The Church at Matawhero

I've had a wonderful day sightseeing and you guessed it, playing croquet. This morning Mike and Sandra took me to the historic church at Matawhero (pronounced Marafero). This church was built as a schoolroom in 1865/6 and was used variously as a place of Anglican worship, as a schoolroom, a meeting placeand as a hospital during the Hau Hau engagements in 1868. The militia camped there in March 1870 whilst waing for news of Te Kooti. It was the only building in the immediate vicinity to survive the Povery Bay Massacre by Te Kooti and his band in the early hours of 10th November 1868.

The building passed into the hands of the Presbyterian Church in 1872 when the Rev George Morice visited the area and found people anxious to see a church established and advanced the money for its purchase.