In a country churchyard

Press, 13 December 1986, Page 26

In a country churchyard

St Peter’s is Akaroa’s oldest surviving church. It was built in 1863, 20 years after the first Anglican service for Akaroa was held under a large gum tree in Aylmer’s Valley. The gum is still standing. According to research done by Mr Jonathan Mane of Canterbury University, the nave of the church is likely to have been designed by the architectural vicar of Onehanga, Dr A. G. Purchas. He was the last of the church architects during Bishop Selwyn’s episcopate and designed St Stephen’s, Tuahiwi, after he had designed St Bride’s, Mauku. St Peter’s bears a strong resemblance to these churches, particularly the distinct entrance tower and spire. If Dr Purchas was the architect, then St Peter’s is the most southern of the Selwyn churches with their character-istically-exposed timber exteriors.

Land was given for the church on Rue Balguerie by Akaroa’s second magistrate, John Watson. The builders, George Checkley, Joseph Bates and Robert Newton, were contracted to do the job for £242.

The father of one of Akaroa’s large families, which had quickly swollen the congregation numbers, complained about the lack of space in the church about 13 years after it was built. “When I bring my dozen to church I like to sit with them to

keep them in order,” he said. In 1876, the eminent provincial architect, Benjamin Mountfort, designed the transepts and chancel for the church, complementing its original design. Parish records reveal that the extra west gallery was particularly appreciated by the young people since complaints were recorded about the behaviour of the “rowdy characters of the parish who assemble here.” The builders of the extensions were Kane and Drewett. Bishop Henry Harper, who had consecrated the church in 1864, also consecrated the additions and their totara interior in 1877. He visited the parish from time to time, either on foot or on horseback. Instead of riding his horse up the steep hillsides, he was known to hold grimly to the horse’s tail as it struggled to pull him up over the logs and tree stumps. Akaroa’s Maori history stretches back to about 500 years, with moa hunters living as close to the area as Sumner, followed by the Waitaha people within the immediate area. The Ngati Mamoe tribe is believed to have conquered the Waitaha tribe in the sixteenth century. Several generations later, the dominant Ngai-Tahu tribe lived in relative tranquility throughout Banks Peninsula for 150 years. Major inter-hapu (clan) fighting then broke out and continued until the new threat

emerged of a North Island conquest led by Te Rauparaha. During his third major raid on the South island Ngai Tahu tribe in 1830, Te Rauparaha sacked their strongholds at Tunapuneke and Akaroa Harbour’s Onawe Peninsula, wiping out a large proportion of the Ngai-Tahu hapu there. The earliest European record of Akaroa was written in 1770 by the botanist on board the Endeavour, Joseph Banks. He described how the Peninsula ridges were like those of other South Pacific islands and the valleys were completely forested. Captain Cook spotted two Maoris Sitting on top of a hill watching the ship but decided not to land. Whalers frequently visited Akaroa several years before any settlement. The first European to live in Akaroa in 1837 was James Robinson Clough, who married a Maori woman. A German whaler, George Hempieman, set up a shore station at Peraki in the same year. Soon after, a French whaler, Jean Langlois, considered that he had bought Banks Peninsula for 6000 francs (about £4O) worth of chattels from the Ngai-Tahu people. He returned to France to form a commercial company to exploit the Peninsula resources. Before he left he persuaded the captain of a French vessel in New Zealand, Captain Cecile, to

proclaim the South Island French as a challenge to the growing English colonisation of the South Pacific region. Several bankers and ship owners at Nantes and Bordeaux provided money for the new French colony in the South Island. The French Government guaranteed naval protection for any settlements.

In 1839, the Nanto-Bordelaise Company was formed and Captain Langlois was nominated captain of the first ship, the Compte de Paris, to bring French settlers out to Akaroa. About 60 emigrants left Rochefort on the vessel, accompanied by the 32-gun L’Aube. They arrived at Akaroa Harbour, named Port Louis Philippe, in 1840, but a British magistrate was already living there and the Treaty of Waitangi had just proclaimed New Zealand to be under British sovereignty.

The French settlers were not told that the English had already made a claim to the country. Disputes arose between the French and the NgaiTahu people over the supposed sale of Maori land to Jean Langlois. By 1849, the Nanto-Bordelaise Company had sold its assets and land claims to the New Zealand Company. A passage to Tahiti was offered to the French settlers who decided not to remain in Akaroa — under British sovereignty.

After the first Anglican service under the gum-tree, services continued in the French powder magazine where the courthouse was later built. The seating for these services was provided from the Catholic Church of Assumption, built near the French cemetery in 1840 where Bishop Pompalier held the first mass in Canterbury. ; This help from the Catholic parish is said to have been the “beginning of that spirit of amiability which has continued to exist among church people at Akaroa.” Archdeacons Paul and Mathias visited Akaroa to perform Anglican marriage and baptismal services, particularly for the Ngai-Tahu people. In 1844, Bishop Selwyn made his first visit to Akaroa and the Rev. W. R. Thomas and Rev. J. A. Fenton conducted services there on a temporary basis. In 1851, Akaroa had its first resident clergyman, the Rev. W. J. Aylmer, who arrived from England at Lyttelton on board the Canterbury Association vessel, the Nugent. With his arrival at Akaroa, plans were drawn up by Samuel Farr to build an Anglican church in Church Street with seating for about 60 people for £9B. It was opened in 1852 but within 10 years proved to be too small and has since been demolished.

By

TESSA WARD