Newspaper Article 1976 – Old, Loved and Lived In

WAYS OF LIVING   Story and pictures: KATE CONTOS

OLD, LOVED AND LIVED IN

WOBURN homestead, eighty-three years old, is alive and well and lived in by Peter Russell and his mother Mrs Constance Russell.

To earn its living, Woburn produces beef cattle and, just for the fun of it, turkeys and muscovy ducks. On the aesthetic side, it provides sanctuary for pied shags, blue herons and vintage cars.

Seen from Hatuma Road, a few kilometres south of Waipukurau, Woburn homestead is an unpretentious, two-storeyed, white building that looks the same as it did when it was built in 1893 for Captain P.R. Montgomery and his wife – a daughter of the original settler, Purvis Russell (no relation to the present Russells).

What used to be a manager’s house, built in 1872, now resounds to the joyful noises of Waipukurau Vin[tage Car Club].

Woburn homestead, Waipukurau… Built 1893 after the old house was burned down. Now owned and lived in by Peter Russell and his mother – who planted the bluebells.