Work schedules on lowland farms in southern New Zealand from the late colonial period to the 1930s

Abstract

AbstractDetails of two‐way flows of primary products, implements, labour, information and finance drawn from runs of farm diaries, stock and station agents’ records, and newspaper articles were used to analyse work schedules on three comparable properties between 1874 and 1930, and to track the development of mixed cropping and livestock farming in southern New Zealand when draught horses were giving way to either steam or internal combustion engines as the prime source of motive power. The earliest records are for two farms in the late 19th century, and the most recent are for a third property in the 1920s.