200 Years of Christianity in

By Rex Morgan 1642. On see- ing the two ships in Golden any Christians in New Bay, the Maori Zealand are celebrating the launched sever- 200th year since the first M al canoes to take public Christian service was held a closer look at in New Zealand in 1814. This anni- the strangers. versary is important, not only to the Unfortunately history of their faith, but to the devel- there was some opment of New Zealand as a whole. disagreement Christianity had a very significant and a skirmish role in the founding of our nation, in- in which four cluding the signing of the Treaty of Europeans and Waitangi. Christians were the back- a Maori lost their bone of the first permanent settle- lives. ment by Europeans in New Zealand, After that having been invited by Maori to live Tasman avoid- near them. Indeed, Christianity has ed contact with contributed immensely to the growth Maori, whom he and success of our nation. considered as Many Kiwis have a rather sketchy ‘enemies’. He knowledge of their country’s histo- never set foot ry. History is notorious for being a on shore, but it dull and boring study. But it doesn’t was the Dutch have to be that way. A look at the re- who called the cords of early European settlement country ‘Nieuw in Aotearoa can be quite enthralling. Zeeland’. A Celtic cross at commemorates the arrival of Have you ever wondered what the It was over 100 missionary and his Christian message Maori thought when they first spotted years before the in 1814. huge ships with billowing sails off the next European it Mount Egmont! Du Fresne’s crew coast? How did they respond when visitor, James Cook, came in 1769. set up camp for a while and got on the white-skinned people wearing He spent six months sailing around quite well with Maori, but when they strange clothing wanted to come New Zealand, and made contact moved an abandoned canoe to their ashore? How long was it before the with Maori on a few occasions, camp, the Maori objected and killed visitors began building European even trading some food with them. du Fresne and some of his men. houses? How did the first horses and Amazingly, the French explorer Jean By this time there were convict set- cattle come to New Zealand? Whose de Surville arrived at almost exact- tlements in Australia and on Norfolk idea was the Treaty of Waitangi? The ly the same time, and his ship criss- Island, and in 1793 a ship was sent answers to questions like these can crossed the path of Cook’s without to pick up a couple of Maori, named be fascinating. either of them actually realising the other was there! Tuki and Huru, and take them to teach the Norfolk Islanders how to The First European Visitors Three years later another French use flax to make ropes and clothes. Most Kiwis know that the first re- navigator, Marion du Fresne, turned Philip King, the Governor of Norfolk corded European sighting of ‘the up and gave names to a few plac- Island, developed a special attach- land of the long white cloud’ was by es, including ‘Mascarin Peak’, not ment to the two men. He gave them the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in knowing Cook had already named axes and tools, and when they Issue 21 3 Meanwhile, back in New Zealand some of the whaling and sealing cap- tains were mistreating some Maori, promising to sail them to Australia, and then flogging them and using them as slaves. In retaliation Maori attacked a ship, the Boyd, and set it on fire, killing and eating the captain and crew.

An interesting account records that , wishing to introduce wheat production into New Zealand, brought back a quantity of seed wheat to share with a number of chiefs. It grew well, but the Maori, never having seen it before, thought they would find the grain in the roots, as with potatoes. When no grain was found they pulled all the plants out and burnt them. Ruatara left his wheat to mature and the lo- cals were amazed to see that the wheat grew at the top of the plants!1

Shipping between Australia and New Zealand was very irregular, so Samuel Marsden bought his own brig, the Active, and sent it across the Tasman in June 1814 with two missionaries, , a schoolteacher, and William Hall, a carpenter. Marsden believed in teaching physical skills, as well as spiritual instruction.

