Godfrey Lindsay Mackersey 1929-2023

Godfrey and Scott

Godfrey was a farmer and family man, bush activist and conservationist who lived a life on the edge, over 70 years of it in the Tauranga region. He passed on late last year at the age of 94.

He was born the youngest of four to a Hastings family and his first brush with death was the 1931 Napier earthquake, where he was narrowly missed by a falling chimney. He remembered an idyllic childhood as he commented that he was too young to be aware of everyone's financial challenges, in particular their own, as his Dad was a generous hearted lawyer and often waived fees.

Two things which shaped his youth were picking peas for "Mr Wattie" and being trained as a dispatch cyclist in the event of a German invasion. He reached School Certificate level before heading out to work on farms; his eventual aim, owning one.

Massey College occupied 1949 and 1950. Following his studies, a technician's position became available at the Ruakura Research Station near Hamilton for which he was accepted. Keen to get back on the land, he did a couple of stints scrub-cutting for a distant relative at the back of Te Puke and later in the King Country. However, the farm dream was not getting any closer so he returned to Ruakura.

Godfrey and Margaret in a bush clearing

Enter Margaret Bell, of a Tauranga farming family, whose mother needed a sharemilker on the family farm (Townhead Farm) on Cambridge Road. A crash course on how to manage dairy cows for a town milk supply operation was undertaken. He enjoyed the company of Mrs Bell who was a prominent educationist and political character.

In the mid-1950s Godfrey and Margaret became engaged, then married and went on to have three daughters. The sheep farm dream persisted and by the mid-1960s the 'writing was on the wall' for Townhead Farm due to Tauranga city development.

Makereti

720 acres of 'cutover' bush and scrub became available in upper Whakamarama and for ten years they commuted between the two properties, clearing land to farm and constructing a new home. Makereti, as the farm became known, had the old Tauranga Harbour Board Office building to serve as a temporary woolshed for many seasons.

In 1978 the Mackersey family gifted a bush block on the farm to Otumoetai College, where their daughters had attended secondary school and Godfrey was on the Board of Governors. This is now the Oteora Outdoor Education Camp where students have the opportunity to explore the native wonders.

Godfrey with Jock

Godfrey was very active in his rural community, being the Dairy Representative for the Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers and setting up their Farm Cadet Scheme. He was also on the Waikato-Rotorua National Parks and Reserves Board, involved in the Kaimai Bush Campaign during the 1970s, a member of Rotary, Corrigal Trust, Avalon Trust and last, but not least, a very long standing member of the Tauranga Historical Society.