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Story: Rural workers

Breaking up the estates

This 1907 poster advertises the auction of lots from the Mt Herbert Estate in central Hawke’s Bay. Government policy to break up the large estates in the late 1890s and early 1900s was a major factor in the rise of the family farmer.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: MapColl 832.3gbbd/1907/Acc.36801

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Rural workers – The family farmer, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/17226/breaking-up-the-estates (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 1 March 2009.