Diary entries by Willie Stewart when Bert Denton was overseas at war:
| Jan. 6 | Miss Bowles & family gone to Wellington. Bradley drove then to morning train. Mt Percy Denton & family came by mid-day train |
| Jan. 14 (Sun) | Denton children over in the afternoon to look at milking machine |
| Feb. 5 (Mon) | Met Miss Bowles & family & took them home |
| Feb. 18 (Sun) | Miss Bowles & Miss Clark over after dinner. The children came after Sunday School. |
| Mar. 1 (Thurs) | Mrs Dr Bryson died yesterday |
| Mar. 9 (Fri) | Went to Wellington & met Bert at Fernhill. Had lunch there then went to see Commissioner of Taxes. Got a reduction of 24 pounds 14/-. |
| Mar. 26 (Mon) | The cow has been giving George a bit of trouble so I took her back with me & took over another quite old cow that you can milk in the paddock. |
| Mar. 28 (Wed) | Dolly seems better. Children rode her to school |
| Mar. 31 (Sat) | Miss Bowles came over for the bees about dinnertime. We went round & got the honey from them. Got the bees in a kerosine box, tied a sheet round them & took them home with her. |
| Apr. 8 (Sun) | Went to Church & stayed down for dinner. Had a visit from Gilbert & his wife to say goodbye. |
| Apr. 10 (Tues) | Went down town. Saw Mrs Edwards, bought the pony for 7 pounds. This is a present from Mr Denton to me. |
| Apr. 21 (Sat) | Murray brought his swag along - going to bach in the whare. |
| May 10 (Thurs) | Went to Palmerston along with Mr Barron. He has enlisted, goes into camp on July 25th |
| May 18 (Fri) | Miss Bowles rang up to say Mt Denton coming home for his final leave today. |
| May 21 (Mon) | Kellow & Bert went to town. I went over in the evening & played cards |
| May 23 (Wed) | Bert & children gone to Wanganui. Miss Bowles staying here. |
| May 24 (Thurs) | Bert & family returned by the express |
| May 25 Fri. | Drove Bert & his family down to a send off concert. |
| May 28 Mon. | Bert & I decided to pipe drain the bathing hole paddock, if the price is reasonable. We all drove down in the afternoon to say goodbye. Big crowd there. |
| May 30 Wed. | Miss Bowles had a wire from Mr Denton might be sailing tomorrow. I decided to take them all dawn to Wellington. We stayed at the Arcadia. |
| May 31 Thurs | A day not to be forgotten. We got to the station a little before ten. The train the troops came by did not arrive till 4.30. However, the children saw a good deal of their father & stuck to him till he got on board. |
| June 1st 1917 to April 26th 1919 Notes written by Mr W. Stewart while Bert overseas. | |
| June 1 Fri. | Returned from Wellington by mail train after seeing Bert away. Miss Bowles and chn had dinner here. After dinner I drove them home. |
| June 4 Mon. | Percy Denton at Denaby. |
| June 7 Thurs | Miss Denton left by afternoon train. |
| June 11 Mon. | Murray digging out drain in bathing hole paddock. |
| June 12 Tues. | Bought light steers. Good South Island steers at £8/14/-. |
| June 14 Thurs | Miss Bowles got the Phatoen [phaeton] from Macintosh. |
| June 16 Sat. | Went over in morning fixed up the harness which George had been cleaning. |
| June 18 Mon. | Took Miss Bowles and Jack over for dinner, then drove them to the railway station. They are off to Wellington for a few days. George is staying with me and Enid with Miss Stewart. Paid Miss Bowles cheque for £9/10/- which is her salary up to July 31st. |
| June 30 Sat. | Murray took dray home last night so took up balance of the pipes (for drains). I got Tommy in the phaeton and drove down for Miss Bowles & Jack. They returned from Wellington. |
| July 10 Tues. | Went to sale, not much business doing - fats still dragging, hoggets selling well, one line passed in at 27/-. |
