When Keith I'Anson left the cold of Dannevirke where he had worked on his parents farm to purchase a 20 hectare dairy farm in Te Puna in 1936 for £4200, he thought he was in heaven. Butterfat was just over 1/- per lb. He began his stud farm and with hard work, prospered. He then bought a farm out at Awaiti near Whakatane. He employed a sharemilker for some of the time and lived at Tauranga serving 2 terms as a Tauranga Borough Council.

In 1966 he bought a 240 acre block in Munro Road. It had large areas of gorse and woolly nightshade but he could see the potential. He had to sell his pedigree cows to obtain the finance to build a new house, a cowshed, fences and install a water supply and road. Hard work paid off and his herd increased from 70 to 175 cows.

In 1976 he moved to Loop Road where he had 142 acres which were sold as lifestyle properties and 1993, at the age of 80 Mr I'Anson sold his herd and gave up farming and retired on his remaining seven acres after giving land to the Queen Elizabeth Trust for I'Anson Bush reserve.

His name will be ever remembered as a breeder of top Jersey cattle at his Mamakura stud, as a local body politician, a conservationist, hockey administrator and worker for the sport of golf.
I'Anson Bush Reserve