Extracts from the Social and District Life Diary
7 April 1866 Rifle match. Five from Patangata V five from Waipukarau.
We were beaten, 28 points.
30 November 1868 Rode to Waipukarau to attend meeting about stockade.
Meeting decided stockade should be built at Waipukarau.
29 April 1870 Meeting at Waipukarau to consider best means of
preventing spread of sheep scab in the province.
8 May 1874 Work began on plan for railway.
26 May 1874 Addressed electors at Waipukarau.
15 October 1874 Rode from Tamumu to Hastings show and afterwards
travelled to Napier by train (first mention of train travel).
1 May 1875 Elected member of Provincial Council.
1 September 1876 To Waipukarau for opening of railway from Napier.
19 September 1876 Rochfort came to survey township of Takapau.
23 September 1876 Elected member of County Council.
1 January 1877 Attended funeral of Sir Donald McLean in Napier. About 3000 present.
12 March 1877 Railway opened to Takapau.
18 December 1878 Telegraph office opened at Takapau.
1 January 1879 Races at Takapau.
2 January 1879 Railway engine set fire to 500 acres of grass.
1 May 1879 Pheasant shooting.
23 May 1879 Oddfellows’ dance at Takapau schoolhouse.
13 February 1881 Fire at 8.30pm destroyed plantation near house,
burning 100 valuable trees.
18 September 1882 To Napier to a attend meeting about new freezing company.
Sold section in Takapau, receiving £50 for half an acre.
5 November 1889 Dance for men in new woolshed.
17 May 1894 Dance to which guests from north Hawke's Bay came in a special
train and were then conveyed from the siding at the crossing to the
house by horse transport. Capt Russell was among the guests, but Lady
Russell was unable to attend as their daughter Violet had scarletina.
17 March 1895 Attended service conducted by Father Keegan, new church at Takapau.
21 August 1899 Agreed to sell Takapau blacksmith shop,
cottage and section to May for £600.
22 August 1902 Dance in Takapau Hall.
12 June 1908 Entertainment at Takapau to open Town Hall given by
Sophia and me.Takapau Dramatic Club performed ‘Jane’.
17 January 1911 Meeting in Takapau about telephone.
13 March 1911 My 70th birthday.
1 October 1911 Telephone connected.
4 July 1947 Ball held in the ballroom to celebrate Christopher’s
return and the Rollestons’ silver wedding anniversary.
Extracts from the Farm Life Diary
12 November 1865 Rode to pa and engaged two natives to come for docking, agreeing
to pay them five shillings a day if they worked exceedingly well.
1 November 1866 Sent two sheep to show and won prizes with both.
7-9 February 1867 Left Wellington for Hawke's Bay via Manawatu. Bought horse for
£15 from T Cook of Manawatu. Own horse unable to travel.
12 February Arrived Oruawharo.
30 May 1867 Bridges on Oruawharo and Tamumu washed out. Ngaruroro River
changed course. (Tamumu was a neighbouring property which
Sydney managed for his father John).
29 June 1867 Meeting at Napier about boiling down. Entry on 27 November
that year records,‘Paid Braithwaite £30, being £3 per share on
10 £5 boiling down shares.
30 July 1867 Bought additional 869 acres at Oruawharo,
paying five shillings an acre.
March 1868 Oruawharo ear mark registered.
12 November 1868 Maori shearers at Tamumu taken away by (Chief) Karaitiana
owing to massacre of whites at Turangi.
30 November 1868 Rode to Waipukarau to attend meeting about stockade.
Meeting decided stockade should be built at Waipukarau.
12 February 1869 Rode to Waipukarau, swimming Maharakeke. Tukituki River
higher than ever known.
22 December 1869 Received particulars of one-horse mower
recommended by Mr Dixon of Masterton.
4 April 1870 691 sheep driven to Waipukarau for boiling down. Boundary rider
engaged for between Tamumu and Omakere at £74 a year.
29 April 1870 Meeting at Waipukarau to consider best means of preventing
spread of sheep scab in the province.
5 October 1870 Passing sheep through arsenic trough for foot rot.
14 March 1871 Delivered 61 three-quarter-bred Cotswold rams to Mr Hamilton
and received in exchange, 60 seven-eighths Lincolns.
December 1872 14,000 sheep shorn at Oruawharo.
4 March 1873 Bought 14 stud Lincolns from Tanner. Average cost £12.
1 July 1873 Men planting furze.
17 October 1873 At show in Havelock North. Took prizes for fat ewes
and quarter-bred hoggets.
28 May 1874 Sowing cocksfoot on land cleared by burning near site of new house.
15 October 1874 Rode from Tamumu to Hastings show and afterwards travelled
to Napier by train (first mention of train travel).
1876 Stocking with cattle began.
1 September 1876 To Waipukarau for opening of railway from Napier.
10 March 1877 Bought double-furrow plough.
12 March 1877 Railway opened to Takapau.
14 January 1878 Large fire burnt about 2000 acres.
29 May 1878 Began building dip.
2 January 1879 Railway engine set fire to 500 acres of grass.
26 March 1879 Bought reaper and binder with sufficient wire for 300 acres.
(Before this, crops would have been hand-tied.)
30 March 1879 Cutting chaff by hand.
1 April 1879 Man engaged to cook for farm men at £1 a week.
15 May 1879 Wheat to Onga Onga mill and flour brought back.
8 August 1879 In Wellington. Arranged with my father to lease Oruawharo
at rental of £3,500 a year.
18 September 1881 To Napier to meeting about new freezing company.
31 December 1883 27,563 sheep shorn at Oruawharo – 1880 Merino,
the balance Lincoln-Merino cross.
6 March 1884 Sent 520 half-bred wethers to Nelson Bros Tomoana works
for freezing. Drew 10 shillings a head in advance. (Later when
sheep paid only four shillings a head, had to return the difference.)
Hoggets put on turnips.
December 1886 28,030 sheep shorn at Oruawharo. Average fleece weight 8lbs 3oz.
3 March 1888 Purchased Oruawharo under terms of my father’s will.
Paid £3 per acre plus agricultural implements and stock –
22,000 sheep, 100 cattle, 30 horses.
17 November 1900 Began machine shearing.
12 May 1903 Worrall (station manager) left for England, due to health.
14 October that year received a cable from Freemantle saying
Worrall had died at sea. “I received this news with deep regret.
He was in my employment for over 25 years and was a most
valuable servant and good friend.”
June 1903 Felling 150 acres of bush on back country.
1 February 1904 Leithead who had been managing Mokoia, took over management
of Oruawharo at £250 a year.
1947-49 Christopher (Johnston’s grandson) worked as a rouseabout and
shepherd on nearby properties before becoming manager of
Oruawharo in January 1951.
