The 12th annual Century Farm and Station Awards honoured 32 new families.
More than 230 farming folk from all over New Zealand gathered to share stories and celebrate each other’s dedication, perseverance and success over 100-plus years of farming.
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, MPs Kieran McAnulty and Mark Patterson and Mayor Bryan Cadogan joined the celebrations.
Eleven of the 32 families received sesquicentennial awards for 150 years or more while 21 were honoured with centurion awards.
Jones presented each family with a distinctive bronze plaque and certificate.
Through some entertaining anecdotes Jones identified the obvious connection and love of the land by the families and acknowledged the commitment by their forebears to reach such an important milestone.
Awards chairwoman and long-standing committee member Karen Roughan was delighted with how the weekend went.
“It’s wonderful to see the families each year really embrace the weekend and their special time together in Lawrence.
“The committee and Lawrence community are extremely proud to host this national event which the whole town gets behind,” Roughan said.
“The local vintage club dresses the function venue with old artefacts from their collection which brings back many memories and is a great talking point for the guests.”
The purpose of the awards is to capture and preserve the family histories that might otherwise be lost through the generations.
Families submit narratives of their farm history together with copies of related photographs and supporting documents that are then archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, ensuring all records are kept in perpetuity.
A total 430 families have now received awards.
Applications are open for the 2018 year and any families that have owned their farms since 1918 or earlier are encouraged to apply. Applications close on November 30.
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