MOORE, GEORGE HENRY (1812-1905) was born at Billown, Isle of Man, his father, Thomas Moore, J.P., being a member of the House of Keys and captain of the parish. As a young man he emigrated to Tasmania and worked for William Kermode, of Mona Vale, whose daughter Annie he married in 1840. In the early fifties Kermode sent Moore to Canterbury to buy land in partnership. In 1854 Moore bought the freehold of part of Teviotdale, along the Omihi river. This property was steadily added to during the next few decades until Glenmark, extending from the Hurunui to the Waipara, was the most valuable station in Canterbury, aggregating 81,000 acres and carrying over 90,000 sheep. In 1856 the partners had bought 56,000 acres of freehold. They imported their cattle mainly from Norfolk Island, and in 1854 they shore 11,000 sheep. In 1864 Moore bought 10,000 acres of the Motunau station and in the early seventies he bought out his partner. His property steadily increased in value and in 1882 ranked as the most important in the so-called 'Domesday Book.' Having lost his sight, Moore commenced about 1900 to sell his property, but when he died (7 Jul 1905) he bequeathed a valuable residue to his daughter (Mrs Townend). Moore was one of the few landowners in Canterbury who sowed tussock seed on burned manuka land to shelter the finer grasses. The most important finds of moa bones in New Zealand were discovered at Glenmark. The first three skeletons were unearthed by Moore himself in 1857. In 1866 workmen digging a drain dislodged bones in amazing quantities. Von Haast identified 14 species and estimated that the bones represented a holocaust of 1,000 birds.

Cox, Gents, Acland; Buick, The Mystery of the Moa.

Reference: Volume 2, page 50

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