Newspaper Article 1980 – $1 1/2m. for Mangatarata

$1½ m. for Mangatarata

Mangatarata, one of the oldest and best known stations in Central Hawke’s Bay, was sold for just over $1 ½ million at public auction in Waipukurau yesterday.

Almost 300 people crowded into the Memorial Hall to see brisk bidding carry the price from $450 to $605 an acre for the 2524 acre property which lies just 7km from Waipukurau.

That represents a closing price of $1,527,020 – “ very satisfactory” according to the auctioneers.

The station was bought by Waipukurau solicitor Mr Hugh Davidson, acting on behalf of a “Central Hawke’s Bay farming family”.

For personal reasons the buyers do not want to be identified yet, though it is known that they will now be putting their existing property on the market.

Mangatarata, first taken up in 1849 and once covering 30,000 acres, was sold on behalf of a family partnership consisting of five major and numerous minor shareholdings.

The chief single shareholder, was Mrs R. Scrimgeour, Waipukurau, whose late husband, Mr Norman MacDonald, ran the station from 1956 until his death in 1974.

Included in yesterday’s sale was a six-bedroomed homestead built in 1890, three three-bedroomed houses, a five bedroom shearers quarters, a six stand wool shed and hay barns with storage for 10,000 bales.