23/08/2025
Family Sporting Adventures – The Theomins in the Great Outdoors
The Theomin family were no strangers to fresh air and adventure! From the early 1900s, they embraced everything New Zealand’s great outdoors had to offer — especially daughter Dorothy, whose love for the mountains never faded.
Mountain Explorers
Trips to Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1907 and again in 1911 sparked a lifelong passion for tramping and climbing in Dorothy. A treasured photo from March 1911 shows Dorothy (far right), her father David (seated centre), and friend/mountain guide Peter Graham at the Ho**er Hut, taken by Dorothy’s schoolmate Eleanor Joachim.
Summer Escapes
The family also holidayed at Lake Wakatipu, staying at Paradise at the lake’s head — surrounded by epic river valleys and rugged mountain ranges. The perfect setting for adventures and exploration.
Sporting Spirit
Back at home, golf was a favourite pastime for Mrs Theomin, Edward, and Dorothy — a trophy from the Otago Golf Club (NZ’s oldest!) still bears Dorothy’s name. She also enjoyed tennis, hockey, and horse riding — both side-saddle and straight — with her horses even racing at Wingatui.
Sporting Roots
Dorothy’s love of sport was nurtured during her time at Roedean School in England from 1902. Those early years shaped a lifelong passion for physical activity.
On Foot & Horseback
Edward, too, enjoyed the outdoors — particularly walking. In 1915, he and school friend Colin Gilray walked from the Maniototo to Dunedin in just one week. Dorothy’s own adventures took her all over the South Island’s wildest places — fording rivers, tramping tracks, and summiting over 46 peaks in the Southern Alps. Each year, she spent up to 8 weeks in the mountains.
The Theomins truly embraced all that New Zealand had to offer — living life to the fullest through sport, exploration, and the joy of being outdoors.
Photo captions:
1. Dorothy and David outside Ho**er Hut (Hocken Collection)
2. Dorothy and Edward in an ice cave on the Tasman Glacier, 1913
3. Ladies Golf Championship at Otago Golf Club, 1913 — Dorothy seated with clubs, Marie front row in a dark dress. (Otago Witness, 15 January 1913).
4. Margery Blackman Book – Dorothy Theomin of Olveston
Come and join one of our daily 1-hour guided tours and learn more about the Theomin family, their home and how they lived in the early 1900s.
Olveston Historic Home is an authentic historic experience in the heart of Dunedin.
You can check out more about Olveston by visiting our website: https://olveston.co.nz
Article prepared by Vivienne Houston, Guide at Olveston Historic Home.
