16/03/2026
๐ What better day to celebrate some of our history than St. Patrickโs Day! Today we tip our hats to the Irish settlers like Robert Kerr, whose energy, resilience, and community spirit helped lay the foundations for the town we love.
Among the many pioneers who helped shape the Matamata district were settlers with Irish roots who arrived in New Zealand looking for opportunity and land.
One early resident was Robert Joseph Kerr, who was born in Dublin in 1847 and came to New Zealand as a young child. By the late 1890s he was living and working on the Matamata Estate as a carpenter, helping build the infrastructure needed for the growing settlement around the railway station. In 1899 he established one of Matamataโs early boarding houses, providing accommodation for travellers and workers arriving in the developing township.
At the time, Matamata was still little more than a small cluster of buildings near the railway line. The real growth came after the large Matamata Estate was broken up into farms in 1904, attracting settlers from across New Zealand and the British Isles who wanted to try their hand at dairy farming. Over time these pioneering families transformed the surrounding plains into the rich farming district we know today.
Stories like Kerrโs remind us that Matamataโs history is built from many journeys - Mฤori history, early missionaries and explorers, and the settlers from places like Ireland who helped build homes, businesses, and farms in a brand-new community.
๐ Do you have Irish heritage connected to Matamata or the surrounding farms? Share your family stories in the comments โ weโd love to hear them!
Photo credit: https://imagingmatamatanz.blogspot.com/2016/08/matamata-railway-station-with_18.html
Matamata Railway Station pre-1919
