She has been awarded Marsden Fund grant to look at land inheritance from 1870 to 1970, what happened, why and how families viewed the decisions and the experience.
Research on the topic already existed on either side of her research period, which would be included in her final publication.
Her goal was to provide a forum for families to discuss the issue of rural land inheritance given the importance of land ownership and transfer to the country’s national story.
“It does seem to be becoming more and more difficult to keep land in a family and if we are moving away from that form of ownership we need to take stock of the pros and cons of that model.”
Anecdotal evidence was that land was traditionally passed down to the eldest or most deserving son but while that appeared to no longer be the case, McCabe said there had not been a study to substantiate that view or how it worked.
She planned to interview current and former farming families from the Taieri Plain south of Dunedin and Hokianga in Northland, areas where land holdings were traditionally small.
Initial research showed land in those areas was mostly traded between neighbours rather than originating from the breaking up of a large, single property into smaller holdings.
The inter-family exchange of farmland told one story but McCabe said daughters often married sons of local farmers which revealed another aspect of the land ownership story.
Her study would also reveal the connection families had to the land, even once it was sold.
Families often spoke fondly of their connection to land farmed by ancestors even if the property had been sold out of the family.
McCabe was keen to hear from families that had three or more generations of land ownership, even if the current generations were not farming any more.
MORE: Contact jane.mccabe@otago.ac.nz
