This book is about land. The squatters came first – often younger sons of Navy, Army of Church families whose estate holding might go back to the Wars of the Roses. Such men would be expected to have social position, influential friends, and money; and when they came to New Zealand seemed to prefer the country of the South Island, free of bush and bickering with the Maoris over land tenure.

Theirs is a story of courage and endurance. And of building homes in a wilderness of tussock and mountains and treacherous snow rivers. It is a story of men and their equally courageous womenfolk. It is also a story of sheep.

The Clifford-Weld partnership at Stonyhurst; the Lance brothers and the Mallocks in the Waipara, who in little more than a quarter of a century were grazing 122,000 acres; G.H Moore, their Glenmark neighbour, eccentric and rich; the Greenwood brothers, first runholders in the South Island; Mason, who explored the headwaters of the Hurunui; Caverhill of Motunau, standing on the jetty as the First Four Ships arrived; and Dampier, who gave up law for the wilds of the Main Divide.

Round these almost legendary names Mr Cresswell weaves the history of a rich county.

See photos for more details

Douglas Cresswell author, published by The Pegasus Press, Christchurch for the Waipara County Council 1952, 191pp, h/c, dj with protective mylar cover, b/w photos/maps/facsimiles etc.

A clean tidy copy.

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