| July 11 Wed. | Two constables and I had look over Reads property but did not find Read boys who are wanted for camp. |
| July 19 Thurs. | Another wet morning. Been a very rough night of thunder and lightning and heavy hail. |
| August 3 Fri. | Very wet morning, creeks very high. |
| August 8 Wed. | Went to Mrs Adkins funeral. |
| August 9 Thurs | Went up to Shannon to Law's sale. First cow sold fetched 56 guineas, next one 40, next one 20 - he would not sell any more. Law brothers bulls sold from 26 - 41 guineas. |
| August 13 Mon. | Received a cable from Egypt. |
| August 19 Sun. | Looked around ewes and found one with three lambs. Took one away and gave it to Jack. (Lamb died next day.) |
| August 27 Mon. | Mr Oag coming to look around ewes, make a few gates and fix up the hayshed, etc. |
| Sept. 5 Wed. | Murray repairing the drive between the house and woolshed. Oag finished the fowlyard, then started to repair the sheepyards. |
| Sept. 6 Thurs | Miss Bowles and family gone to Rongotea for a few days. |
| Sept. 10 Mon. | Miss Bowles and family came home in afternoon. |
| Sept. 12 Wed. | Mr Richards came along to see about insuring of the house and outbuildings. |
| Sept. 17 Thur | Got lambs and ewes in. Jack and Pat assisted with docking. |
| Sept. 22 Sat | Miss Bowles not too well. |
| Sept. 24 - 26 | Mrs Janet Stewart stayed to help Miss Bowles. |
| Sept. 29 Sat. | George helped me move ewes and lambs. |
| Oct. 2 Tues. | Macfarlane took up one and a quarter tons of lime from railway station. |
| Oct. 3 Wed. | Hossack brought up balance of lime - three tons. Enid not so well. |
| Oct. 9 Tues. | Went to sale. Hoggets selling very good up to 38 shillings at A & W. 900 of MacDonald estate hoggets sold 33 shillings. |
| Oct. 22 Mon. | Mustered back hill. Got 2 of Mr Beechers hoggets. |
| Oct. 30 Tues. | Mr Beecher took a horse of Mr Johnston to graze here for 1/6 a week. |
| Nov. 2 Fri. | Miss Denton staying a few days. |
| Nov. 8 Thurs | Miss Denton, Miss Bowles and Jack over for dinner. Miss Denton on her way home to Wellington. |
| Nov. 17 | Went to Mrs Smellies funeral. Took over a load ofgroceries, came from Wellington from farmers co-op. |
| Nov. 19 - 22 | Mr Oag helped put in the shearing machine, repair windows and build up woolpress. I went looking for shearers but did not succeed in getting any. |
| Nov. 23 Fri. | Miss Denton has rung to say that Bert has been wounded. |
| Nov. 24 Sat. | Went over early told Miss Bowies about the cable. She was very cut up about it, the children very good. |
| Nov. 27 Tue. | Cable from Bert wounded on the arm. We all feel relieved. |
| Nov. 28 Wed. | Murray brought a shearer along. Got the machines going but a small piece broke, only use one machine. Murray took the blade. Got thru 66 betweem them. Gag fleece. |
| Nov. 29 - 30 | Shearing again, very hot shearing very slow. |
| Dec. 3 Mon. | Mr W.H. Denton there for the day. |
| Dec. 4 - 13 | Shearing - Cottle and Murray using the blade. Paid Cottle 30 shillings for the 100. Two Maoris used machines, slow start. |
| Dec. 17 Mon. | Hossack came for the wool, 20 bales in all. |
| Dec. 24 Mon. | Wet days so couldn't drill. Took all the children downtown after dinner - they had a good time. |
| Dec. 25 Tues. | Had a quiet Xmas. Had Miss Bowles and the three children in the afternoon. Also Vivian & Margery. Had a small Xmas tree. Mrs Fulton Father Xmas. |
| Dec. 26 - 29 | Finished drilling. Honore cut my hay. Murray started on plough. Honore had to cut thistles first as horses wouldn't tackle them. |
| Dec. 29 Sat | Miss Denton up from Wellington. |
