Agricultural & Horticultural Medals

Lot 525    Day 1    Agricultural & Horticultural Medals

Estimate $1,200
Bid at live.noble.com.au

TE TOHU AHU-WHENA, medal for 'Maori Farmer of the Year', struck in bronze (63mm), by Mayer & Kean (Wellington), edge inscribed '3rd Prize 1946-47', reverse inscribed 'Mihi Stevens/of Rangiahua'. Edge bruising and black carbon areas, especially on reverse, otherwise very fine and very rare as an awarded medal.

The Ahuwhenua Trophy was awarded in an annual contest for the Maori Farmer-of-the-Year and was first held in 1932. The competition was initially between small-scale family farms and continued government modernisation strategies for Maori farmers, their families and their tribal land. Judged on social as well as management and productivity criteria, farmers often struggled in the face of severe challenges that included communal debt for those tribes whose members actually won and then hosted the increasingly extravagant award ceremony. This first phase of the contest struggled for entrants in the 1970s and 80s, and ended in 1990.^^With research.