Kendall and Hall arrived at Ruatara’s home at Rangihoua in the Bay of In December 1814, Anglican missionary Samuel Marsden arrived at the , and began to teach the lo- Islands after journeying from his base in New South Wales. He came ashore at cals gardening and building tech- Rangihoua Bay on Christmas Day and preached the first Christian sermon ever niques. Kendall started lessons for delivered in New Zealand, to Maori and Europeans. This is artist Russell Clark’s the children. After a few weeks they depiction of the event, painted in 1964. took Ruatara back to Australia, along Permission of the Aleander Turnbull Library, Wellington NZ, must be obtained before any reuse of this image. with three other chiefs. As an insight returned home they requested the convict settlement in New South into the way learning was achieved, ship’s guns to be fired, which caused Wales. He visited Governor King on records show that the Maori were the other Maori much amazement! Norfolk Island and found out how given a fishhook for every page of an well the Maori were regarded. So English grammar book they learnt on Before long, whaling and sealing he invited some of the Maori living the voyage! ships began visiting New Zealand in Australia to stay at his home in and made further contact with Marsden himself joined the next trip Parramatta. He got on particularly Maori, taking some of them to live in to New Zealand, which had 35 people well with , an important chief Australia. on board, including Ruatara and nine from the Bay of Islands, and his other Maori, as well as cattle, sheep, Enter Samuel Marsden nephew Ruatara. Marsden learnt pigs, poultry, horses, goats, cats, and In 1794, on the recommendation Maori from Ruatara, and taught dogs. ‘It bore a perfect resemblance of the anti-slavery reformer William him English and skills such as gar- to Noah’s Ark!’ commented a sailor in Wilberforce, Samuel Marsden was dening, and they began discussing the ship’s journal, adding that ‘It wasn’t sent to Australia as chaplain to the spiritual matters. very comfortable’. 4 Inside Life The Story of Tarore even sent a message to Ngakuku to Tarore’s apologise for killing Tarore. Grave In 1835 a missionary gave a twelve year old Maori girl called Tarore Although his friends expressed a a small book entitled ‘Te Rongopai desire for utu (revenge), Ngakuku a Ruka’, the gospel of Luke in had also been touched by the Maori. Tarore’s father, Ngakuku, message of Luke, and he forgave was the chief of the Waikato tribe. Uita. And so the two tribes were He saw that Tarore treasured the reconciled. Peace had come, not book very highly, so he asked her through war, but through listening to to read it to him. and practicing the words of a book, interesting evidence that truly the One night when Tarore’s pen can be mightier than the sword. family needed to travel across the Kaimai ranges to Tauranga, But that wasn’t the end of the story. they stopped to spend the night at The slave, Ripahau, later went south the Wairere Falls. Their camp- to Otaki and taught Tamihana, the fire attracted a raiding party from son of the great chief Te Rauparaha minister had yet travelled there, a rival Rotorua tribe, led by Uita. to read. He sent back to Rotorua for many Maori had learned to Tarore was killed while sleeping more books and amazingly Tarore’s read and write and had become with the book under her pillow. Uita very book was returned to him, still Christians. The only book they had took the book, but he was unable to with Ngakuku’s name in it! Tamihana known was Tarore’s ‘Te Rongopai read, so it lay discarded for some became a Christian, as did Ripahau, a Ruka’. What an amazing and time. One day a slave, Ripahau, and even Te Rauparaha was strong- productive journey had been who was able to read, came on a ly influenced by Christianity. Tarore’s taken by this little book! visit. He read Tarore’s book aloud book was then taken down to the to Uita, who was convicted by its South Island, and used to spread The gospel of Luke is widely words. He took to heart the mes- the gospel there. When Bishop available today. sage to love one’s enemies, and Selwyn visited the South Island six decided to become a Christian. He years later, although no European Have you read it?

