The first European to farm this area was Fairburn, New Zealand's first architect. He sold to William Mason in 1851 for 500 pounds, but the deed for the land was not processed until 6 September 1852. The land included most of the peninsula apart from what is now Musick Point, which was reserved for the crown. Originally Eastern Beach was named Masons Beach. He sowed fine English grasses and grazed mainly sheep. In 1850 William Mason was elected one of the three wardens of the Howick "hundred". The "hundred" was an ancient English administrative unit. He was one of three wardens who decided how the income gained for licenses to grazing cattle would be spent. The term "hundred" only lasted until 1865, when it was changed to Highway Trustees. Mason bought the first flour windmill built in 1843 by John Bycroft in Auckland at Epsom (on the corner of Mindmill Rd and St Andrews Rd). Because it was some distance from the wheat farmers in the Howick district, some of them made simple mortars and pestles to grind their own flour. Later Mason moved the mill to Princess St. Onehunga in 1854, where there was a natural spring.