Showing her age

The Stone Store and Kemp House in Kerikeri are New Zealand's oldest standing European buildings but head south-west a little and another staunchly Pakeha feature of the Far North can rightly claim to be New Zealand's oldest. The Waimate Pastoral and Industrial Show this month celebrates its 170th birthday. The area is steeped in local history.

The Bedggood family built and ran the first flour mill in the area but that's not its only claim to fame. It was visited by Charles Darwin in 1835. Seven years later the first P & I show was billed as an 'agricultural demonstration' and held on local land until a permanent site was established at Grove Cottage Farm - the estate of the lay missionaries George and Martha Clarke who arrived in Kerikeri from Norfolk in 1824.

They settled in Waimate North where Mr Clarke started a school that housed around 80 pupils in a small 40 x 2 building that had taken six week to construct 'by local natives'. One of their numerous children, Edward Blomfield Clarke, became the second Archdeacon of Te Waimate in 1831 and, in fact, he was the first child to be baptized in the school building. This family now celebrates 188 years in the district.

The first show hall was completed by 1891 and cost 78 pounds, one shilling and seven pence - to be exact - and the nikau and pole structure that formed the first hall can still be seen today. In 1918 in the midst of the deadly influenza epidemic it was used as a temporary hospital and isolation ward. This building is now awaiting registration with the Historic Places Trust.

The Mountain family took over Grove Cottage from the Clarkes and Lance Mountain still farms all the surrounding land. His wife, Lynn, is the Patron of the local Riding For The Disabled. Today, Grove Cottage is owned by Mark and Lorraine Jobbit who have renovated the property.

It's the way of small towns that families are integrated through marriage. The Jobbits are related to the Mountain family and the Ludbrooks who are related to, yes, the Clarke family.

Samuel Ludbrook bought Tupe Tupe farm from John Williams in 1869 and his descendants still live in the district, meaning extensive family legacies remain intact in Waimate. In fact Ludbrook House is registered with the NZ Historic Places Trust. Christine Ludbrook was instrumental in initiating Savouring the Source segment of the Waimate Show and Sam Ludbrook has run the show's dog trials for over 40 years.

So, 170 years later the Waimate P & I Show gets under way again on Saturday 10 November. As you are walking around, lift thine eyes pedestrian. There is living history around you and if you visit the Mission House in Waimate North the old show schedules can still be seen, another of those reminders that Far North history established our country's farming history as other centres were only in their infancy.