Items from before 1950   

Thirty kilometres west of Gisborne, Doug Cook had long hoped that Eastwoodhill would become a 'nudist centre' from the 20s, A Gisborne Herald ad in the early 50s resulted in about 16 adults and several children coming to 'Douglas Park', where a swimming hole had been created. This venture apparently lasted for "several years", but the distance from Gisborne, lack of legal tenure and finally the offer of a nearby property with easier access, meant Doug's dream couldn't last. (The nearby property suffered from similar problems so people drifted away from that place as well, leading to the 'first demise' of the Gisborne Club in the early 60s.)

The New Zealand history site (www.teara.govt.nz) notes skinny-dipping was "common" among Tararua trampers during the 20s and 30s.

Aside from the early efforts of Perc. Cousins (#50), both Eric Flint (#35, #52) and Bert Britton (#58) offer some insights into how things were before the magazine was established. In 1986, Roy Cox established 'In Touch' (to fill in perceived gaps between individual club newsletters and the Federation's public magazine) one of which commented on the early history, including Eric's start in Auckland.

In June 1999, Ron Rencher, President of ASC, sent the following email to the NZNF Secretary...

Dear Pam,
Here is a very short history of our club.
In 1936 a group of some thirty people met to form the A.S.C. Grounds were obtained in Titirangi belonging to a couple who offered their property for the clubs use, after a while they moved to a section just up the road from the present grounds, In 1941 Bert Brittain purchased our present section, then sold it to Norman Murray, who at a later date gave the grounds to the club. The club grounds have been known as Murrayglade ever since. There was a period when the club changed its name to The A.O.H.C. to make it easier to put adverts in the newspaper, after some of the members left to form a new club they took the name with them, the people who remained reverted back to the original name.
In 1967 a few younger families joined the club which at that stage had very primitive facilities, and with a lot of enthusiasm set to work to build the amenities that we have today, which are second to none in N.Z. Set in five acres of native bush it is a naturists paradise.

(Ron's email gives some hint of the causes of confusion around the main Auckland clubs' names and places in the early days! See also: AOHC, 21 Years in #56.)

An interesting curiosity is reported in #119 - it's a 125 page book titled: Nudism - Is It Desireable? by one Trevor G. Bain, published in Auckland, in 1937.

Early pictures of Perc. Cousins' family property in Stokes Valley, Wellington

Below is a copy of several colour pictures apparently recording, about 1944, the identities of those brave individuals who helped Percy Cousins in Stokes Valley, establish what eventually became the Wellington Sun & Health Club.
All the pictures were originally glued to what appears to be a single (black) page, which appears to have been removed from a family album. They are reproduced here with the layout as they originally appeared on that page, which includes the two hand-written notes.

From the left: (unknown), Gae, Doug, Phyllis and Perc.	Top/Middle	The smiling man is Perc. with his wife Phyllis
The Cousins family and friends at various times	Perc. cutting Doug's hair	First nudist holiday, at Stokes Valley (PW Cousins) about 1944. First contact with organised nudism. Photo by Mrs Cousins
These are unknown.	Bottom/Middle	These are Phyllis (left) unknown (right)

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