The front rooms of the house, plus the laundry, have been furnished in the style of the late 1880s when the McCaws began their residence.<\/p>\n
Kelly said the rooms in the homestead were representative of what it might have been in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in keeping with that era.\u201d<\/p>\n
Partnership<\/p>\n
The laundry in the McCaw Homestead. Photo \/ Steve Edwards<\/p>\n
With local government reorganisation in 1989, Matamata-Piako District Council took over ownership of the property, with Matamata Historic Society creating displays in the McCaw Homestead.<\/p>\n
The society had accumulated material over the years, chiefly through donations by residents in and around the area.<\/p>\n
Previously \u201cstaff only\u201d, the kitchen has been opened for public view, with more usable display space.<\/p>\n
Kelly said the laundry was \u201chands-on\u201d rather than a display.<\/p>\n
Some items have also been brought over from the adjacent Firth Tower, which has been closed since 2022 pending a structural assessment.<\/p>\n
The Matamata Estate was established by Josiah Clifton Firth in 1865, and he built a country villa in 1879.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, prior to the development of Matamata, a virtual village, including a school, church, equipment shed and apiary, occupied what is now the museum site. <\/p>\n
In 1895, the Assets Realisation Board took control of the Matamata Estate, appointing John McCaw as manager. <\/p>\n
McCaw and his family moved into Firth\u2019s homestead, which subsequently burnt down in June 1902 after an accidental fire.<\/p>\n
He immediately set about clearing the site and constructing a new house, said to have cost \u00a3450, which may have been completed within a few months. <\/p>\n
The new dwelling was built in an almost identical position to the previous structure, but was slightly detached from the concrete tower from which Firth Tower Museum gets its name.<\/p>\n
Ballot farms <\/p>\n
Shortly after the building\u2019s construction, the estate was divided into 117 farms allocated by ballot in 1904. <\/p>\n
John McCaw was himself exempted from the ballot process, being allocated the homestead farm of nearly 400ha by the government based on his \u201csuperior knowledge of farm economics and management\u201d. <\/p>\n
In the first season after the ballot, he was producing 12 cans of milk per day from 100 cows, while the average supplier produced only two cans from smaller herds.<\/p>\n
As the largest homestead in the district and the oldest established farm in the area, the building was a place of social gathering. <\/p>\n
The Cambridge Hunt met outside its door, and the then Premier Richard Seddon spent an afternoon there while on a visit to assess the progress of the balloted farms.<\/p>\n
The McCaws occupied the farm until 1917, having made a few alterations to the building, including the creation of an office in a partly enclosed verandah, which was extended towards the rear of the house. <\/p>\n
John McCaw retired to Hamilton and died on April 10, 1930. <\/p>\n
In a brief autobiography for the benefit of his children in 1929, he recorded his satisfaction at knowing that he was the means of preparing a very large area of the Waikato for closer settlement. <\/p>\n
Following the departure of the McCaw family, the Tower Rd farm was bought by a group of merchants from Wellington and elsewhere, after which the building was occupied by various tenants. <\/p>\n
Subdivision<\/p>\n
The McCaw Homestead. Photo \/ Steve Edwards<\/p>\n
The land was further subdivided before being bought by A. W. Fowke in 1941, when the farm consisted of just under 100ha. <\/p>\n
An additional 6000sq m of land behind the McCaw Homestead was donated by the Fowke family in 1985 to add to the museum site.<\/p>\n
As the museum developed, the town jail was moved there, while the old Matamata Methodist Church still hosts weddings.<\/p>\n
Kelly said groups could book to visit the museum and learn how lifestyles had developed since the mid-1800s through interactive displays or take part in facilitated activities.<\/p>\n
These include silent movies, Victorian outdoor games, butter-making, washday the old-fashioned way, candle-making and a treasure hunt.<\/p>\n
The museum also hosts displays for limited time periods and other special events.<\/p>\n
Next up is Christmas at Firth Tower on December 6 at 6.30 pm, featuring the Matamata Brass Band and Matamata Community Choir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The front rooms of the house, plus the laundry, have been furnished in the style of the late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[93641,104829,5199,2109,1345,70437,2944,104828,13557,3586,111,43,139,69,42448,1858,46986,3175,427,18323,1524],"class_list":["post-159035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-19thcentury","tag-centrepiece","tag-complex","tag-family","tag-home","tag-homestead","tag-inside","tag-matamatas","tag-mccaw","tag-museum","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pioneer","tag-restored","tag-rooms","tag-rural","tag-story","tag-tell","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}