Stewart family history.

The Stewart Family from Hiwinui trace their origins back to Scotland (1734), where as displaced highland crofters poverty forced them to the Scottish lowlands. David Stewart decided to move his young family to New Zealand in the 1880’s after contracting tuberculosis, in the hopes the climate would help his health. They purchased 80 acres of land. Although today the Stewart families’ group of companies at Hiwinui has grown to 1,500 acres (600 hectares), they have never forgotten their humble beginnings.

Robert Stewart was four years old when they moved to New Zealand. He purchased his first 180-acre farm in 1911, and true to his Scottish Heritage, he was clever and careful with his money. He stored is wool for 4 years during the great depression, and it is a family legend of how he sold it in the boom that followed.

“Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. And then there are those who wonder what happened”.
- Carroll Bryant.

Robert’s son Alan and wife Lorna purchased a further 120 acres of land in 1940. Alan was an outstanding stockman, growing the herd size over the years. For recreation, Alan also planted hundreds of trees. The wool began its decline in the 1950’s as synthetic fibres made their presence felt.

With the economy struggling in the 1970’s people started to subdivide land into lifestyle blocks. The Stewarts purchased 280 acres of land to link their properties together. Alan’s son David continued purchasing smaller neighbouring land holdings despite challenging times as agriculture had lost its subsidies. For over 100 years the Stewart families’ livelihood came from the farming of sheep, but the industry was in decline.

Resisting the growing trend of land subdivision, David and Janet used their location to their advantage, developing lawns and gardens at their hospitality business, Hiwinui Country Estate, and making it the venue for upmarket weddings and corporate events.

“Opportunities are often disguised as hard work,
so most people cannot see them”.
- Anne Landers.

David and Janet’s son James got an abandoned 10 aside cow shed up and running and started share milking with his wife Debbie for the Stewart Partnership. This was the begining of Stewart Dairylands. A few years later, a new 36 aside herringbone shed was built to replace the old 10 aside on the purchase of 100 acre neighbouring property, and an underpass was added to increase the land holdings of the new company, Stewart Dairylands.

In agriculture nothing is certain, there are good times and bad times. The 2000’s saw prosperous times for the New Zealand dairy industry and the newly created Fonterra Co-operative. Stewart Dairylands continued to grow adding another 600 acres to its land base over the next 15 years.

“People come and go, but the land remains forever.
We don’t own it, we just pay for the privilege to look after it. It is now our turn”.
David A Stewart.