Miranda Naturalists' Trust - History of The Miranda Naturalists' Trust

History of The Miranda Naturalists' Trust

The Miranda Naturalists' Trust was established in 1975 by a group of Auckland-based birdwatchers. One of them was Richard (Dick) B. Sibson. He had arrived in Auckland from England in 1939 to take up a position as a classics' master with King's College at Middlemore. He was a keen birdwatcher, making bicycle tours to the Firth of Thames in the 1940s, e.g. in 1942 with a group of students from King's College. At Miranda, at the site of a then operating lime-works, he discovered a bird high-tide roost with Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica), Wrybills (Anarhynchus frontalis) and South Island Pied Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus). Other founders of the MNT were author and naturalist Ronald Lockley and Beth Brown. Beth was later to become the South Auckland representative and the first woman president of the Ornithological Society.

In 1973 Beth Brown had the first serious thoughts about the building of a birders' lodge near a wading bird roost. Miranda provided a good spot as here birds could always be seen within walking distance. The plan was put to a meeting of Auckland members of the Ornithological Society in March 1974. Here a committee was set up to bring the idea to practice. Later in the year the idea developed into establishing a “wildlife trust”.