Hawarden saleyards celebrate 125 years

• Published date: 26 January 2023
• Publication title: North Canterbury News

A brief ceremony will celebrate the significant milestone for the district, and for the small Company which has made a major contribution to the economy, the history, heritage, and social fabric of Hawarden and the wider district

Some memorabilia will be on display, and a ‘ Birthday Cake’ will be cut, to mark the occasion, by descendants of original directors and shareholders who still farm in the district.

Some almost equally iconic senior stock agents will also take part in the ceremony.

The Hawarden Saleyards Company was formed in August 1898 with eight initial Shareholders and a Company Board of seven directors — James Cowie, chair, John O’Carroll, Alexander Cowie, Duncan McFarlane, James Tate, James Little and FW Compton. All directors were required to hold a minimum of 10 shares.

The Company, founded with a share holding of 1500 one pound shares, lost no time in erecting the first yards enabling the first sale to take place six months later on January 6, 1899.

The Saleyards Company provided lunch on the day, and for those fixated by climate change, note, the day was so hot that the ‘Canterbury Frozen Meat Co’, provided quantities of ‘ice’ to keep the food and drinks cold. Hawarden Sale Days became well accustomed to high temperatures over their 125 years.

The yards were built on 55 acres of land purchased off GH Moore’s Glenmark Run, the surrounding Hawarden Village also being built on Glenmark land.

The Company ‘tendered’ for the building of a Board Office and Hall in 1899, for board meetings and community use.

A tender of one hundred and ninety two pounds was accepted in 1907 to extend the hall.

The Board was generous with the use of the hall, letting it rent free for many community functions including soldiers farewells and home coming functions, and the A & P Show. The Hawarden School hired the Hall to supplement its classrooms, as did Miss Bentley to conduct a Sunday School.

The hall continues to play an important role, to this day, as the catering facility on sale days.

A number of additions and upgrades have been undertaken over the years and despite its ‘maturity’, the Memorial Hall continues to provide a very versatile and functional community facility, with a proud history of serving its community so well.

In 1947 a public meeting elected a committee to oversee the development and management of a new ‘Memorial Recreation Park’ on 17 acres of land purchased from the Saleyards Company for 910 pounds.

In 1952 another public meeting endorsed...