About
Marvel at a fully operational Victorian workshop where Ernest Hayes invented devices still used today, and imagine his wife Hannah, in full skirts, pedalling on dirt roads through Central Otago, selling them.
A genuine example of 'Kiwi ingenuity" in formerly isolated and tough conditions, Hayes has something for everyone. The inventive mind of Ernest Hayes is evident in his well-preserved 1890's workshop, and homestead
Hayes developed and marketed products to improve farming life, like wire strainers, cattle stops and pulley blocks. His mud brick family home was fitted with modern inventions like electricity (generated by a water driven pelton wheel), pipe radio and quirky laundry and bathroom facilities.