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A home believed to be Waipawa’s oldest is for sale and looking for a family to etch further history into the walls.
The house was built in 1858 by early settler Thomas Fitzgerald with kauri shipped to Napier and transported to Waipawa by bullock wagon.
Located at the corner of Rose and Ruataniwha streets, it was put on the market after becoming too much for the current owner, 94-year-old Terry McKenzie.
The Pines historic home in Waipawa is up for sale.
Terry and his wife Elaine emigrated from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and decided to settle in Waipawa after they purchased the home in 1998.
Hawke’s Bay Today spoke to Terry’s son Jack McKenzie, who said he was not in a position to take over the home but said it had immediately grabbed his parents’ attention when they were looking for property in Central Hawke’s Bay.
The Pines offered the perfect combination of space for Terry and gardening opportunities for Elaine who died in 2016 from cancer.
Elaine and Terry McKenzie at the 150-year celebration of the house in 2007.
McKenzie said there were several things that “struck a chord” with his parents who were more or less retired when they moved to Hawke’s Bay.
“The house just had a special attraction. It’s an older house which always comes with challenges - but he was up for it, and my mum was always a gardener at heart.”
“Both my parents came from farming stock and my father would never tolerate living on a small piece of land or in an apartment - he needed space.”
The four-bedroom property is thought to be the town's oldest surviving home.
The home was previously owned by significant members of the Central Hawke’s Bay community including Charles Weber, a German engineer who arrived in Waipawa in 1860.
He went missing in the area now known as Weber in 1886, and his body was found three years later by bush cutters.
The home was built with kauri shipped from Northland.
The home, although modernised, still holds historical features added by past occupants such as Dr Alex Todd, who built a substantial dovecote for the homing pigeons he used to communicate with his rural patients.
The four-bedroom and two-bathroom home is still available to purchase and will be sold by negotiation.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
