Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1908, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Mr. Alexander McHardy, sometime of Blackhead station, was born at Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, He emigrated to New Zealand in the year 1861, and settled in Hawke's Bay. For some years he carried on farming on a small scale, and later on took over the Blackhead station, in conjunction with Mr. J. H. Coleman, whom he bought out two years afterwards. This property was then little better than a wilderness, but it was subsequently improved, and eventually became one of the finest stations in the province. Mr. McHardy took a keen interest in all matters relating to sheep and cattle farming, and did good work in the interest of the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society, of which he was for some time president. He exhibited largely at agricultural and pastoral shows all over the colony, and won a large number of general and special prizes. He was also a breeder of shorthorn cattle, of which he was an excellent judge. Mr. McHardy was a member of the county council, road board, and other public bodies. He died in the year 1899, at sixty-nine years of age, and left a family of two sons and two daughters.