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The story of the Massey Homestead
Christopher Paxton
Abstract: The Massey Homestead is an imposing historic building set in extensive gardens on Massey Road, Mangere East. It was for some years the home of William Ferguson Massey, who was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1912 to 1925. This is a brief history of the homestead, its ownership by the Massey family, its purchase by Manukau City Council, and its development as community and cultural centre.
About the author: Christopher Paxton is a freelance writer and friend of the Mangere Historical Society. He has written articles for New Zealand Memories, Historic Places and various other magazines in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He also edited Graham Turbott's book Year Away: Wartime Coastwatching on the Auckland Islands, 1944 (2002), as well as Mangere Historical Society's Memories of Mangere (2001) and Watea to Airport: a Community that Was (2005). He copy-edited Jenny Clark's book East Tamaki (2002). He contributed to Mangere Historical Society's book The Changing Face of Mangere: A Rainbow of Memories (2008). Christopher has lived in Manukau City all his life and currently works part-time in the Manukau Research Library.
The early years
In 1849 or 1850 the landowner and former missionary William Fairburn sold 220 acres of rural land on Mangere Road to the timber dealer Daniel Lynch.[1] About 1853 Lynch built an ornate two-storeyed red brick and timber homestead on his estate in what is now Mangere East. The homestead was designed in the English colonial style with Regency details. Native timber was used extensively but its red bricks and slates were brought from Melbourne.[2] Lynch’s two-storeyed homestead was one of the most notable and substantial brick houses in South Auckland and in May 1869 he offered it for use as a hunting lodge when Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his shooting party passed through Mangere during his New Zealand visit.[3]
Lynch retained his Mangere estate until 1890 when it is said that financial difficulties forced him to sell his land.[4] Two hundred and nine acres were bought by two speculators, William Francis Buckland, an Auckland solicitor, and John Roberts, a gentleman from Dunedin. On 29 September 1890 Buckland and Roberts sold 16 acres, 2 roods and 38 perches (about 6.8 hectares) of their land, including the homestead, to Mangere farmer William Ferguson Massey.[5] Massey was looking for a new, less flammable house because his former wooden farmhouse in central Mangere had just burnt down.[6] The homestead and surrounding land cost Massey £600. He immediately arranged a £500 mortgage from Buckland and Roberts with interest at 6 percent per annum paid quarterly.[7]
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