GORDON WALTER ARTHUR COLLINS

 

BORN - FOXTON   1890

 

DIED - MATAMATA  1977

 

 

My grandfather first took up a General shepherds' job on Mangatutu Station west of Hastings in the Hawkes Bay around 1908. I am sure it was on this vast Station that he would have first honed his horsemanship skills riding the hills with his dogs on the muster. This experience would have held him in good stead for the years that were about to envelop his life.

 

He also gained experience, working and ploughing with a team of horses on a family farm at Mangatahi.

 

From here he took up farming on his own account at 'Longrange' east of Waipawa a few years before he enlisted. This was in partnership with cousins', the Smalls. He returned to the farm following his service.

 

In 1923 he married my grandmather, Olive, and got busy producing four sons, Ray, Moss, Selwyn and Chris.

 

At the end of the depression, the bank forced the sale of the  Longrange property, splitting the partnership, with my Grandfather moving to Hinuera near Matamata to take up dairy Farming.. The Smalls' had taken up land at 'Okahu' near Havelock North.

 

His final move was to Matamata around 1960 where the family built a new home  for Gordon and Olive to live out their years of retirement.