Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

The Cottesbrook Run was taken up in the late 1850s, the same time as other pastoral runs were established in the Strath Taieri. It was one of the largest holdings in the area. It was first taken up by Frederick and Henry Walker of Dunedin who leased it in c.1856-57. The Walkers sold their interest to Scottish born physician Dr William Purdie (1797-1876) and general merchant Thomas Dick (?-1900). Dr William Purdie, a Glasgow-qualified surgeon, came to Otago with his wife and family as ship's surgeon on the Mooltan in 1849. He was involved in public affairs, including being a Waste Lands Commissioner, and a founding member of the Baptist church in Dunedin. Thomas Dick was also Scottish born, and had worked as a merchant in London before moving to New Zealand in 1857. He established himself as an auctioneer and expanded his business during the gold rush era into a general mercantile agency. He was a member of the Otago Provincial Government, and later stood for parliament. An undated survey plan (SO 16346), for applicants Purdie and Dick on Run 307, dating at least from the 1860s, gives the layout of the early run buildings. It shows a House, Wool Shed and Sheepyard, and Men's House, as well as the outline of the farm track and a fenced paddock. Genealogical sources identify a Henry Wight Purdie (1843-1927) as a manager of Cottesbrook Station (and later a Christchurch dentist), and son of William Purdie who owned the station. A letter dated January 1866, mentions the construction of a new woolshed, as well as a kitchen added to the house, so this confirms a c.1865 for the woolshed, and suggests an earlier date for the first house. Local sources state that by 1866 Cottesbrook was owned by N.J.B. McGregor (who also owned property at Silverstream in North Taieri and a run at Mt. Ross). McGregor is said to have lifted the iron from the roof of a woolshed up at Bald Hill on Run 307 down to the Cottesbrook woolshed, giving a date of the late 1860s for some of the buildings. By 1868 the station had been taken over by William St. Paul Gellibrand (1823-1905), brother Thomas Lloyd Gellibrand (1820-1874) and former Premier of Tasmania Sir Francis Smith (1819-1909) adding to already considerable holdings of over 167,000 acres made up of six different pastoral runs in the area. According to archaeologist Jill Hamel, Gellibrand, described as a gentleman of Tasmania, was a "controversial figure" in runholding. An 1871 Survey Plan (SO 16345) shows additional buildings had been constructed. This shows the house and the new woolshed, as well as five other buildings scattered around the centre of the homestead block. This plan is marked as the crown grant for 112 acres in favour of William St Paul Gellibrand, Thomas Lloyd Gellibrand and Sir Francis Smith. In 1882 the farmstead was described as consisting of a house, office, four-roomed cottage, men's hut, cook house, butchers shop, a sheep dip, and a shearing shed for 24 shearers. All were substantial stone buildings, with the stones for the house and the office mason-dressed. A valuation of that time notes that the value of the buildings was linked to the continued use of the station as a pastoral run, and that if the lease was not renewed the buildings would not be required, and that for the purposes of freehold the buildings would not be worth half the amount valued (£1,315). The station was running over 65,000 head of sheep, 147 head of cattle, and had 22 horses at the time of valuation. There were 90 miles of fencing - including 69 of wire and 21 of sod. The Cottesbrook freehold was 632 acres, and the leasehold of Run 307 of 34,000 acres. By the early 1880s the Gellibrands and Cottesbrook Station were caught up in the controversy surrounding land policy and dummyism (whereby landowners illegally added to their estates by purchasing land in the names of other people). The land question was the predominant national issue facing parliament in the 1880s, with the future prosperity and settlement, and the form that might take, the centre of much focussed attention. Otago members of parliament Donald Reid, James Macandrew, Vincent Pyke and John McKenzie, were a strong directive force, carrying on the Otago tradition of opposing free selection from the fear of land monopolies, and supporting systems which set conditions of occupation and holding size, such as deferred payment. By the 1880s when the "cold hand of depression lay heavily upon the province, the iniquities of the pastoralists and their monopolistic allies were discussed with ever-increasing rancour." The focus on pastoralists intensified in the 1880s when many pastoral leases expired and the advocates of subdivision and deferred payment "pressed their grievances with a zeal born of social distress and class hatred." This was at a time when pastoralists were bearing the brunt of world-wide depression with many squatters driven to bankruptcy. In this context