History of the Blakely’s & Linnburn
Linnburn is owned by Helen & Paul Barrett and Susan Velvin. Helen & Susan’s maiden name was Blakely.
The Blakely’s came from Gimmerburn to Patearoa in 1895 when brothers Frank and Jack (John William born. 26th July 1872 in Ophir) were successful in drawing a run each when Hamilton Station on the Rock and Pillar range was subdivided.
Eventually Jack brought Frank’s farm and Frank moved to Garston in Southland.
In 1902 Jack married Edith Mabel Wilson at Knox Church, Dunedin.
In 1932, Jack brought Puketiri Station(now part of Linnburn).
In 1944, the three properties were handed over to the government for “settlement forms” for soldiers returning home from World War II. This enabled the Blakely’s to purchase Linnburn Station from Stewart Shennan in 1944.
John Wilson Blakely (b. 23rd May 1914 in Naseby) married Hilda Hislop (b. 28th May 1916) in Dunedin in March 1945 and they lived on Linnburn Station until John’s passing in 1985 and Hilda’s in 1996.
John and Hilda had three daughters Helen, Mary and Sue pictured above.
John William Blakely
John (JW) had five siblings.
Blakely Siblings from left: James Blakely, JW Blakely, Violet Blakely, Harold Blakely, Eric Blakely
Peter Barrett is presently the family representative on the property. He is the son of Helen and Paul Barrett who also have two daughters Rebecca Barrett who is based in London working for the New Covent Garden Flower Market and Lucy van der Meij who is based in Lisse the Netherlands where she and her husband founded Pom Pie a Meat pie business.
Peter’s cousins are also significant contributors to the well being of Linnburn Station, Michael Velvin is based in Melbourne working in mobile technology, Simon Velvin based in Auckland the NZ founder for Semi Permanent and Charlotte Stanczuk a Senior nurse at Wellington Hospital .