Famous Homestead Damaged By Fire

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30981, 10 February 1966, Page 14

Famous Homestead Damaged By Fire

(New Zealand Press Association) HASTINGS, February 9. Part of the historic Waikoko homestead on the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s show grounds at Tomoana was damaged by fire early this afternoon.

One room and part of the roof were burned in what was formerly the staff quarters. The room has recently been used as a washhouse. Adjoining rooms and the main block of the homestead were untouched by the fire. The fire is believed to have started when painters working on the building were burning off. “The doors into the corridor were open and a breeze was blowing through. If we hadn’t stopped it at an early stage the house would have gone up,” said the Hastings chief fire officer, Mr L. R. G. Harlen. The homestead, one of the oldest residences in Hawke’s

Bay, was built about 1860 and extended about 1880. The old homestead, with the giant wistaria growing along its verandah, once had 14 bedrooms but part of the building has been dismantled. It was the home of Mr William Nelson, founder of Nelson’s (N.Z.), Ltd., better known as Tomoana freezing works.