Woolshed gets facelift

Press, 29 April 1981, Page 21

Woolshed gets facelift

The Maraekakaho woolshed near Napier, one of the largest old-time woolsheds in New Zealand, is to receive a facelift thanks to a $lOOO grant from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The woolshed, which was constructed of totara, rimu and kauri in the 1880 s. has a “B” classification from the trust which means that pre-

servation is strongly recommended. It once contained two boards on either side of the shed with 14 stands on each, so that it could cater for 28 shearers at one time. Although it was built for blade shearing, it was one of the first to have shearing machines, which were installed in 1895. The woolshed was origin-

i- ally part of Donald (later Sir Donald) McLean's huge eso tate and was capable of e holding 5000 sheep under 1. cover. 8 Near the shearing shed were three cottages, two for Maori shearers and one for r pakehas. f g After every shearing day the station hands and most of the children sat around on wool bales and listened with

great interest as every man’s tally was read out. There were loud cheers for the ringer each day. In 1930 when several blocks of land were sold following gradual depletion of the station, the central block of 1100 acres was bought by Mr J. Wenley. Today the’ property is run by his two sons and only five stands are used in the shearing season.