Coates Memorial Church

 

One of my favourite places in Northland is the tiny town of Matakohe and next to the Kauri Settler's Museum is this church which was dedicated after a local politician/farmer named Joseph Gordon Coates (Coates is still a well known surname around this region with descendants living locally) who is also buried in the cemetery here.

He was first elected as MP in 1911 and took a leave of absence from parliament in 1916 to serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces rising to the rank of major. He was wounded and decorated twice then became leader of the Reform Party and Prime Minister in 1925. He served as a very effective minister from 1931 to 1935 and in a wartime cabinet from 1940 to 1943. He died suddenly on 27th May 1943.

After discussing it with the Coates family, the government decided to build this church as a national memorial designed by architect Horace Lovell Massey and was then opened on 27th May 1950 by Prime Minster Sidney Holland.

Coates Memorial Church

On our last trip out to Matakohe just before we drove home again I talked the other half into walking down the drive next to the museum so I could have a look at this church.

The Coates Memorial Church opened in 1950 and the architect was Horace Lovell Massey (Massey is a well known name in the Kaipara region).

Inside it's very clean, tidy and well maintained. Mr Massey was also part of a firm named Massey, Morgan, Hyland and Phillips who also designed the nurses home at Napier Hospital (1925) and the Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Hastings (also 1925). From the research I've read he also designed many other churches, crematoriums and fine houses.

Matakohe is a farming area which was first settled around 1860 by farmers and labourers from England, there were no roads or trails - the only link with the outside world was the sea right through the Kaipara inlet.

A big Kauri gum industry developed here around 1867-1870 by the settlers and from memory the earliers grave we saw was from the 1880s. The name "Coates" as per the name of the church is another well known one for the area - in fact one of our last prime ministers was Gordon Coates who lived in nearby Maungaturoto.

Some information taken from the Maungaturoto - History of the Kaipara Facebook page.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Old cars at Matakohe

On Saturday the youngest and I headed out the 40 minute drive to Matakohe where the museum there was having a "Settler's Day". The museum is all about showing off our region's kauri gum history including information about the first people to settle there, the machinery they used, their houses and how they lived.

One thing that was highlighted there was local people bought their old cars to show off and these photos are just some of the ones we looked at.

I'm not particularly interested in new cars these days but I do love old vintage and retro cars, they're really something different.

I quite like the little blue one, what do you think?

Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My corner of the World.

Old farm silos in Matakohe

I just love countryside - these old farm silos and barn are located in Matakohe, on the Kauri Coast in the Kaipara region of Northland. It use to be a regular feature when I worked up this way a few years back.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday :-)

Gravel Roads, fences and farms in Matakohe

A while ago I did something new, I went out with my friend Liz to some back roads of the Kaipara district where we live. This is farmland in Matakohe, about 40 minutes from where i live consisting of miles and miles of gravel roads, farmlands, fences, cattle like cows and sheep. On this particularly late summer day it was very overcast but nice, not too hot not too cold.

For more skywatch Fridays click here :-) also linking up with Good Fences...