Whanganui artist’s Tongariro National Park guide wins Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Heritage Award

Desmond Bovey's Tongariro National Park: An artist’s field guide won the Heritage Award at this year’s Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Whanganui artist and writer Desmond Bovey has won the Mountain Film and Book Festival Heritage Award for his book Tongariro National Park: An artist’s field guide.

The judges described the book as “magical” and praised its immense value as a guide and companion for mountain walkers and nature artists.

The book was submitted for the award by publishers Potton & Burton, and Bovey said it was an honour to receive it.

“For myself, for the publishers, and above all for Tongariro National Park itself,” he said.

“The book has been a journey of discovery and it is my hope that it will be also for its readers and that it will contribute to their own love of the park’s powerful landscapes.”

An encounter with a kārearea on the Te Araroa trail inspired the book, although Bovey said he did not realise it at the time.

Unable to photograph the native falcon before it flew away, Bovey, an accomplished illustrator, hastily sketched the bird from memory and it would eventually become the first of about 400 illustrations included in Tongariro National Park: An artist’s field guide.

Desmond Bovey's kārearea illustration graces the cover of his award-winning field guide to Tongariro National Park.

Having spent many years as an illustrator, he had been living overseas for 30 years, working mainly in France.

“Like everyone who has lived away from their country of birth, I was aware of what I’d left behind, unsure of what I would find on my return. Thirty years in France had left me with a brain crowded with language and culture now largely useless.

“Over the next year, I returned to the park repeatedly, equipped with sketchbooks and pencils. I drew what I saw. The project grew almost organically.”

The book was Bovey’s first foray as a writer and he was happy, he said, that his prose had been well received along with the illustrations.

Published last year and launched at the 2023 Festival Fringe programme of the Whanganui Literary Festival, followed by a second launch at Naylor’s Bookshop in Tūrangi, demand for the book has warranted a second printing.

The Mountain Film and Book Festival was founded by Wānaka residents Mark and Jo Sedon in 2002, after Mark got the idea from visiting a festival in Australia’s Blue Mountains. A charitable trust was formed and the festival became an annual event.

Film screenings and live events take place in Wānaka and Queenstown during June and July, and there is an online festival for participants in New Zealand and Australia.

The book section has prizes in three categories and one major prize. Tongariro National Par: An artist’s field guide was one of three finalists in the heritage category, selected over Takahē — Bird of Dreams by Alison Ballance, and Erebus: The Ice Dragon by Colin Monteath.

Liz Wylie is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. She joined the editorial team in 2014 and regularly covers stories from Whanganui and the wider region. She also writes features and profile stories.