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Station  -  New Zealand

Alpīnus Station New Zealand

"Ever since we had the privilege to be the custodians of Alpīnus Station, we had one goal in mind: Ensuring a sustainable, long-term care of the land and environment where we can leave it in a better position than when we received it, while providing wellbeing experiences for those that appreciate the qualities of this amazing environment."

 

- Nigel & Myriam Birt -

Te- to-ia, te- haumatia

'Nothing can be achieved without a plan'

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Native Carbon Sink Programme

Alpīnus Station is foresightful in ensuring that its long-term plan achieves carbon-positive outcomes for its activities and the globe. We have achieved this by investing in the identification and digital mapping of regions of native vegetation, both pre-existing and regenerating, in order to capture a baseline of suitable ETS areas. Protecting, enhancing and improving these areas in the future where possible, will not only protect New Zealand's indigenous ecosystems, but also create carbon sink initiatives to assist in climate change reductions.  

Kaitiakitanga

'Guardianship and protection of our natural, built and cultural resources for the benefit of current and future generations'

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Natives Replanting Programme

As part of Alpīnus Stations long-term plan, key areas will be identified for replanting of native plant species to further improve environmental and social wellbeing outcomes. Objectives of this project include engagement with visitors and corporations alike to assist in the workload and investments required that achieve common goals. In doing so, social connections are enhanced while ensuring we as humans remain in touch with our environments.

Whanaungatanga

A sense of family and belonging: relationships built on shared experiences and working together.

(noun) - relationship, kinship, sense of family connection - a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging. It develops as a result of kinship rights and obligations, which also serve to strengthen each member of the kin group. It also extends to others to whom one develops a close familial, friendship or reciprocal relationship.

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Alpīnus Station History

Alpīnus - adjective;
1. Of or pertaining to the Alps
2. Alpine

Station - noun;
1. A station, in the context of New Zealand agricultural history, is a large rural area often in the high country, dedicated to farming

Alpīnus Station was originally part of Woodstock Station, one of the earliest pastoral 'runs' in the South Island. Woodstock was originally three separate stations called runs. (Runs 109, 260 and 270, afterwards all joined and re-numbered 653).

 

Run 109 was allotted to George Matson on 1st August, 1853, and he transferred it to Captain James Row on 5th September, 1854. In June, 1855, Row transferred it to Robert Chapman. 

Run 260 was apparently allotted to John W. Smart in May, 1858. On 1st May, 1860, G. F. Day took over the leases of both Runs 109 and 260, after which they were always one station. In 1865 Woodstock belonged to Ekersley, Welsh and Wilson, known as Wilson and Company.

 

Run 270 was taken up by David Kinnebrook in August, 1858. His country began on the Waimakariri river three miles above the gorge. Kinnebrook died about 1864 and his executors sold his run to W. Foster in 1866. Also in 1866, Wilson and Co. sold their station to James Drummond Macpherson. In March, 1869, Matheson's Agency took it over from Macpherson, and Matheson's must have bought or taken over Foster's station soon afterwards, as in November, 1872, the licenses for all three runs were cancelled and a new one (No. 653) issued which included them all in one.

 

On 29th August, 1878, Matheson's Agency sold Woodstock to George, Henry and Francis Ffitch (Ffitch and Sons) from whom it passed to the National Mortgage and Agency Company in 1885. In the late 'eighties the National Mortgage sold it to R. and W. McKay (McKay and Co.). W. McKay died in 1901, and in 1902 the station was offered at auction when R. O. Dixon, the present owner, bought it.

After the 1914-18 War the Government resumed about half the Woodstock country and settled a returned soldier on it.

In pre-European settlement, the general Waimakariri River area would have been utilised by the Maori people for hunting a large flightless bird, the Moa, and as a minor travel route to the west. Moa as a food source, most likely became extinct in the high country by c. AD 1500. As the moa population waned, southern Maori began to abandon their ancestral high-country hunting grounds and to exploit more heavily the resources of the sea, coastal plains and hills (Anderson 1985). More detailed pre-european and post-european history can be read in the following document. 

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