History of The Staging Post

Accommodation & Camping Ground

The Staging Post began during the early 1980s as a facility for JD Macfarlane to bring ballet (Southern Ballet, Limbs Dance Company) to the country. The Hawkswood Festivals were three day events with an eclectic mix of ballet, Shakespearean snippets, Can Can by the pool, music recitals and more. Local celebrities (world famous in New Zealand) like McPhail and Gadsby, Janice Grey, the Topp Twins and Malcolm McNeil entertained up to 300 people gathered in the stage area.

The camping ground was developed to accommodate the guests for those early festivals.

The cabin accommodation side has evolved over time.  JD took an interest in early settlers transport and buildings, and now we have an impressive display of horsedrawn vehicles and cabins built from materials the early settlers would have used (mud brick, rammed earth & rough sawn slab timber).

Early History

The original Hawkswood Station of around 40,000 acres was acquired by John Caverhill in 1859. Another Scottish settler, John Macfarlane, purchased the property from Caverhill in 1872 and it has been farmed by the Macfarlane family ever since. John Donald Macfarlane inherited Hawkswood, which was one of six large farms in the South Island purchased by John Macfarlane Sr. Earlier purchases included Coldstream (Rangiora), Kaiwara (Waiau), Achray (Culverden), and Lyndon (Waiau).

Hawkswood has always been a place for travellers to stop and rest. Back in the 1800s, the trip between Christchurch and Nelson took around three days, crossing rivers and negotiating various terrains and seasonal weather variations from drought to flood to snow.  Hawkswood was in a position to offer shelter and rest for horses (whose life expectancy in those days was around 5 years!).

Hawskwood has been reduced in size over the years but is still owned by the Macfarlane family. JD Macfarlane farmed Hawskwood and Braemar (next door farm, total of 9,000 acres) in partnership with his brother Roger until the partnership was dissolved in the 1990s. Roger had joined their bachelor uncle, JF, in farming Hawskwood after WWII. JD joined the farming partnership after serving as an ABS on the merchant ships ferrying troops between New York and London during WWII, and then spending some time in Auckland.

Mike bought Hawkswood Farm from his father, JD, in the late 1990s and arranged JD’s life interest in the Staging Post. JD died in December 2008. In 1996 Mike and Lois Bowler leased Hawkswood Farm (approx. 1,800 ha) and have improved the farmland and its productivity steadily.

Linda, Mike’s partner, looks after Staging Post visitors with Mike who also operates a business in Christchurch.