'Fifty acres freehold': an historical geography of the changing character of land tenure and rural occupance in the six counties of the Manawatu, 1891-1921

Abstract

Man's interest in land ownership and in the demarcation of property boundaries is at least as old as Bronze Age civilisation in ancient Egypt. The peasant farmers of the Nile Valley traditionally placed boundary stones on their small holdings, to be sure of re-possessing their own land after the subsidence of the annual inundations, which usually obliterated most recognisable features. In more recent times, patterns of land tenure and holdings have reflected both social and economic structure, and New Zealand at the end of the nineteenth century was no exception to this. The growing population, the broadening economy and the developing export market were all mirrored in the intensification of land-use which took place. This, in turn, was reflected in the total picture of rural occupance of which both the character and pattern of land tenure were a part.