Dominic George: High country gift is wonderful

The Motatapu River region near Wanaka. Photo / Natalie Slade

If farmland's to be owned by foreigners it might as well be in way that Kiwis can still enjoy it

I was hardly a model student. If I had devoted as much time to my studies as I did in trying to fashion a timetable that gave me Fridays and Mondays off I may have completed my Bachelor's degree in the standard three years rather than the four it eventually took.

I remember being especially proud one semester when I managed to concoct a timetable that consisted of three days on, four days off - genius, even though it meant taking papers like the History of Vases in Ancient Greece and Relax 101 (Zen Buddhism).

To be fair, I did have a major drinking accident once that forced me take a semester off, but that's a story for another day and involves roof-hopping.

But despite a propensity for doing as little work as possible, my one academic love at Otago University, apart from the footy club, was history.

Various aspects of US, Irish and French history were my particular favourites, although I was into anything as long as there were good stories involved.

I've still got the history bug; indeed, when you've truly got it, it never leaves, which is why I still like boring people with a daily history lesson on Farming First each morning.

Yesterday was a fascinating day in history. It was the anniversary of the first Ranfurly Shield match in 1904 in which Wellington beat Auckland 6-3 at Alexandra Park, it was the day in 1936 when Jack Lovelock won the 1500 metres in a world record time at the Berlin Olympics, it was the day Murray Halberg became the first New Zealander to run a mile in under four minutes and it was the day President Truman dropped "the bomb" on Hiroshima.

These are well-known stories, but less well known is the story of a young Maori chap from Kaeo in Northland by the name of Herbert Slade. On August the 6th 1883 he fought John L Sullivan for the world heavyweight boxing championship at New York's Madison Square garden. Police stopped the fight in the third round after it became apparent Slade was copping a hiding, but he managed to walk away with $4000 for his troubles. He then joined Sullivan in a travelling exhibition around American towns before being knocked out with a brick in St Louis after a night on the booze and stayed in the States for the rest of his life.

I love stories like Slade's and am a firm believer that every effort should be made to preserve them, as it's the preservation of history that shows us how far we've come or regressed.

And that's why it's so pleasing to see the preservation of stunning and historic high country farmland like we saw this week, with 52,000 hectares between Lake Wanaka and Queenstown now protected under a QEII Covenant. The agreement between owner Mutt Lange and the QEII Trust marks the largest conservation undertaking on private land in New Zealand history. It may even pave the way for similar projects in the future. Let's be honest -- most people, rightly or wrongly, don't want to see our land owned by foreigners. But if it's going to be, then it might as well be kept in a state in which New Zealanders can still enjoy it.

In a week in which we've seen political point scoring from the contentious sale of Lochinver Station to Shanghai Pengxin, something like this provides a glimmer of hope that not all is lost if we do indeed cash in on our prime real estate.

Although, we must also understand not all foreign land owners will be quite as charitable as Mr Lange appears to be. The record producer and his then wife Shania Twain reportedly spent $3.6 million on the house at Motatapu Station; a house they'd stay in for a mere few months a year ... Maybe I should have chosen my uni papers a bit more judiciously.

Rural radio personality Dominic George vents his views here every Thursday.