Te Waimate mission

This article is about the Mission in the North Island, New Zealand. For the town in the South Island, see Waimate.

The Waimate Mission established one of the earliest European settlements in New Zealand, at Waimate North in the Bay of Islands. The members of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) appointed to establish the Waimate Mission were the Rev. William Yate and the lay members of the CMS, Messrs. Richard Davis, George Clarke and James Hamlin.[1]

George Clarke's house

The establishment of the Waimate Mission

At the instigation of Samuel Marsden, a model farming village for the Māori was constructed at Te Waimate by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Land was bought from the Ngāpuhi tribe following the Girls' War of 1830.

In 1831, Richard Davis, a farmer and lay member of the Church Missionary Society, established a farm at the Waimate Mission.[2] The first marriage of two Europeans in New Zealand was conducted on 11 October 1831 at the St John the Baptist church, between William Gilbert Puckey (26), son of a Missionary carpenter, William Puckey, and Matilda Elizabeth Davis (17), second daughter of Richard Davis.[1] The existing Church of St John the Baptist was built in 1871.[3]

In 1835 William Williams, Jane and their family move to Waimate, where Williams continued his work on the translation of the Bible into Māori.[2] The boarding school for the sons of the CMS missionaries was also transferred from Paihia to the Waimate Mission. Richard Taylor succeeded William Williams as principal of the Waimate Boys’ School in September 1839.[4]

On 23 & 24 December 1835 Charles Darwin visited when HMS Beagle spent 10 days in the Bay of Islands.[5][6]

The work of the Waimate Mission

Wooden headstone for two of the British soldiers killed at Ohaeawai, preserved at the mission

The village comprised three wooden houses for missionary families, a flour mill, printery, carpenters' shop, brickworks, blacksmith, school and of course the church. Marsden hoped Māori would be educated into European culture while making Waimate Mission a paying proposition by producing goods for sale to European shipping and the local Māori through the Stone Store at Kerikeri. The attempt to impose European culture on Māori in a controlled fashion where those being taught also formed the labour, failed to attract many Māori and the station was gradually run down.

In June 1842 Bishop George Selwyn set up residence at the Waimate Mission. Some buildings were converted for use by St John’s College to teach theology to candidates for ordination into the Anglican Church. In 1844 Bishop Selwyn moved his residence and St John’s College to Auckland. Revd Christopher P. Davies studied for his ordination at St John’s College, when it was located at Waimate.[7]

Henry Williams was installed as Archdeacon of Waimate in 1844.[8]

During the Flagstaff War (1845-1846) casualties of the Battle of Ohaeawai were buried in the church yard of Church of St John the Baptist.[3] The mission station was used as the headquarters for the British army, after which the mission lost support among the Māori.[3] The mission station gradually fell into disrepair and the buildings were subsequently put up for sale.

Remnants of the Waimate Mission

Today the only remnant on the site is the house originally occupied by George Clarke, which is preserved by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a museum.[9] One of the other houses survives at the Butler Point Whaling Museum.

CMS members stationed at the Waimate Mission

The members of the Church Missionary Society who were appointed to the Waimate Mission include:

References

  1. 1 2 "St. John the Baptist Church, Waimate North, Bay of Islands". Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rogers, Lawrence M. (1973). Te Wiremu: A Biography of Henry Williams. Pegasus Press.
  3. 1 2 3 "Church of St John the Baptist (Anglican) and Churchyard (344 Te Ahu Ahu Road, Waimate North)". Historic Places Trust. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  4. Williams, William (1974). The Turanga journals, 1840–1850. F. Porter (Ed). pp. 32 & 67.
  5. Charles Darwin, Journal of a Voyage Round the World, 1831–36
  6. Caroline Fitzgerald (2004). Marianne Williams: Letters from the Bay of Islands. Penguin Books, New Zealand. pp. 219–230. ISBN 0-14-301929-5.
  7. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, August 1845". Desire of a Blind New Zealander for Scriptural Instruction. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 13 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  8. Evans, Rex D. (compiler) (1973). Faith and farming Te huarahi ki te ora; The Legacy of Henry Williams and William Williams. Auckland NZ: Evagean Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 0-908951-16-7.
  9. 1 2 "Te Waimate Mission House". Register of Historic Places. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  10. Yate, William (1835). An Account of New Zealand: And of the Formation and Progress of the Church Missionary Society's Mission in the Northern Island. R.B. Seeley and W. Burnside.
  11. Judith, Binney (1 Sep 2010). "Yate, William - Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 24 Sep 2011.
  12. A. H. McLintock, ed. (1966). An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand: CLARKE, George. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  13. "George Clarke (1798-1875)". Retrieved 14 Sep 2011.
  14. Williams, Frederic Wanklyn. "Through Ninety Years, 1826-1916: Life and Work Among the Maoris in New Zealand: Notes of the Lives of William and William Leonard Williams, First and Third Bishops of Waiapu (Chapter 3)". Early New Zealand Books (NZETC).
  15. Williams, William (1974). The Turanga journals, 1840–1850. F. Porter (Ed). p. 34.
  16. 1 2 3 Williams, Frederic Wanklyn. "Through Ninety Years, 1826-1916: Life and Work Among the Maoris in New Zealand: Notes of the Lives of William and William Leonard Williams, First and Third Bishops of Waiapu". Early New Zealand Books (NZETC).
  17. Williams, William (1974). The Turanga journals, 1840–1850. F. Porter (Ed). p. 26.
  18. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, February 1844". Missionary Meeting at Waimate, New Zealand. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 13 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  19. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, March 1844". A Native Congregation at Waimate – Contrast between the Past and the Present. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 13 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  20. Transcribed by the Right Reverend Dr. Terry Brown Bishop of Malaita, Church of the Province of Melanesia, 2008 (10 November 1858). "Untitled article on Maori Bible translation". The Church Journal, New-York. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  21. Nathan, Judith Morrell. "Robert Maunsell". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved December 2011.
  22. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, December 1846". Baptism of an Aged Woman in New Zealand. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 16 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  23. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, October 1853". Kaitaia. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015. (subscription required (help)).

Coordinates: 35°18′59.59″S 173°52′34.91″E / 35.3165528°S 173.8763639°E / -35.3165528; 173.8763639

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