Moora history

First - our Moora history.  We bought Moora in 2005.  The house was lovely (if small), but the farm was pretty run down.  Lots of gorse, blackberry and briar rose.  

The previous owner had obviously tried hard - and his big contribution was to save an 1872 stone cottage from demolition and do a loving restoration.  He had also rebuilt a small amount of dry stone walling.

We were looking for more acres.  We fell in love with the stone walls.  And we saw potential where others didn't - the property had been on the market with a couple of agents for some time.  

Moora, of course, has a much longer story.  Thanks to a wonderful local historian we know quite a lot about the property since settlement in the 1850s.  We have seen the drafts of a history of the South Gisborne area.  It's brilliant!  I hope it gets published soon.

Moora, which turns out to be a recent name, has been farmed since then.  In the early days it was mainly used to grow oats and other fodder for horses in Melbourne.  We have found plenty of old horse shoes and other ironmongery in our yard.  

Because I was brought up on a farm that has been in my family since 1863, farm history is important to me.  I look forward to learning more over time.