Italia

In 1860, three years after the signing of the Constitution, the profile of the settler church was remarkably low. There were only 40 parishes in the colony, 16 in Christchurch, 11 in Auckland, eight in Wellington, and five in Nelson.

17 Dennis McEldowney (ed.), Presbyterians in Aotearoa, 1840-1990, Wellington: Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, 1990, pp.21-4.

18 Alison Drummond (ed.), The Auckland Journals of Vicesimus Lush, 1850-63, Christchurch: Pegasus Press, 1971, p.126.

19 ‘A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of New Zealand from Members of the Church of England in that Colony’, Bishop’s Auckland, 1850, pp.3-5, in Allan K. Davidson and Peter J. Lineham, Transplanted Christianity, Auckland: College Communications, 1987, Document 2.20, pp. 107-8.

Map 2.1

Anglican Church in New Zealand: Parishes 1860

Diocese of Auckland

In Auckland, St Paul’s Church functioned as a parish church, the garrison church for Fort Britomart, and as Selwyn’s pro-cathedral. Growth of the town had then led to the establishment of St Matthew’s in 1853 and St Mary’s, Parnell, in 1860. The arrival of Fencible soldiers in the 1840s saw the appointment of clergy to the soldier settlements at Onehunga, Otahuhu-Panmure, and Howick. The Tamaki parish included St John’s College, which provided ministry to churches built at Remuera and Epsom where there were no resident clergy. There was one parish on the North Shore, and another in the Bay of Islands. Remote Taranaki was included in the Diocese and there were two clergymen there. The young William Bolland began work in New Plymouth in 1843 but died from typhoid fever in 1847. He was followed by Henry Govett who was to remain in this position for fifty years (1848-98). Another priest, Henry Handley Brown (‘Parson Brown’), based at Omata, had pastoral responsibility for the country areas. There were no clergy in the Waikato.

Diocese of Wellington

There were only two town parishes in Wellington: St Paul’s, Thorndon (the pro-cathedral) and St Peter’s, Te Aro. They initially shared a priest20 who displayed refreshing adaptability by ordering the Sunday observance in such a way that both churches enjoyed regular worship.

20 Robert Cole, clergyman in Wellington from 1842 to 1853, had by far the longest incumbency in the first thirty years of St Paul’s parish. Most of the eight other clergy between 1840 and 1871 stayed for only two or three years.

This bemused important visitors like Charlotte Godley who, during a visit to Wellington in 1850, noted that:

At 9 a.m. he took a service at St Peter’s for the soldiers followed by one at 10 for the settlers. He then went to St Paul’s and took a service at 11.45. In the afternoon he rode to the Porirua for a service then back to St Peter’s for evensong at 6.30. In order to work all these services into the day he had to ‘mutilate’ the morning ones by taking morning prayer without the Litany at 10 at one church, while at 11.45 at the other church there was the Litany and the communion service. A different sermon was preached at each. Only those who attended both services, as a few did, got the full service, as well as two full sermons. The following week the order was reversed.21

Henry Sewell added:

There is another Church [St Peter’s] at the other end of the Town. It seems that between the two the Service is made up complete, half at one and half at the other but not completely at either. How is this? One suggestion we heard was that there were not enough Church goers to make congregations for both Churches. Not 200 Church goers in a population of 3000 people! and yet Canterbury is taunted. Comparing Canterbury with Wellington in this respect it is refreshing to think of our own Settlement and one is perfectly satisfied with the wisdom of its scheme.22

Those living beyond the town were served by parishes in Lower Hutt and Porirua Road (the area between Karori, Johnsonville and Porirua). Further afield, the only resident clergymen were in Wanganui and the Wairarapa, and also at Napier and Waipukurau (which, until 1869, formed part of the diocese).

Diocese of Nelson

Nelson, another New Zealand Company foundation, had five parishes – in Nelson, Motueka, Brightwater, Blenheim and Collingwood.

Diocese of Christchurch

The most significant progress had taken place in the Christchurch Diocese (which also included Otago and Southland until 1869). It was only ten years since the first settlers had arrived and the total population of the province was only 16,000.23 However, the diocese had much to show. In Christchurch itself, St Michael’s served as the parish church for ‘Christchurch with Middle Heathcote’, and also as the pro-cathedral. There were parishes in the villages around Christchurch – Heathcote, Avonside, Papanui and Riccarton – and on

21 Margaret Alington, High Point: St Mary’s Church, Karori, Wellington 1866-1991, Wellington: Parish of St Mary, Karori and The Karori Historical Society (Inc.), 1998, p. 14.

22 W.D. McIntyre (ed.), ‘The Journal of Henry Sewell 1853-7’, Christchurch, 1980, I. p.205. Entry for 14 March 1853, cited by Allan Davidson and Peter Lineham, Transplanted Christianity, Auckland: College Communications, 1987, p.110, document 2.22.

23 1874 Census report, Table VI: Population – summary at successive census periods, p.3, indicates a population of 8967 at the 1858 Census. Stephen Parr, Canterbury Pilgrimage, Christchurch: Centennial Committee of the Diocese of Christchurch, 1951, pp.40-41, notes that in 1857, Christchurch town had 953 people. Nearby villages had smaller populations: Papanui 692, Riccarton 404, Avon and Heathcote 541, Lyttelton 770. The only other centres of any size were Kaiapoi-Rangiora 650, Akaroa 608, Lincoln 438, Sumner 236. ‘There were 800 farmers up and down the plains and foothills’.

Banks Peninsula at Lyttelton, Akaroa, Banks Peninsula and Governors Bay. To the north there were clergy at Kaiapoi, Woodend and Rangiora while, to the south, Timaru, established in 1860, served the whole of South Canterbury. A priest based at Malvern Hills station served the area between the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers, while, in Otago, parishes had been established in Dunedin and Waikouaiti.

THE PERIOD FROM 1860 TO 1891