The Yerexes of Kelston

Most Tauranga residents will have heard of Kelston Way near Tauriko but I wonder how many know anything of the Kelston Estate? In the course of researching the origins of our own 100 year old house nearby I have learned quite a bit and would like share a ‘taste’ with fellow history buffs. The original homestead has gone but there is another home on the site under the large Norfolk pines.

Kelston, Cambridge Road, Tauranga
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries/Pae Koroki, Ref. 03-077

The land was granted to Lieutenant Colonel Harington as part of his allocation for military service in the 1860s. I am not sure what it’s acreage was at the time but by 1906 when the Yerex family of Wellington took over it comprised of 800 acres and occupied the strip of land between Cambridge Rd and the Wairoa River. 200 acres fronted onto Moffat Road which was then just a farm track. In 1886 it was sold to W.N. Ley and in 1904 F.W. Wood purchased it for 1,150 pounds.

George Yerex had 4 sons and 3 daughters and though the homestead was roomy he extended the dining room and also the back porch for summer dining. A bathroom and hot water system were also added. There was a panoramic view of the river from the coach house and many other outbuildings included stables for 6 horses. Hay and oats were grown and there was a 16-acre apple orchard.

Kelston stables, Cambridge Road, Tauranga
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library/Pae Koroki, Ref. 03-076

The roads were typical of the day, boggy and dusty by turns, but they had a launch, and later a barge. The Wairoa River became their highway and their marine craft were made good use of by others, for example the transportation of machinery up river for the Omanawa power station.

Each of the four sons had their own area of skill and responsibility. Lincoln the eldest was the boatman and engineer, cutting and transporting hundreds of bales of chaff. Frank was the stockman caring for horses, beef and dairy cattle, and sheep. Lowell was the ploughman until he went to America with Lincoln to complete his education and was later a noted WWI pilot. Max, the youngest, fed the 40 or so calves and about 50 pigs. He devised a system of wooden rails running from the dairy shed to the pens along which he propelled the skim milk in an old barrel mounted on a chassis and four wheels.

To finish, a quote from Max Yerex himself, who wrote an article for one of our much earlier journals:

 

Sources
Pae Koroki, Tauranga Archives online
My Life at Kelston by Max Yerex, Tauranga Historical Society Journal, No. 57, Sept 1976
Maritime Tauranga 1826-1970, by Max Avery, self published, 2013
Map New Zealand - 100 magnificent maps from the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Random House NZ, 2006