it was a major event when in February 1882 the famous sale of Otago lands took place. Secretary of Crown Lands James McKerrow stated that if Strath Taieri runs under 3,000 ft. were subdivided into sections of between 2,000 and 5,000 acres and offered in selected sections of pastoral deferred payments, settlers would have an opportunity of acquiring properties. In February 1882 the leases of 71 runs expired and some 2,800,000 acres was thrown upon the market. By August 1882 Government surveyors were engaged in cutting up land, some of which was offered for settlement, with a Mr Armstrong surveying around Cottesbrook. The land lying to the east of the Taieri River was offered for sale. Following the sale a large portion of the land ended up in the original owners' hands. The following outbursts of outrage would have a direct effect on Cottesbrook. Local controversy followed partly focussed on the "suspicious circumstances connected with Strath Taieri transactions." The Land Board felt that the purchases in the Strath Taieri were most suspicious and decided to withhold the licences of the Strath Taieri lands. All purchasers were given the opportunity to state their case and to show that they could in no way be suspected of dummyism. According to historian Helen Thompson, some bona fide settlers took up some of the runs but "all of the land immediately round the home station, the whole of it capable of being enclosed with a ring fence, was purchased by undoubted dummies." Men were brought from Tasmania for the purpose and returned on the first ship home. Gellibrand admitted that he advanced the whole of the money for them. Otago parliamentarian John McKenzie (1839-1901) was on a Parliamentary Committee to inquire into suspected cases of dummyism in Otago. The first inquiry held in 1883 was made into the affairs of Gellibrand and Co. Evidence proved that the law was being evaded and the whole case was a triumph for McKenzie who was making a name for himself in land matters. The issue was at the centre of months of local controversy, dominating the papers, implicating such men as E.B. Cargill in the questionable land dealings. The Gellibrand associates retained control of parts of the station until at least the 1890s. Title to the pre-emptive right on Run 307 (112 acres) and to a further 520 acres on the adjoining section was issued to George Pogson (a member of the extended Gellibrand family) in 1887 (OT76/6). The estate was gradually reduced, however, until Pogson held only the Cottesbrook farm around the homestead and a grazing run property at Stoneburn (some miles distant). The Gellibrands, Thompson writes, may have foreseen the future of the station. Every foot of grazing country, with the exception of 700 acres seven miles from Cottesbrook, was cut away from the homestead block (which comprised house, office, four-roomed cottage, men's hut, cook house butcher's shop, sheep dip, shearing shed, yards and a grazing acreage of 700 acres, fifty percent of which was subject to flooding). Access to the station shed could only be gained by driving stock some ten miles through small grazing runs on unformed unfenced roads, where every settler could demand notice of the intended drive. For a time the run was managed by Pogson's brother-in-law W.M. Bethune who worked the Barewood Station, twenty miles distant. Both Pogson and Bethune ultimately returned to their Tasmanian homes, with reputations as open handed hospitable squatters. According to Jill Hamel the break-up farmsteads on the Cottesbrook do not appear until about the turn of the century. Thompson writes that the remarkable feature of the later settlement following subdivision was the large percentage of settlers on the subdivisions who were old employees of or on the Cottesbrook station "where the shepherd had become the land-owner and the squatter the displaced person." By 1905 the station included 700 acres freehold agricultural land with river frontage. The majority of the property was a grazing run, holding about 3,500 cross bred sheep. The arable land was devoted to mixed farming, with crops of oats, wheat and turnips, as well as dairying and pig farming. While local histories state Pogson was succeed by another Tasmanian Horace Hill and then Hugh Murray, land title information shows that the pre-emptive right and the adjoining 520 acres were sold by power of sale in mortgage to Reginald Hunter-Weston in 1907. English-born Hunter-Weston (1869-?) had come to New Zealand in 1895, following a period in India, and had worked as a cadet on a number of stations, including nearby Gladbrook. Following Hunter-Weston (1907-08), the following owners held title only briefly: John Steel (1908-1919), Thomas Ross (1919-1929), and Wiliam Bennett (1929-1934). The property was sold (again by mortgagee sale) to William Thompson in 1934. The Thompson family owned the property until 1999 when it was purchased by the current owners who continue to run the station.

