The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
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Heritage Lifestyler – Stoneycroft in Omahu Road Hastings Built in 1875, Stoneycroft is today registered as Category II under the Historic Places Trust Act 1993. The home is sited on land that was once part of the Heretaunga block purchased from the local Maori in 1870, subsequently subdivided in 1871 and in 1873 sold as the first Hastings town sections. The two storied colonial house in the “Victorian Gothic Carpenter” style is a relatively unaltered example of an early runholder’s “town house” and representative of the lifestyle of early Hawke’s Bay landed families. The original shingle roof was replaced with corrugated iron after the 1931 earthquake but the house escaped unscathed with no major damage. Over its 130 year life it has only had five owners, the last living there for nearly five decades securing the home’s future by signing a heritage covenant with the NZ Historic Places Trust to ensure future owners would be found to protect it. The house was originally built in Auckland, transported by boat to Ahuriri then across to Hastings on the newly built railway line, then brought by horse and dray to this site to be erected. The property was originally 49 hectares and was used by the Birch family who farmed “Erewhon” Station. They drove their stock from the station to Stoneycroft, a journey of about three weeks, where they rested and fattened up their stock before taking them to the Stortford Lodge Saleyards to be sold.
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.