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Tom Paterson
Ranger - Westland National ParkAssistant Chief Ranger - Fiordland National ParkNZ Parks WorkedNelson Lakes National ParkFiordland National ParkWestland Tai Poutini National ParkBiography Tom’s outdoors career started in 1958 as a government deer-culler working for the NZ Forest Service in various locations in the South Island.
In 1964 he started ranger work based in Murchison, with track and hut construction and maintenance on Heaphy Track, Paparoa Ranges, Nelson Lakes and up to Lewis Pass. He quickly moved onto the second Ranger position offered at Nelson Lakes National Park heavily involved in the establishment of Park facilities and the establishment of Rotoiti Lodge Educational facility. In 1974 he transferred to Westland Tai Poutini National Park as Senior Ranger at Fox Glacier and Acting Chief Ranger after CR Peter Fletcher was tragically killed on Copland Pass and then in 1978 to Te Anau as Assistant Chief Ranger for Fiordland National Park.
In Fiordland he acted as Seach & Rescue Control Advisor, Civil Defence Coordinator, was the Te Anau representative on the Community Council and President of the NZ Rangers Association. Tom was Acting Chief Ranger for two 10-month periods and was instrumental in the establishment of the Deep Cove Education Hostel and in offshore island management including at The Snares, Stewart Island and Secretary Island, and Codfish Island feral animal clearance. He made a major commitment to the eradication of rats from Breaksea Island that has had a flow-on effect to many other islands both in New Zealand and other parts of the world. Tom was the representative of the National Park Rangers Group during the formation of DOC and moved to Queensland in 1990. In 2021 he authored and published his autobiography, As It Was – The Life & Adventures of a Murchison Boy.
