Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z.) a businessman who owns a farm as an investment.

1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 229 And the Queen Street farmers leant on the bonnets of their dusty cars and chatted or looked in the windows of parked cars [...] You see them in every country town in tweed sports coats and turned-down hats and shoes mucky from going around the sheep in the morning. Good old Queen Street farmers. They carry us on their broad backs.
1966		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 49: It is permissible to call a member [of Parliament] a ‘Queen Street farmer’ (from the main street in Auckland) and to ask him to ‘stick to the truth occasionally’ [DNZE].
1981		J. Kennedy Straight from Shoulder 144: Of the thirty million acres of farmland which changes hands there each year, more than a third is sold to non-farmers. [...] the ‘Queen street cocky’ is now part of the New Zealand scene.
1985		J. Sherwood Botanist at Bay 26: A ‘Queen Street farmer’ was a city slicker who owned land or stock for taxfiddle reasons.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 90/1: Queen Street farmer absentee landlord, gentleman/woman farmer rarely seen near his/her property, which probably tax shelter pre-Rogernomics; in Sydney a Pitt Street farmer, in Melbourne a Collins Street cockie, in Queensland a Queen Street bushie.
1990		Dominion (Wellington) 11 Aug. 3: Budget changes had removed the tax advantages for ‘Queen Street farmers’ in the ownership of such farms as Taumata [DNZE].
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 Queen Street bushie one who owns a country property, often for tax loss purposes, but who lives and works in Brisbane.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 Queen Street ringer someone who dresses up in ringer's clothes, hat, boots, etc., but has probably never seen a cow in his life.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 166: Queen Street bushie/cocky/farmer City dweller with a farm.