Farmland, Houhora

Farmland, Houhora

Drifting sands bury mānuka and flax (foreground), and pasture and stockyards behind, in Northland in 1926. A western-style movie, Riders of the red manuka, was filmed here with the dunes as a backdrop. Grazing livestock and burning in coastal areas during the late 1800s and early 1900s cleared vegetation in many coastal areas, making it easier for the wind to blow sand about.