In the nineteenth century, sheep farming for the production of wool was of primary importance to the New Zealand economy. The South Island, and in particular Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago, was attractive for the rearing of sheep due to large tracts of open tussock where as the North Island was more heavily bush covered. Agricultural development in the North Island was further slowed by land wars and the related strife. As stock numbers increased in the 1860s, a boundary keeping system was adopted in South Canterbury. Boundary keepers lived in simple huts such as Mt Peel Boundary Hut, patrolling the property boundaries daily and driving the sheep back into their own property. Mt Peel Station was taken up by John Barton Arundel Acland in 1862 when his partnership with Charles George Tripp was dissolved. JBA Acland was one of the last of the life members of the Upper House to which he was appointed in 1865. Mt Peel Boundary Hut was built at the western (back) boundary of Mt Peel Station. It is probable that Mt Peel Boundary Hut dates from the 1860s, when flocks became large enough to require boundary keepers and prior to the advent of cheap wire fencing in the 1870s. With two rooms this hut was more luxurious than other boundary huts, suggesting later 1860s. While the greywacke river stones used in the construction of the hut were brought up from Forest Creek, the timber used is mostly sawn and is thought to have come from a mill at Peel Forest where commercial milling began in 1865. With the advent of cheap wire fencing and the subdivision of the larger runs, there was no longer the need for boundary keepers. The hut, however, continues to be used for mustering by Ben McLeod, possibly more by tradition than by necessity. A window in the hut is thought to have come from Samuel Butler's V hut which was located nearby at Butler's Creek. Butler's V hut was built on the Mt Peel side of Forest Creek and not on the Mesopotamia run which Butler took up. Mt Peel Station remains in the hands of the Acland family. Mt Peel Boundary Hut, however, is no longer within the boundaries of this station.