Kaiwarua Station History
Fondly called Kaiveroo by locals far and wide.
Kaiwarua Station was originally part of Te-Waimate which took in country between the Hook and Waihao Rivers and ran from the sea back to Station Peak and the Hakataramea Downs. The station was taken up early in 1854 by John, Paul, and Michael Studholme. In its early days it consisted of 98,000 acres running 65,000 sheep, 2,500 cattle. The Studholme brothers were all in partnership. Michael rode his bullock dray which carried a load of necessaries. He arrived on 18th July 1854 after a journey of six weeks. The morning after his arrival Studholme paid a visit to the Maori chief Uru,Uru and they made a compact to respect each other’s rights. This compact was faithfully kept, and the two lived in harmony until Uru Urus death in 1861. The chief was a fine-looking man with his whole face deeply tattooed.
Before the station was fenced in two shepherds kept boundry and they went out and back meeting each other halfway. One lived in a hut in the back-country at Kaiwarua the other across the South Branch of the Waihoa River, they saw no other people for weeks on end, and came down to Homestead when they ran out of supplies a journey of 46k. In 1867 the year of the big snow E.C. Cameron the Manager, was worried as to how McKinnon at Kaiwarua was faring at the back of the station. He set out with a shepherd, James Anderson to see if he was all right. They had great difficulty in getting through the deep snow and Anderson nearly lost his life from exhaustion. At last they came in sight of the lonely little hut, heard the bag-pipes going and so knew the men were safe. All the old station hands wore beards and there was strong evidence to most of these, the wearer had eaten eggs for breakfast or steak & onions. When hungry some of the men would suck their beards for nourishment. One huge advantage of the beard was it kept their faces warm. John and Michael dissolved their partnership in the year 1877. By then the good years were at an end and were followed by one of the longest and worst slumps the country had ever experienced.
The Waimate bush fire took place the following year 1878 and was the cause of great worry and expense. Michael died in 1886. The year 1869 was an important one. Michael married Effie Channon. After the marriage they traveled down by horses crossing huge rivers and traveling over tussock plains, staying at friends and hotels on the way down. Arriving at the station the young bride discovered that the house was empty not a stick of furniture had arrived nor luggage. The sleeping was solved by some straw from the stable loft being spread on the bedroom floor. In later year entertaining became so much easier. A new dining room table was built 40ft x 20 capable of seating 40 guests. Dances were held frequently the sounds of pianos, violins, and fiddle and for those who did not dance played card games, bezique, cribbage, whist, and many others. Effie wrote many poems and also the book Te Waimate.
Kaiwarua Station Life
Our station is a family run high country farm (in other parts of the world it would be called a ranch, estate or park.) The many thousand of acres of land includes valleys, two crystal clear rivers, hills and mountains. The station is in a remote area in the middle of the South Island, situated in the iconic Hunter Hills of South Canterbury – it is still only an hour away from a major airport. The station runs over 14,000 stock units including merino sheep, deer, and cattle. At certain times of the year you can see the cattle and merino sheep being mustered down from the mountains on horse back.
Kaiwarua’s wilderness areas offer a variety of hunting and fishing experiences. Our guest can gain access to the station back country via helicopter or by using the numerous 4 wheel drive tracks. Superior accommodation is available at our new lodge. For that unique experience of the NZ back county you can even stay overnight high up in the hills in a musters hut.