The main house, originally known as Atawhai, was designed by architect Charles Natusch (who also designed Wharerata) and built in 1908 for the Keiller family. They developed three hectares in lawn and gardens, with a sunken rose garden, stables, gardener’s cottage, workshop, green house and a small orchard. The rose garden is gone, but the students of 2014 have built a summerhouse to celebrate the 50th Jubilee.
Changing times affected the lifestyles of the pre-World War I era, and in doing so endangered the buildings that depicted them. The survival of Atawhai is due to a fortuitous meeting between Mr John McCaw, and the Rev Ian Purdie. Mr McCaw, being in land sales, received a call from Mr Keiller requesting that he sell his 32 acre property and large house. In fact the house was so large that it was thought unsaleable except as an institution. In a facetious suggestion to his next client, McCaw suggested that Mr Purdie should buy it as a weekend cottage. Mr Purdie thought otherwise and, with remarkable foresight and faith, proposed that the Presbyterian Church should buy it and turn it into a hostel for Massey College.
In August 1962 a meeting was held and the Presbyterian Educational Purposes Trust was formed. The rest of the year and 1963 was taken up with fundraising and by the end of the year they had raised the necessary 40,000 pounds to purchase the property. The Hall was renamed after the then Governor General, Sir Bernard Fergusson. The opening ceremony for the Hall was performed by Sir Bernard on the 4th February 1964, with a roll of 45 students. The addition of the cottages in the 1970s now allows around 85 residents to live on the site.
At the jubilee event in October 2014, the original homestead was named Keiller House by Patricia Keiller, the granddaughter of Edwin Keiller, in honour of its original owners.
To reach the cache either park at the end of Atawhai Road or in the carpark on the left of Tennant Drive just before the main Massey University entrance. Walk out of the car park towards the main road and up the drive which is a few metres along the path. The cache is a pill container with room for a few small items to swap. You will need to bring your own pen. You do not have to leave the path to reach the cache. When you replace the cache please cover it carefully with leaves.