Historic HB: The battle to climb Mount Ruapehu
12 Mar, 2021 02:43 PM
7 minutes to read
Lydia Birch, the first European woman to ascend Mount Ruapehu on March 9, 1881. Credit: Patricia Keiller
Hawkes Bay Today
By: Michael Fowler The past week marked International Women s Day on March 8 and the next day the first ascent of the 2797m Mount Ruapehu by a European woman – Lydia Birch, 140 years ago on March 9, 1881.
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Lydia Etheldreda Larden was born in England in 1853, and married in England her cousin, William John Birch in 1874.
William brought his new bride to New Zealand to Hawke s Bay to the remote Erewhon Station, a 115,100 acre (46,579ha) property in the Inland Patea (then part of Hawke s Bay province) he farmed with his brother Azim.
The ‘Alias’ alum has Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, nine, with her former husband – whom she split with in 2015 after a decade of marriage – and has said having to put on a brave face amid the divorce for the sake of her brood was tough