Page 128 - Hereford Magazine 2022

A remarkable gift

Jillian and Dick Jardine in front of their beloved Remarkables.

Words: Kate Taylor/QEII National Trust. purchased Loch Linnhe Station, to the south, in the mid 1960s.
Photos: Supplied. As well as deer hunting and learning to fly, Dick was at
home mustering the station’s Merino sheep and Hereford
he iconic slice of Queenstown’s Remarkables Station cattle on the mountainside.
gifted to the QEII National Trust last year was once “I love the mountains. I loved mustering; I’m just a
home to the Highland Hereford Stud. stockman at heart.”
Nine-hundred hectares of Remarkables Station He was on the national Hereford council from 1976 to 1987,
Twill be protected in perpetuity, thanks to an and remembers friendships with the likes of fellow Central
amazing multimillion-dollar donation from the Jardine family, Otago farmers Chappy Hore and Laurie Faulkner, who was
following centenary celebrations this year. also a great mentor. Herd tours were a highlight of that time.
Owners Dick and Jillian Jardine are delighted to pass this Sire bulls were bought from a range of studs, including Okahu
special piece of New Zealand landscape into QEII’s care. They Viceroy and Nizam Gem from Wilencote.
were already involved with the trust after putting a covenant When the stud was deregistered, Dick kept the Herefords as
on part of the station known as the Jardines’ Boulder Field, a commercial herd, buying bulls from Pannetts at Limehills,
where large boulders, some the size of buses, are popular for the Douglas family at Monymusk, and Morrows at Okawa, now
sightseeing and rock climbing. owned by Nick and Penny France.
“We thought they were the best people to look after it for Most of the farm is leased out now, but Dick still finishes
future generations,” Dick says. about 30 steers every year (to R3).
“QEII is the only outfit that can’t be sold, and has no Over his lifetime, Queenstown has developed around him,
government interference: that was one of the main drawcards, becoming New Zealand’s most well-known international
plus they’re really good people.” tourist destination and bringing a booming population.
Remarkables Station is freehold land, currently leased as Gifting the property comes at a time when protecting
a working farm, and that will continue for the foreseeable biodiversity and promoting a connection to nature is more
future. Some station land was sold for the exclusive Jacks relevant than ever.
Point subdivision, and higher reaches of the property were “This is an extraordinarily generous gift to New Zealand
previously taken over by the Department of Conservation and one that will endure long after we are all gone,” QEII chair
[formerly Lands & Survey]. Bruce Wills says.
In 2016, the Jardines also gifted their 4ha Woolshed Bay “It is also an exciting opportunity for us to demonstrate the
property to the University of Otago’s Foundation Trust to be integration of pastoral farming, conservation, public access and
developed as a research retreat for academics. landscape protection on such a prominent and accessible site.”
The station was first farmed by Dick’s grandfather in 1922, then The Mee family has also put a QEII covenant on 170ha of
his parents, Cap and Jessie Jardine, who started the Highland the neighbouring Kawarau Falls Station, originally part of the
Hereford Stud. Dick returned from Australia when his father same property.

126 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022