Making another route when the usual one was closed
1910–2004
Mountaineering
Field ecology and zoology
Women in science
Conservation
Mavis Davidson joined Doreen Pickens and Sheila MacMurray in the first all-women, guideless ascent of Aoraki in 1953.
Mavis Davidson was not a known Timaru resident. Her connection with South Canterbury was forged in the mountains of the Aoraki/Mount Cook region. She climbed there repeatedly, led the first recorded all-women ascent of Aoraki in 1953 and helped document the alpine country for later climbers.
Mavis Melville Gedye was born at Te Karaka, near Gisborne, on 10 February 1910. She trained in shorthand, typing and bookkeeping and began her working life in clerical and secretarial positions.
Her path into science was neither early nor straightforward. In 1940, aged 30, Mavis began studying botany and zoology at Victoria University College. Her studies were interrupted during the Second World War when she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She served in Wellington’s coastal defences and attained the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, Mavis returned to university. She completed a Bachelor of Science in 1946 and a Master of Science in zoology in 1950, researching the New Zealand mudfish, Neochanna apoda.
By then, the mountains were already an important part of her life. Mavis had joined the Tararua Tramping Club in 1934 and developed considerable tramping and climbing experience.
Women were not formally excluded from every New Zealand mountaineering organisation, but individual expedition leaders could still decide that difficult trips were unsuitable for them. Mavis was refused a place on at least one expedition because the journey might involve climbing.
She responded by organising expeditions of her own.
On 6 January 1953, Mavis led Doreen Pickens and Sheila MacMurray to the summit of Aoraki/Mount Cook. They completed the first recorded all-women, unguided ascent of New Zealand’s highest mountain.
This was not a novelty expedition or an individual accomplishment disguised as one. A successful rope team depends on the fitness, technical ability, judgement and trust of every climber. Mavis organised and led the party, but Doreen and Sheila were skilled partners whose work made the ascent possible.
Mavis continued climbing in the Aoraki/Mount Cook region and later led all-women ascents of Tititea/Mount Aspiring and Mount Avalanche. She also worked with mountaineer and photographer Rod Hewitt on guides to the Southern Alps, turning practical experience into information other climbers could use.
Her connection with South Canterbury comes through this repeated exploration and documentation of the Aoraki alpine region. There is no evidence that she lived or worked in Timaru itself, but her climbing forms part of the history of Aoraki, the national park and the wider Mackenzie district.
Mavis also established an important scientific career. After teaching zoology at Victoria University College, she joined the New Zealand Forest Service as a biologist in 1958. Her early work included research into possum control and damage caused by red deer.
She then developed a long-term study of introduced sika deer in the Kaimanawa and Kaweka ranges. The work required sustained travel through difficult country, careful observation and practical methods for tracing the movement of deer.
Mavis used snares designed to place coloured collars around animals without holding them permanently. Hunters who later recovered the collars could report where and when the deer had been found. This helped her build evidence about the distribution and movement of the herds.
Her research contributed to a better understanding of introduced deer, native vegetation and forest ecology. She became a recognised authority on sika deer and continued researching and publishing after retiring from the Forest Service in 1975.
In 1992, Mavis was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to science and mountaineering. She died on 27 May 2004, aged 94.
Mavis’s impact came from more than reaching summits. When an expedition did not include her, she created another opportunity. When her early employment did not provide the work she wanted, she returned to study. When better evidence was needed about introduced deer and forest damage, she gathered it in the field.
She helped make women’s leadership more visible in mountaineering and science, while leaving practical knowledge that climbers, researchers and land managers could continue to use.
Her impact: Mavis Davidson expanded the visible place of women in New Zealand mountaineering and advanced scientific understanding of introduced deer and forest ecology. Her work showed that women could organise demanding expeditions, lead capable teams, develop field-research methods and become recognised experts.
Related WuHoo story: More Than Petticoats on the Peaks: Women and the Sacred Slopes of Aoraki
Sources
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, “Davidson, Mavis Melville”, by Rebekah White
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6d6/davidson-mavis-melville
Te Ara, “The first all-woman ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook”
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/47693/the-first-all-woman-ascent-of-aorakimount-cook
A. D. Thomson, “Tribute to Mavis Davidson, pioneer forester, field ecologist and mountaineer”, New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter, no. 50, December 1997
https://www.nzbotanicalsociety.org.nz/newsletter/NZBotSoc-1997-50.pdf
C. L. Batcheler, “Obituary: Mavis Davidson”, New Zealand Ecological Society Newsletter, no. 110, August 2004
https://newzealandecology.org/sites/default/files/EcolNews_August_2004_110.pdf