Roger Giles and dog Jess on Mt Victoria, Devonport. Photo / Brett Phibbs
For 36 years, Roger Giles has walked his dog up Devonport's Mt Victoria every day to weed, pick up rubbish and keep things tidy on the popular spot.
He is like a guardian of the mountain, says Devonport Community Board chairman Mike Cohen.
"The great thing about Roger
is his involvement with the community. His is such an ongoing commitment, which puts what he does into a whole different dimension."
It all began in 1970 when the Devonport Folk Music Club, of which Mr Giles is a longtime member and president, began using Mt Victoria's historic bunker as its club room.
"Just walking up and down the mountain I started picking up litter and weeding," says Mr Giles, 67.
Mr Giles was a shepherd in his native England, and came to New Zealand in 1964 after meeting world champion Kiwi shearer Godfrey Bowen.
He planned to learn New Zealand shearing techniques then return home and make his fortune.
But instead, he ended up marrying a girl from Auckland, moving to the big smoke and staying put.
In those days, Mt Victoria was leased for cattle grazing. Mr Giles campaigned to get the cattle removed as they were neglected.
In 1972 the SPCA stepped in and the Devonport Borough Council removed the cattle and opened the mountain to the public.
With no cattle to eat the weeds and council spraying causing problems, Mr Giles and others formed a group to weed the mountain by hand. People came and went, Mr Giles was a stayer.
"I'm the sole survivor," he says.
Mr Giles, who also cleans up Devonport's Ngataringa Park, is modest about his commitment.
"I think it's probably in my blood. Working on farms you're forever grubbing out docks or thistles. There's an old English saying that one year's seeding is seven years' weeding. I just can't pass it by. The same with litter, it really offends me."Alice Neville
