Samuel Marsden Memorial Church

When we first came up to the far north on holiday in April 2018 we drove through Matauri Bay and just before the road to the beach and campground there is this small church with a Maori urupa attached to it.

It's named after Samuel Marsden, the first missionary to New Zealand who came here in 1814 to minister to the Maori people. Accompanying Marsden were missionaries Thomas Kendall, William Hall and John King and their families; John Liddiard Nicholas (author of “Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand”) and Ruatara, Hongi Hika, Korokoro, Te Nganga, Tui and Maui.

The great Ngapuhi war chief, Hongi Hika welcomed Marsden and his colleagues with haka (war dances), inviting them to a feast. They spent the night with Hongi Hika and his people at Putataua Bay before continuing to Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands to establish the first mission station.

The small Anglican church beside the road, some 400 metres before the beach, is the Samuel Marsden Memorial Church, named in honour of the missionary's arrival on these shores. The lettering above the gate to the churchyard and urupa (cemetery) reads “Te Tou O Taki”.

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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.

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St Joseph's Anglican Maori Church

St Joseph's Anglican Maori Church is located just on the outskirts of Awanui and was built roughly around 1887. It was given it's name in compliance with the wish of the principal chiefs in commemoration of of the missionary work done by Reverend Joseph Matthews and the ministry of lay-reader Joseph Poutama.

We visited this area in 2018 but never got to venture inside but still a nice tidy church and cemetery nonetheless.

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Pakaraka Holy Trinity Church

Recently on a drive home from Paihia we took a different route than we normally take and stopped to explore this church in Pakaraka.

The Pakaraka Holy Trinity Church was built around 1850-51 by missionary Henry Williams and was opened in 1873.

The first and third sons of Henry and his wife Marianne farmed here in this area for many years. I don't know about you but those stained glass windows are awesome are they not?

Henry was the leader of the Church Missionary Society mission in NZ in the first half of the 19th century. He entered the royal navy at 14 years old and came here in 1823. The Bay of Islands Maori people gave him the name Karu-wha (meaning four eyes) as he wore spectacles but he was known more widely as Te Wiremu (Wiremu being the maori form of William).

The church and entrance (as above) are gothic in style, there is a slim steeple and the original tower apparently blew down in 1946 but was replaced in 2001. Henry's best tribute was in 1867 on the day he died 2 local tribes had planned a battle to settle a land dispute.

The old man's well respected mana (meaning power) that when the warriors heard the news both sides put their weapons down and joined the mourners.

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St Paul's Anglican Church - Whangaroa

If this photo looks a little bit lop-sided it's because this little old church in Whangaroa was up the top of a very steep driveway near the top of a hill. I struggled to walk up the path and when I did I had to steady myself with a small tree nearby.

St Paul's Anglican Church has been in this spot for approx 125 years and when it was opened in 1883 people came by boat or walked for miles to get to the services. St Paul's has quite a history; it's witnessed the slow decline of the timber industry, a fire that burned the school that was originally in front of it and the building of the Whangaroa big gamefish club rooms and marina.

Unfortunately the doors were locked but services are still held today on the first Sunday of each month.

Christ Church - Russell 1835

I've been wanting to explore this church for quite some time, it has a huge history in NZ's culture. Christ Church in Russell also known as Te Whare Karakia o Kororareka also known as the Kororareka Church is the country's oldest existing church built in 1835. The earliest grave we could find there was from 1836.

The first missionaries based in Paihia rowed across the water to Russell to provide prayer services in peoples homes. Russell was originally called Kororareka and had the nickname of "hellhole of the Pacific".

The missionaries purchased the land from local chiefs Rewa, Wharerahi and Moka - the agreement between them was that Maori and Pakeha should have equal rights of burial.

In 1845 Reverend Robert Burrows was the first resident clergyman living in the vicarage on the hillside beside the church.

In 1845 during the Battle of Kororareka between the British and Maori, the church was hit by stray musket and cannon balls of which you can see holes in the outside walls of the church today.

We tried to take photos of the interior of the church but there was a service being held the time we were there but hopefully we will be back there at some point.