual among Fiordland's major tracks in that it is largely flat and accessible year-round...

, which he would continue to do for the rest of his life, dying on Christmas Day 1955 while fording the Hollyford River

Hollyford River

The Hollyford River is located in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It runs for eighty miles in Fiordland, its source being ten kilometres to the north of the northern tip of Lake Te Anau and close to the Homer Tunnel....

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