WESLEYAN MISSION, HOKIANGA

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 19 February 1927, Page 11

WESLEYAN MISSION, HOKIANGA

CENTENARY THIS YEAR. 1 I SOME EARLY HISTORY. j I WHAT THE WOISKEIJS FACED. | I The announceuii.>]it that it is intended iit tlie conclusion of tiie sittinn of tiie Xew Zealand Metliodi.-i Conference in I Auckland next month to make a pil- j »riniage of the members to Hokian<;a. | to mark the centenary of the establishment of tiie We-leyan mis-ion station in that district, calls for a -hort hi.-t ;>rLa! reference to the work of tiie hardy band | of pioneers in tiie far North. whit lab- | oured aniong.-t tiie .Maori- before New | Zealand became an appendage of the | British L'rnwn. The great Church of England missionary to the Maoris, the Kev. Samuel Marsden, was inanifestiy creed-hound. He saw that "the harvest w«» pLir.y, but the workers few.'' and therefore invited the Rev. Samuel Leigh, the lirst Wesley an missionary to Xew South Wales, to come across and help. It was in 1823 that Mr. and Mrs. Leigh arrived at Kaeo, Whangaroa. Tiie natives have since erected a cairn, which hears a tablet with the following inscription: — "Oil this spot tiie Methodist mission to the Maoris of New Zealand was established. June 10. 1523. by the Kev. Samuel Leigh. 'What Cod hath wrought.' Numbers xxiii. 23."' It is somewhat singular that the iirst Church of England missionary to the Maoris and tiie iir?t Wesleyan one should each have been named Samuel. A church has since been erected at Kaeo by the Methodists at a cost of £2000. There is an inscription stating: "To the glory of Cod the foundationstone of this church was laid by l'-ev. C'. H. Laws. ii.l).. president of the Centenary Conference, on behalf of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, on March .s, 1922."' Inside the building, on a tablet bearing the text. "These all died in the faith. Hebrews xi.. 13."' are the names of >the following Wesleyan Methodist pioneer missionaries: Samuel Leigh. Nathaniel Turner. John Hobb. James Stack. John Bum by, Samuel Ironside, Charles Creed. James Bullcr. William Woon. James Wallace, Thomas Buddie. John Warren, Ceorge Buttle. John Alilred, John Skevington. Walter Lawry, George Stannard, Henry H. Lawry. William House. William Walker, William Kirk, Alexander Keid. C. H. Sclinackenbprg, James Watkins

and William Gittos. The Boyd Massacre. The old-time missionaries must liave been fearless men. for it was at Whangaroa that the Maoris had killed and eaten tho crew and passengers of the ill-fated Boyd in 1S0S). She was a vessel of .301) tons, with 70 people 011 hoard. Only four '"'escaped—a Mrs. Nancy Morlov and her daughter, another girl named Broughton, and a boy aged I~>. named Davis, who was afterwards drowned in Sydney Harbour. The story of the massacre of the Boyd has often been printed. The son of a Whangaroa chief was a passenger across from Sydney and was ordered by the captain to turn to and work. He refused, and was therefore flogged. Upon arrival at Wliangaroa Tara showed his scarred back to the tribe, who took ample vengeance by massacring the crew and passengers of the Boyd, the vessel being looted and burned. It was to that very tribe Mr. Leigh started his mission. In the year 1527 the Kev. Nathaniel Turner, Kev. John Hobbs and the Kev. •J. Stack was stationed at Kaeo. For ; some unexplained reason the tribes I suddenly attacked the mission station r and plundered it. The missionaries i narrowly escaiped with their lives, after being driven from their homes. The Rev. George Clarke, afterwards a Congregational minister in Tasmania, in his book. "Notes 011 Early Life in New Zealand."' relates how lie rememberc as a child, Mr. and Mrs. Turner

arriving at the Kerikeri settlement. They had tramped twenty miles over roadless country and were utterly destitute. Mrs. Turner's feet were bleeding and she had little clothing on, added to which she was canyini a child in her arms. Removed to Hokianga. Hearing of the attack on the mission station at Whangaroa, three Xgapnhi chiefs went to the rescue of the missionaries. One was Eruera Maihi I'atione. another his brother, Tainati Waka Xene, and the third was their brother-in-law, Te Wharerahi. Writing about the occurrence afterwards, the Rev. John Hobbs stated"On the near approach of tho hostile army, with their guns, tomahawks, and spears, l'atuone requested the European families to kneel on the around, a command which was immediately obeyed. Patuone and a band of his noble-lieartel warriors in the meantime surrounded the missionaries, stretching forth their arms as a sign of their protection. The enetiuy party would no doubt have killed the mission party, but it meant a war with the tribes' of .the three chiefs if people under their protection were attacked, so they were not molested." It was this attack on the mission at Whangaroa that led to the starting of the station at Hokianga in 1827. The Xgapuhi chiefs took the missionaries to ilangnngu, on the Hokianga River, settling them jrinongst their own people. Some twenty years ago a visitor to Hokianga noticed a Norfolk Island pine towering above the native bush. Inquiry elicited the fact that it had been brought in a meat tin from Norfolk Island by the wife of the Rev. John

Hobbs and planted at the old mission station. Missionary's Big Voice. The Rev. \V. Woon. who had been labouring amongst the Maoris at Kawhia in 1804-:s">. was transferred to Hokianua in the latter year, to assist the Rc-v. John Hobbs i,i printing Maori literature, Mr. Woon was an expert typographer, hence his being shifted to Hokianga. Mr. Hobbs, who was a clever mechanic, built a pipe organ early in the history of the mission Mangungu, and he used to play the instrument, greatly to the delight of the Maoris. Mr. Woon was a splendid singer, and the Maoris said his voice reminded them of ti : organ. For that reason he was named by them "The Organ." in his journeys up and down the Hokianga River with his boat's crew Mr. Woon was wont to make the hills resound singing with his powerful voice. The pioneer Wesleyan missionaries did good work in the North, as well as in other parts of New Zealand, and it is a fitting tribute to their memory that the delegates of t he New Zealand Methodist Conference should make a pilgrimage to Hokianga to celebrate the founding of the mission station at Mangungu.