Book review
“Historic Homesteads of Hawkes Bay” by Angus Gordon, published by Mary Egan Publishing, Price $50.
Reviewed by Tony Orman
Hawkes Bay has a rich istory of early pioneer farming settlement. Often grand homes were built on farms and many still stand today. The often gracious homesteads were built on the initial settlement of sheep stations and farms and trees planted so that today, homesteads often have settings of giant trees such as enormous oaks, gums or Norfolk pines. Hawkes Bay was prominent in the establishment of the country’s early pastoral farming development.
Author Angus Gordon has lived all his life – on and off – at Clifton Station, on the Hawkes Bay coast, near Cape Kidnappers. As a former Hawkes Bay resident many names were very familiar for me, i.e. Matapiro, Ashcott, Akitio, Glenross, Guavas, Matapiro, Tutira, Rissington and quite a few others – some particularly so as I sought access through the properties.
It’s a very good book but I was perplexed with little or no indication of the locality of the homesteads. Just a little mp would’ve remedied that. Also the book lacks an index, very much needed in a book of this nature.
However despite these couple of minor criticisms, this is a well researched and presented book, a credit to both author and publisher.
