The Pavlova is a dessert dish that consists a base made of a meringue crust topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits such as kiwis (the fruit!), Strawberries, etc. It is considered a fresh fruit pie with a meringue crust. For years controversy has surrounded the Pavlova with both NZ and Australia claiming it as its own. Who first created the Pavlova is still hotly debated, but the name and the recipes first began appearing soon after Russian prima ballerina, Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1881-1931), toured both Australia and New Zealand in 1926 and Australia again in 1929. Anna Pavlova was considered the greatest ballerina of her time and her visit to New Zealand has been described as "the chief event of 1926." It was said "She does not dance; she soars as though on wings." From this you get the sense that this is a light, airy dessert.
Keith Money, a Pavlova biographer, wrote in his 1982 book Anna Pavlova: Her Life and Art that a chef at a hotel in Wellington, New Zealand created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour. The hotel chef invented was inspired by her tutu, draped in green silk cabbage roses.  The basic shape of the tutu was provided by a meringue case, while the froth of the skirt's net was suggested by whipped cream. To achieve the effect of the green roses the enterprising chef used slices of kiwi fruit, then known as Chinese gooseberries. 
A cookbook published in 1926 by E. Futter titled Home Cookery for New Zealand contained a recipe for "Meringue with Fruit Filling." Although the name Pavlova is not used, the recipe is similar though not identical. It is believed this recipe was used to create the dish in New Zealand during her 1926 tour.
The name "Pavlova" first appeared in print in "Davis Dainty Dishes" (sixth edition) published in 1927 by Davis Gelatine New Zealand Ltd. The recipe was called Pavlova Cakes, its ingredients were roughly those of a pavlova, but it was not the pavlova as we know it, because the mixture contained vinegar, but no cornflour and was made up of two parts filled with whipped cream. All this was baked in three dozen little meringues.
AAccording to chef Herbert (Bert) Sachse of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, WA, the dessert as we know it was originally created by him as a tea dessert for the Hotel’s afternoon teas in the 1920s. According to the Paxton family legend, the Pavlova was named at a meeting at which Sachse presented the now familiar cake, and the licensee, the manager, or chef Sachse remarked, “It is as light as Pavlova.” It was then named Pavlova after the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who had been a guest of the hotel during her 1929 tour of Australia.
In 1973, Herbert Sachse stated in a magazine interview that he sought to improve a prize-winning recipe for Meringue Cake that he found in a women's magazine "Women's Mirror" of April 2, 1935. The recipe, contributed by "Rewa", who happened to be of Rongotai, NZ, appears to be that of the Pavlova Cakes found in Davis Gelatine's 1927 cookbook.

Information source: Linda Stradley, What's Cooking America