In the 1950s Ross Adamson spent three years in caves in the Silver Peaks – the hills behind Dunedin. He hid from police manhunts. He had an unpaid debt, had stolen a rifle and was picking off sheep from the backblocks. He even had a cave-mate – a pet wild pig. Eventually he came out, the court fined him, and he later married. There's an excellent radio interview about it on http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Tales-Of-The-Lost---The-Silverpeaks-Hermit/tabid/506/articleID/58252/Default.aspx
It was a very public secret that Ross Adamson was the man who went bush for about three years in the 1950s. In March and April 1958 police repeatedly searched the Silver Peaks for a mystery man who had taken food, books, and even a rifle, from nearby hunters' huts. Adamson, a former furniture shop worker, with excellent bushcraft skills, hid and watched as police searched the cave in which he slept. When the police left, they admitted the bushman, who they thought left Dunedin more than three years before, would be found only when he wanted to be.
Mr Adamson, who had only one lung after a childhood illness, was caught at Whare Flat three weeks later by off-duty constables on a shooting trip. It is presumed that friends from the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club (of which he had been a member) talked him into giving himself up. He was convicted of theft.
A fellow OTMC club member wrote about him : Nice guy. Working for L T Martins in fancy furniture. Small. Some hang-ups. Disagreement. Found out not to be a partner. “Little Ross” Adamson. Disappeared. Went all round South Island. Seen in a few different places. Seen peering through window at Jubilee Hut. Caught some sheep. “Big Ross” Lake, a friend, and another male sought out Little Ross (with the knowledge of the police) and persuaded him to come out after two years. Police lenient. Lived normal life. Married. Children.
A further comment by another: A little man – had a swelling on the side of his face which embarrassed him. Quite withdrawn but had a great sense of humour when you got to know him. An excellent bushman and a good teacher and leader in the hills. In the late sixties he worked for Valley Industries as a sheet metal worker and lived in a flat in (I think) Heriot Row – lived alone. Lots of stories about his history.
http://marvin.otago.ac.nz/photos/item_details.php?recid=Box-004&itemid=20880
http://otmc.co.nz/files/bulletin_pdf_files/2009/nov2009.pdf
http://blog.teara.govt.nz/2008/10/20/ross-the-hermit/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10473963