David John Gunn

Who was David John Gunn?

David John Gunn was a farmer and bushman who ran cattle in the Hollyford Valley, Fiordland and in South Westland, New Zealand. 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, which he would continue to do for the rest of his life, dying on Christmas Day 1955 while fording the Hollyford River.