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John Thorpe Holloway (15 November 1914 – 10 June 1977) was a New Zealand alpine explorer and forest ecologist. He was born in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, New Zealand, on 15 November 1914. He was the only child of Margaret Brenda North and husband John Ernest Holloway, a
vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.


Early life

Along with his mother and father, Holloway grew up in rural New Zealand until 1916. His family moved for several years until finally they settled down in the town of
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
. His father then became a lecturer of
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
at the
University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...
. Jack Holloway spent most of his childhood attending a boarding school in Oamaru. As a small boy, he enjoyed climbing. After he graduated from the
Waitaki Boys' High School Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. , it has a school roll of approximately 400 students. The ...
in Oamaru he went on to further his schooling at the University of Otago, like his father before him. Holloway graduated in 1937 with a Master of Science degree and honours in botany and chemistry.


Alpine exploration

By the 1930s, John Thorpe Holloway was an established mountaineer. He explored many places, but two of the most known explorations he led were on the Barrier and Olivine ranges. Over the course of eight years Holloway made over 50 new ascents on the Olivine and Barrier Ranges, including discovering twelve new passes, and he produced detailed maps. No one before Holloway had made maps of these mountain ranges. Once Holloway had mapped these new lands, exploration in New Zealand was changed. Holloway led many explorations during what were called the "depression years." He would often trade maps that he had made for food rations in order to survive. Holloway became a member of the
New Zealand Alpine Club The New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest alpine clubs in the world. The NZAC is the national climbing organisation in New Zealand and is a member of the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme. It ...
.


New Zealand Forest Service

In 1938 Holloway sailed for Britain to undertake PhD studies in plant physiology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and Rothamstead Experimental Station. The advent of the Second World War disrupted these plans, and he returned to New Zealand in November 1939 to enlist. Shortly after marrying Una Scott Stevenson, a lab technician, in March 1940 Holloway left New Zealand with the 11th Forest Company, Corps of New Zealand Engineers. Soon after he moved to the outskirts of
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where he worked for four years in the
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
s. However, when Holloway was not working in the sawmills, he started a census of the woodlands that he was exposed to. In 1945, he joined the
New Zealand Forest Service The New Zealand Forest Service was originally established in 1919 as the State Forest Service. The State Forest Service changed its name to the New Zealand Forest Service in 1949, at about the same time that the Forests Act of 1949 passed through ...
. Holloway began to work on the National Forest Survey. Holloway studied the forests of New Zealand and their native wildlife. These observational studies led to many of the papers that Holloway wrote in his life, including "Forests and Climates in South New Zealand.''"''


Major research

One of the more prominent studies completed by Holloway was his study of deer species in
Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...
. In this study, he observed the impact of deer species on the Southland environment. Holloway not only noticed that the species just east of Southland were thriving, but the species in Southland were nearly diminished. He proposed that this change could be due to the "virgin environment." Holloway studied the Long Wood Range's deer population the most thoroughly. He found that the environment's deer population was the lowest in Southland due to newly operating sawmills and
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
. Holloway believed heavily in the preservation of the natural world. After many studies Holloway stated that in order for society to thrive, then it must first think about its surroundings.


References


External links


John Thorpe Holloway's Collection
is in the care of Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Book with John T. Holloway's Thesis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holloway, John Thorpe 1914 births 1977 deaths People from Oxford, New Zealand New Zealand biologists New Zealand mountain climbers New Zealand foresters 20th-century New Zealand scientists People educated at Waitaki Boys' High School University of Otago alumni 20th-century biologists