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Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 8th September 2020.  The Birch brothers coming to NZ, 1860s, leasing land in upper Rangitikei. First European settlers in the area. Merino farming, cob house, gorse hedge. Marriages, wife from Yorkshire, expanding the house. Only cob house remaining in the North Island. Link to Caccia family, an Italian Count. Erehwon. Caccia-Birch name. Keiller connection. Freehold purchase finalized in 1905. Family disputes and rifts. Nga Tawa school. Purchase of Woodhay (Caccia Birch House), later gifted to the nation. Maintenance and future use of the house. Later family movements. Hair ball from a cow’s stomach. 

Identification

Object type
Audio
Date
September 8, 2020

Creation

Created By
Place
Palmerston North

Object rights

Taxonomy

Community Tags
1860s,
caccia-birch,
erehwon,
oral history,

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