Sir Victor Davies Memorial, Lucy's Gully

This memorial to Sir Victor Caddy Davies (1887 - 1977) was erected amongst the redwood plantation of Lucy's Gully, within Te Papakura O Taranaki (formally Egmont National Park), sometime following Sir Victor Davies death. It is presently unclear when, and by whom, the memorial was erected.

Sir Victor Caddy Davies was New Zealand's foremost nurseryman and authority on trees and shrubs of his era. By the 1970s, his Westown nursery business, Duncan and Davies, was the largest exporter and importer of shrubs in Australia and New Zealand. 

The coastal/California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) plantation within which the memorial is located, was part of a larger area of exotic timber trees planted at the foothills of the Kaitake Range from 1933, as part of a work scheme for unemployed persons during the Great Depression. 

Whilst many of the other exotic trees comprising the plantation have since been felled, the magnificent redwoods remain and have special protection under the Egmont National Park Management Plan.

Documents

Redwood Plantation, Kaitake Ranges book (extract)