Somerset Farm Settlers Cottage is a picturesque late 1850s-early 1860s thatched roof cob cottage on George Harvey Road, Mahana, and has historical significance for its association with the pioneering Harvey and Bensemann families. Renovations have ensured its preservation as a house museum, offering an important insight into the early years of British and German settlement in Sarau (Upper Moutere).

Te Tau Ihu (Nelson-Marlborough) has a long history of Māori settlement over hundreds of years, reflecting successful waves of migration through to the early 1820s-1830s. The region’s rich and layered Māori history is reflected by the eight recognised iwi – Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa and Rangitāne (Kurahaupō tribes), Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Rārua (Tainui tribes), and Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa (Taranaki tribes). Land purchases commenced from 1839 and a New Zealand Company Settlement was established at Whakatū (Nelson), with the first immigrant ships arriving in 1842. German immigrants arrived in 1843 and initially attempted to create a settlement (St Paulidorf) at Moutere before relocating to the Waimea Plains, the North Island or Australia. In the 1850s some German settlers returned to Moutere and founded Sarau (now Upper Moutere). Somerset labourer George Harvey (1826-1909) and his family moved from Appleby to the fledgling settlement of Sarau after purchasing a 25-acre (20.2 hectare) property in June 1859. A cob cottage was built for the family, shortly after they arrived in 1859 or potentially in the early to mid- 1860s. Oral history sources indicate the cottage was built by German settler Cordt Bensemann (1810-1883), a soldier and builder by trade and a key figure in the establishment of Sarau.

The cob cottage with thatched roof reportedly took 11 days to build. Ditches were dug for the walls and filled with stones from the creek to prevent damp rising up and causing decay. The walls were built up together in layers of cob. The cob was made from native grasses, water, small stones and clay from a nearby bank - the mixture was ‘puddled together’ in a paddle contraption turned by an ox walking in a circular motion. The completed cottage had just two rooms with earthen floors - a kitchen/living room with brick fireplace and a bedroom. The children slept in the attic space above each room.

The Harveys had a further six children between 1860-1870 and their landholding also grew by a further 209 acres (84.6 acres). As well as farming sheep and cattle, Harvey grew hops, apples and pears and also worked on the roads. A dairy was added to the rear of the cottage during the 1870s-1880s, and the thatched roof was changed to corrugated iron. In 1910 the property was transferred to Cordt’s grandson Edward Christopher (‘E.C’) Bensemann (1874-1949), who bestowed the name Mahana on the area, meaning heat/warmth. E.C. Bensemann was a notable figure in the fruit growing industry and one of his older sons, Hans Bensemann, invented machinery (‘the Bensemann grader’) for grading and sorting apples. The land around the cottage was subdivided and planted in fruit trees and in 1915 the property was purchased by the Dominion Orchard Company who used it for worker accommodation until 1950; thereafter it was used for storing farm implements. Renovations commenced in 1989 after landowner Mervyn Uren kindly donated the deteriorated cottage following an approach from descendants of the Harvey and Bensemann families. The Somerset Farm Settlers Cottage Trust formally acquired the property and renovations were completed in 1993. The front wall was partially reconstructed using pisé with internal iron rods and other key changes included a new thatch roof by German thatcher Norbert Kleinschmidt, and interior refurbishment as a house museum. In late 2012 the roof was re-thatched by Kleinschmidt using imported South African thatch.