This photograph shows the remnant of native forest still growing on the flood plain of the Manawatu River in the late 1880s. 'Willowbank' was owned and farmed by J O Batchelar and his family. The buildings and land were purchased by the Government in 1926 and provided the initial site of Massey Agricultural College when it opened in 1928. After the College moved to a site on the hill across the road the house was used as a student hostel. It was later demolished, in the 1980s.