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Story: East Coast region

Farming: stockyards

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Farming: stockyards

Livestock – sheep and cattle – were the mainstay of the East Coast economy in its years of rapid growth between 1890 and 1920. Much of the stock raised on the coast was later moved for fattening to farms in other parts of the North Island. The change of ownership took place at sales like this one at the Matawhero yards, just outside Gisborne, in the early 20th century.

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Tairawhiti Museum, Te Whare Taonga O Te Tairawhiti, William F. Crawford Collection

Reference: 501-13

Permission of Tairawhiti Museum, P O Box 716, Gisborne, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Monty Soutar, East Coast region – Pākehā settlement, 1870 to 1940, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/33388/farming-stockyards (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Monty Soutar, published 23 August 2011, updated 1 March 2015.