Danish Southlander and 'Men of the Trees' pioneer Kaj Hogh (90) well recalls his trips to Te Anau with his farming boss as part of the voluntary group to help Southland dentist Ivon Wilson develop what is now the treasured Ivon Wilson Park around Lake Henry.

Submissions are currently being called on an application by an Australian floating sauna operator to operate a floating sauna on the picturesque and tranquil lake in the park – a proposal that’s drawn both public criticism and concerns about “misinformation”.

Some locals have questioned whether this commercial use is in keeping with the original intent of the park as created by Ivon and his helpers from the late 1950s.

Kaj Hogh was part of the 'Men of the Trees' volunteer group that helped establish Ivon Wilson Park. Photo: Supplied

But Kaj, who arrived in New Zealand as a young Danish immigrant under the post-World War II ‘Ten Pound Poms’ Assisted Migration Scheme, reckons Ivon and the boys from back then would think the floating sauna idea was alright: “I’d say so,” he says.

“Ivon just wanted to create a park and have a pond for the kids to catch fish in,” Kaj, who still helps on his 40-acre Longbush family lifestyle block, says.

A crew of Southland men, known as ‘Men of the Trees’, and a few extras helping Ivon included Kaj, whose Woodlands farmer boss Alex Campbell brought him along, and Automobile Association Motor Camp operator Colin Tauri.

The camp was adjacent to the park.

Wilson – president of the Southland Automobile Association from 1945 until 1951, began developing the park in 1958 and Kaj says they’d all come up to Te Anau from around Southland for regular working bees.

The 35ha site was covered in scrub and gorse – “it was a bit rough”, and Kaj says it took them about a year to tidy the area up and get the trees that Ivon had sourced from all over planted.

“We’d go back up and weed around the native trees after a year or so.

“We used mattocks, and slashers for the gorse. The Men of the Trees was a big group around our area (in Southland),” Kaj says. “They were a great group of guys. Most of them are gone now.”

The site was entirely cleared by hand, and he remembers Ivon sourcing and planting all the native trees and species, 5000 all up.

Southland District Council's Ivon Wilson Park, on the edge of Te Anau, is popular with families and school groups, and as a venue for weddings, picnics, frisbee golf and photos. Photo: Southland App

He’s not totally sure but believes the park land was probably made available by the likes of government department Lands and Survey as about that time the department was allocating land as farm ballot blocks between The Key and Te Anau.

“When we first started going up there (to Te Anau) it was all tussocks out there – a pub that I think doubled as a shop and half a dozen cribs,” Kaj says.

“The airstrip was inland a bit from the Lake Te Anau foreshore and there was manuka 2m to 3m tall between the lakefront and airstrip.”

Kaj, who arrived as a new immigrant, aged 24, from Denmark on the programme to encourage more migrant workers, paid 10 pound for the privilege and was allowed to stay two years.

He travelled south by ferry from Wellington to Lyttelton then down to Woodlands on the train.

After buying a car he discovered Te Anau and fell in love with the bush and beauty.

The Department of Labour had secured him the Woodlands farm worker job.

“I liked it that much that I decided to stay,” Kaj says. He met Kiwi girl June, who still reckons Kaj is “pretty good looking” and it was “love at first sight”. They married almost 60 years ago.

Te Anau Lakeview Kiwi Holiday Park & Motels director Clint Tauri says he recalls going to the park, as a 5-year-old with his dad, who was helping clear the ground, and meeting Kaj and the other men.

The old photo Tauri has supplied (above) shows the gang with Colin Tauri and little Clint, at left in front, around 1961: “I’m interested to see the guys again,” Kaj says, enjoying the photo.

Kaj still farms his small farmlet with family at Longbush, near Invercargill.

Submissions on the floating sauna proposal have been rolling in to the Southland District Council, and the local Fiordland Community Board is encouraging people to have their say.

Submissions close on 26th March.

CLICK HERE for more information.

Sue Fea is a senior journalist with more than 40-years experience covering police, social and general news in the southern regions.