Homecoming for Heritage NZ Northland property manager Alex Bell

Heritage New Zealand's property lead, Te Waimate and Hokianga Properties, Alex Bell, preparing a spit roast hogget for the recent Waitangi Day cricket match at Te Waimate Mission.

For Ohaeawai resident Alex Bell, taking on a new role with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is a bit like coming home.

He certainly needed little introduction when he was appointed property lead, Te Waimate and Hokianga Properties, a role that involves managing New Zealand's second-oldest surviving building, Te Waimate Mission, Mangungu Mission at Horeke and Clendon House in Rawene.

Mr Bell has a particularly strong link to Clendon House.

"Dennis Cochrane, the father of Jane Clendon, was one of my ancestors," he said. "Jane, who married James Reddy Clendon, was instrumental in keeping Clendon House in the family after his death until it was eventually gifted to the NZ Historic Places Trust in the early 1970s."

He grew up on a dairy farm near Lake Omapere and went to Okaihau Primary School and college.

"Both sides of my family were long-time Northlanders, with a good mix of 19th century links to the Hokianga, Bay of Islands and Whangarei."

Discovering physical evidence of his ancestors on family land as a child had been instrumental in forming his interest in history.

"The objects I found poking out of the banks of the Hokianga Harbour were likely disposed of by them, so those old spoons and whiskey bottles created a more personal link between them and now," he said.

After working as an archaeologist in the North following his return from Australia, he was looking forward to the next step of his heritage journey. And his family connections made it more personal.

"One of my ancestors, William Robinson, is buried in the Mangungu cemetery, so this job is kind of like caretaking a bit of family history," he said.