The Churches of Northland: Motukaraka

It's now well over a month since Pauline and I set off for a long weekend exploring the churches around the Hokianga Harbour on the West side of Northland.  I've already posted about the Church at Pakaraka.  Now for the second one.  The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption at Motukaraka.

Opened on 3 April 1910, with festivities attracting more than 2000 people, the church was entirely funded by the local Maori community after taking nearly 3 years to build.  It is constructed of kauri much of which came from the hapu lands at Tapuwae where kauri stands had survived the extensive logging in the region.

The painting over the alter is a copy of the Assumption of Our Lady by the Spanish painter Murillo which had previously hung in the Native School having been brought out to New Zealand by a Motukaraka schoolmaster.

The church is on land owned by local Maori, The Ngai Tupoto ki Motukaraka, (the Ngai Tupoto hapu is part of the iwi of Te Rarawa) who have maintained the church since it was built.

Churches of The Hokianga: Pakaraka

The Church of The Holy Trinity in Pakaraka was the first church we called at on the way from the Airport at Whangerei to Kohukohu.  This church was endowed by Archdeacon Henry Williams who was a missionary to the Maori people for 44 years.  the church was erected by his sons and opened for worship on 23 April 1851.  I think that, despite being in better condition than most of the churches we saw, it was at 160 years, also the oldest.  I'll correct that if need be as I check other churches.

 

The wall hanging depicts the Holy Trinity and is made of flax from kneelers used in the church and made circa 1916.

The harmonium is undated but many of the churches had a harmonium.  I was particularly interested because Mum had a harmonium which she played occasionally - we had very tolerant neighbours.

Churches of The Hokianga

For three days Pauline and I have been on a pilgrimage to see and photograph the churches of the Hotianga in New Zealand's Northland.   I suspect that some may think it odd that an atheist (that's me, I'm not sure what Pauline is) is running around with an interest in churches.  It's quite simple.  As one of the people we met, a Maori by the name of Mr Pickering, said when we asked whether there was a good congregation at the church "The old are dying off so they don't come any more.  The young don't come to church.  The rest ?.  So the churches are empty."  But they come to be buried.  For me what is important is the role that the church played as a focal point in society and the conversion and education in European language and ways of the indigenous population of New Zealand.  In addition there are so many attractive old (by New Zealand standards) church buildings occupying the most significant places in the landscape and in the culture and history of the country that I feel their preservation is both culturally and historically important.

I could post on a lot of old churches which I'm sure would bore you very much.  Notwithstanding the latter statement I shall probably put many of them on the blog over the next while just so that I have a record of them.

The area we covered for the exploration is shown on this map.  We were staying in Kohukohu.

A Journey to Northland

Yesterday I left on the 1255 flight from Napire to Auckland to connect with the flight to Whangerei.  That was the idea.  It was a hot and reasonably good day in Napier with gale-force Northelies.  The plane was late.  On board we were told the flight time would take longer than normal (but the eta would still give me 10 minutes to catch the connection).  We landed 10 minutes after my onward flight should have left.  Luck was on my side and that, too, was running late.  So I arrived in Whangerie only about 50 minutes late despite being held over the airport whilst a severe squall went through.

The Northland break looked doomed to be spent in wetness as promised by the weather forecasts as we drove West:

Soon the skies grew slightly less heavy:

And as evening came we arrived at our temporary accommodation in Kohukohu overlooking the Hokianga Harbour.  The view from the deck was, well I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions:

This morning, though, the forecast rains didn't materialise and we woke to:

I was delighted because although we could still have done out pilgrimage around the churches of the South-West of Northland the photography would not have been the same in the the murk of a rainy day.  I like the sun!