Farmstead As was common with the early runs of the period, Cottesbrook Station was made up of the major farmstead/ homestead, which included the main house, a woolshed, yards, stable, smithy, perhaps cow shed, men's quarters, cook or smoke house, abattoir and henhouse. The farm buildings are rather scattered with a small stone abattoir in the middle of a paddock adjoining the woolshed. The cook house, stable, milking shed and various sheds, pens and living quarters lie on either side of the driveway leading to the house. Cottesbrook, like nearby Garthmyl, had a dairy herd, which probably supplied milk to a local creamery during the early part of the twentieth century. The farmstead is well-sited for the prevailing weather, on north facing slopes. Homestead The homestead is plainly detailed single-storey house constructed of stone. It would have been the manager's house during the Gellibrand's ownership. The main north elevation has been plastered. The rear sections are unplastered revealing the shaped stone, largely brought-to-course. The form of the house is complex (see roof form illustration above), perhaps indicating development over time, the house growing as need dictated. The oldest part of the house would appear to be that built of stone (1). The roof is a U-form return gable with central valley. There is an offset hipped bay on the west elevation. There is a lean-to hipped verandah to the north, partially glassed in. The interior walls are stone and of considerable width. A long low lean-to (2) is built to the south elevation, and extends a considerable distance to the west. The lean-to has a number of entrances and windows indicating a series of small rooms opening toward the stone-walled garden, and a gate leading back towards the working buildings of the station. There is a timber addition (3) on the east elevation, thought to be nineteenth century. It has a hipped roof, and a skillion bay and verandah. The timber building joins the stone house on the east elevation, with an internal link through the glassed-in verandah. The interior features matchlining in the entranceway. The windows are double-hung sash. The mature plantings around the house include English ash, sycamores, black and Lombardy poplars, oaks, a monkey puzzle and wind breaks of radiata pines. The formal gardens are marked off by stone walls which extend to the adjacent horse yard and stables. Up stream of the house is a stone dam, 23m long and 2.5m high, with a concrete sheep dip below it. Meat Store The Meat Store is located to the south of the homestead, at the edge of the garden, opposite the lean-to. It is a single-gable rectangular plan building, with two doors on the north elevation, and no windows. There is a ventilator on the roof ridge. The stone work is shaped stone, brought-to-course. The current owners refer to this building as the 'smoke house.' Henhouse The Henhouse is a small single-gable stone building sited in trees just to the east of the homestead. It is currently used as a pottery shed. Stable The Stable is a single-gabled stone building, with a hipped roof to the west. There are lean-to additions stone additions to the north and south (the south with a cat slide roof line), and a timber addition with large doors to the east. There are two timber louvred windows on the north elevation, flanking a stable door. The stone addition on this elevation has a small four pane window. The east elevation has a low door and a loft door on the gable end. The south elevation is built in by a large modern shed. The interior was not inspected. A stone wall encloses the yard around the stable and the nearby smithy. Smithy The smithy is an open-fronted stone building with a corrugated iron roof. The upper portion of the building has been reconstructed in concrete. Men's House The Men's House is a single storey, single gabled cottage. The building is stone, with a plastered exterior. The House is still used to provide accommodation. The interior was not inspected. Stone Building To the north of the Men's House is a small single gabled stone building with a door in the east elevation. The stone work is very tidy, with shaped stone brought-to-course. The function of the building has not been identified, nor the interior inspected. First Woolshed and Stone Pens (pre-1865) What seems to be the original woolshed (as shown on SO 16346, See Appendix 2) on site is to the south and east of the 1865 shed. It is a small low single gable cottage-form building. The east elevation has a central door flanked by two small windows tucked up under the roof edge. There is no guttering on the roof. There is a chimney on the south elevation. The small building is surrounded on three sides by wooden pens. On the north elevation there is an open stone-walled lean-to. There are high stone-walled yards to the north. Woolshed (c.1865) The woolshed is T-shaped with hipped roofs and no eaves. Four small dormers are evenly spaced along the east elevation. The woolshed has been described as the ”jewel in the crown of stone buildings on the Strath Taieri.” The stone work is shaped stone brought-to-course, pointed with mortar, and includes some vertical slab work on the exterior face. A squat timbered screw press tower, with no eaves, is still in place, and the interior has been converted to centre board shearing. Geoffrey Thornton describes it as having a “definite affinity with the rock ground on which it sits - great slabs of schist jut out of the paddocks so that integration between land and structure is consummate....It is a remarkable building.” Abattoir The abattoir stands alone in a paddock, positioned between the original woolshed and the 1865 structure. Thornton (who identifies it as a Chaff House) describes it as a delightful building without any pretensions but displaying first-rate masonry. The artisan has used huge slabs on edge at the angles to form quoins with a roughly squared random rubble in the walls. The perfectly true perpends at the angles (corners) indicate the skill of the stonemason. A corrugated iron roof makes a modest lid to this fine little building.” The building is windowless, except for a small vent on the north elevation. The door is to the south, and the ground outside is paved with schist flag stones. The interior was not inspected.

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Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.