Tramping pack

item details

NameTramping pack

ProductionMountain Equipment Ltd.; manufacturer; late 1960s-1970s; New Zealand

Classificationbags

Materialscanvas, metal, leather

DimensionsApproximate: 450mm (width), 590mm (height), 250mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH026204

Credit lineAcquired 2021

Overview

This featherlite ‘Mountain Mule’ tramping pack was made in the late 1960s or 1970s by the Mountain Equipment company, Christchurch. It was used by a former member of the Tararua Tramping Club, and has a Club badge on the front.

Mountain Mule

Designed by Australian-born mountaineer Arthur Bevan Napper, Mountain Mule packs were ubiquitous among Kiwi trampers by the 1960s. Their lightweight metal frames made them an improvement on earlier A- or H-frame packs, although compared to later packs they were still relatively heavy.

Napper moved to New Zealand before the Second World War, and got tired of having his kidneys crushed on expeditions by A-frame tramping packs that were not well-suited to New Zealand’s rugged conditions. He contacted the Norwegian manufacturers of one of these packs asking if they could produce something capable of carrying up to 100lb, but they replied that they manufactured packs for people, not mules. Napper started making the packs himself in 1950, and the name ‘Mountain Mule’ stuck.

Tararua Tramping Club

The Tararua Tramping Club, founded in 1919, was the first tramping club in New Zealand. Many others soon followed. Members organised group trips, built huts, and cut tracks, and clubrooms were vibrant social spaces.

As of 2021 the Tararua Tramping Club is still extant with approximately 700 members. The Club emblem is a flowering Leucogenes leontopodium, commonly known as the North Island New Zealand edelweiss.

References
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean. 2014. Tramping: A New Zealand History. Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing.
Barnett, Shaun, and Chris Maclean. 2019. Leading the Way: 100 Years of the Tararua Tramping Club. Wellington: The Tararua Tramping Club in conjunction with Potton & Burton.
Tararua Tramping Club. ‘About Us.’ Tararua Tramping Club website. https://www.ttc.org.nz/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TTC/Introduction
Walrond, Carl. 2015. 'Tramping - Equipment and food.' Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 1 July 2015. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/tramping/page-3