Week Four: The church’s history, subsequent restoration
and as a retreat for creatives
“Every work of art is an act of faith.”
Madeleine L’Engle
L’Engle - (1918–2007) was an American novelist, poet, and essayist, who saw art, faith, and science as interwoven. She believed that creativity is an act of participation in something greater than ourselves. … and I totally agree.
Today is a great day to write – It has just started to rain. One of the most delicious sounds in the world is surely the sound of rain on a tin roof. It’s Labour Day for us all, the weather is reportedly awful in the deep south, and they’ve just had unheard-of powerful winds, causing severe damage. Thousands without power still, with more awful weather bearing down on the region.
Now to a very brief insight into the Wesleyan Mission in the Hokianga thus setting-the-scene for this church/residency.
The Methodist Church was founded in England during the 1730s by John Wesley, an Anglican priest who sought to reform the Christian religion by instituting greater discipline in spiritual devotion and through social work.
The idea of the Wesleyan mission in New Zealand, came about as a result of the friendship between Samuel Marsden, sympathetic to Wesleyan philosophy, and chaplain of the Church of England in New South Wales, and Samuel Leigh, who arrived in Sydney in 1815 appointed by the British Wesleyan Conference. Leigh subsequently established the Wesleyan Mission in N.Z. in Whangaroa in 1823. Also subsequently, it eventuated that there was an uneasy relationship with the local Māori and a mission was established in the Hokianga at the invitation of Ngāti Hao chief Patuone, at Mangungu, near Horeke.
Many local Māori were supportive of the Wesleyan Mission supported by the local Chiefs Patuone and Nene. Both later signed The Treaty of Waitangi. A ‘circuit’ of chapels and meeting places for preaching was established and lasted well into the 20th-Century. The main work of the mission was to educate Māori and if possible, convert them to a Christian life.
Linking back to my last blog about James and Jane Clendon, in which I spoke about Clendon House here in Rawene. James and Jane, daughter of a Hokianga Wahine Toa of some considerable mana, moved to Herd’s Point, ( Rawene ), when James became the resident magistrate in 1862. They attended and supported the Wesleyan mission.
Rawene, was first named Herd’s Point after Captain James Herd. He first sailed from Sydney to the Hokianga in 1822 to obtain kauri spars, returning again in 1826. It was called Herd’s Point for several decades by Pakeha.
Rawene was established as a government township in the 1860s, with land in the town being offered for sale by the Crown. It continued to grow and develop. By now the Point had two hotels, two stores, a dwelling house, a Custom-house, bonded store, telegraph and post-office, and a row of immigration cottages. My new friend, Aranne Donald, owns one which is now the last one remaining in Rawene. A court-house and church were also planned. In 1877 a 15pound grant had been given by the government and by late 1878 the Hokianga County Council had decided to build a substantial 200 foot long wharf at Herd’s Point, now Rawene.
In November 1876 it was reported at the Auckland Methodist District meeting that a new church had been erected at Herd’s Point at a cost of 160pounds. Funds for the building were largely raised by the minister’s wife Mrs Rowse. The timber for the building was milled at Wairere and the builder was Mr William Cook of Waimate North. In 1879 a further 22pounds was spent on improvements. Initially there was no seating, so seats and cushions were brought to each service by the congregation! The original wooden roof tiles rotted out by the end of the 1800s and had to be replaced with corrugated iron.
The church community at this time was largely Māori.
This church was also used by preachers of other faiths. Until the opening of the All Saints Church in 1917 the Methodist Church was the only place of worship in Rawene. The side annex, the vestry, was constructed in 1921. From 1923 the annex was rented through the week as a classroom to the Rawene District High School at 5shillings per week. The school continued to use this room through until 1946, when the new high school was opened in Marmon St. In 1927 electric lights were installed and in 1930 the property was connected to the town water supply.
>In 1974 the Anglican and methodist communities in Rawene combined to form a co-operating parish. The Anglican All Saints Church became a centre of worship and this church was closed. It operated for a number of years as an opportunity shop and other various events such as the art installation by Hinemoa Hauraki in November 2009.
It was finally sold in 2014, privately, to be renovated as a private home. This never eventuated, thank heavens, and is now the artists’ residency I’m so privileged to be painting in now.
This church is an excellent example of the quite humble 19th-Century Gothic revival style of timber churches, with its austere simplicity, notable in the Hokianga area, and embodies the ideals of simplicity and service of the Wesleyan missionaries of the time. That’s why there aren’t any stained-glass windows, and never has been.
Congratulations and my deep gratitude to the owners Linda Blincko and Lynn Lawton, and the heritage advisor and former heritage architect Aranne Donald, who advised through the restoration process. Any less committed art benefactors would have had cold-feet before and during the process of restoration. This building was really and truly in a seriously dilapidated state.
It's rather comfy and cosy here. The vestry now has been modernised to a simple insulated ply timber design with the sleeping upstairs in the vestry above the kitchen, bathroom and lounge - with its ‘for-real’ 1960s-70s furniture. The laundry and hot water cylinder discreetly away in a big cupboard under the stairs.
The elevated views east, across the Waima River and where it joins the Hokianga River, are ever-changing and gorgeous through the double lancet windows, as the church is built on the ridge-line, close to, but just above, the village proper. The dawns are heavenly, and so has my experience(s) here.
I don’t know what the final 10 days will bring. I can feel it waiting, but I definitely don’t want it to rush by.
‘Note to self’ - Enjoy the rhythm of the days ahead — painting, splendid dawns, fascinating dramatic tide changes, and all.