On 22 December 1814 they landed It is interesting to note that the mis- stand up and sit down at the right at Ruatara’s pa of Rangihoua, where sionaries came to New Zealand at time, and if anyone started talking, the Maori were amazed to see the the request of Maori, and the hosts he tapped them on the head with his strange animals from abroad. One arranged for this first service. cane. cow took off into their midst, causing Quite a few chiefs had come from alarm and terror! Marsden climbed surrounding districts to be in the Marsden chose a passage from the up and rode one of the horses along audience. Professors of Maori book of Luke for his sermon text, the beach, and the locals stared education Alison Jones and Kuni announcing the birth of Jesus as at him in wide-eyed amazement. Kaa recently wrote: ‘This year it is ‘good tidings of great joy for all 4 Ruatara had tried to tell them about time to remember and celebrate people’. At last the gospel had come horses in the past, but since there that Pakeha came to New Zealand to another far-flung nation. was no Maori word for horse, he had under Maori protection and at It was a lot for the Maori to take to use the word kuri (dog). When he Maori invitation, and to reflect on in, and some of them whispered to had spoken of large kuri carrying what that invitation might mean Ruatara that they couldn’t follow what people in ‘land canoes’ (carriages), 200 years later’.2 was being spoken. After Marsden they hadn’t believed him. Marsden was delighted with the finished the service, Ruatara ex- plained the importance of what had The First Service preparations and this opportunity to been said. As they left the enclosure, On Christmas Day 1814 Ruatara ‘publish the glad tidings of the gos- more than 300 Maori surrounded the fenced off some land on the beach pel for the first time on this island’. Europeans and performed a rous- front at Oihi Bay, down the hill from He announced the first hymn, ‘All ing haka. Oral tradition records the Rangihoua pa. He erected a pul- People That on Earth Do Dwell’, and words as a joyous chant express- pit and reading desk made from an later commented: ‘I felt my very soul ing pleasure at the arrival of the old canoe and a couple of planks, melting within me as I viewed the visitors with their message of peace and covered them with cloth he had 3 congregation’. and joy. brought from Australia. He arranged old canoes as seats for the mission- One of the chiefs, Korokoro, gave Marsden went back to the ship and aries and other Europeans. signals for the Maori audience to wrote in his journal: ‘In this manner Issue 21 5 the gospel has been introduced into long practiced aroha (love) towards The Gospel Spreads New Zealand. I fervently pray that their own (tribe), but biblical prin- The Christian message began to the glory of it may never depart from ciples such as the instruction to ‘love spread throughout New Zealand. its inhabitants until time shall be no your enemies’6 were radical new 5 This was due not so much to the more’. concepts. missionaries, who remained in the Marsden stayed for three months, Interestingly, the great naturalist north for some years, as to the departing at the end of February Charles Darwin visited New Zealand Maori, who journeyed to the Bay 1815. He left a group of hardy and on the Beagle in 1835. He was aston- of Islands to hear it, or were taken courageous missionaries teaching ished to see an English farmhouse there as slaves and then took it back the Maori skills such as gardening, with well-dressed fields at Waimate. to their areas. ‘These dark skinned farming, rope making, and building. He remarked: ‘Native workmanship, teachers carried Christianity into a In 1816 Thomas Kendall opened taught by the missionaries, has ef- hundred nooks and corners’, stated the first school with a roll of 33 chil- fected this; the lesson of the mis- William Pember Reeves in The Long dren. The mission also taught Maori sionary is the enchanter’s wand. The White Cloud. the values of peace, forgiveness, house has been built, the windows Rotongia, a chief from the Waikato, and reconciliation, in an era where framed, the fields ploughed, and for instance, who had walked 250 there was much fighting amongst even the trees grafted, by the Maori. miles to , stated: ‘One thing the tribes, with cannibalism, sor- At the mill a Maori was seen pow- only do I desire; it is not a blanket, cery, and the principle of ‘utu’ (ven- dered white with flour, like his broth- it is not anything that will pass away, geance) holding sway. Maori had er miller in England’.7 but this is my great desire—the word of God’.8 He was referring to the There are two build- printing of the first New Testament in ings side by side at Maori in 1837, for which there was a Waitangi: the Treaty huge demand for copies. House (the residence of James Busby), Noted historian Michael King where the Treaty was observed: ‘From the 1830s the signed in 1840, and momentum had been increased the Whare Runanga by the activity of Maori evan- (Maori meeting house) gelists, many of them former built by Maori to com- slaves who had been convert- memorate the centen- ed in Ngapuhi territory and then nial in 1940. allowed to return home when their masters also embraced the new The two types of architec- faith and rejected slavery as an ture (one divided into rooms institution’.9 By the mid-1840s it for privacy and functionality; is estimated that half of the Maori the other with a large hall population was gathering regular- where everybody sleeps and ly for Christian worship.10 shares discussions, with or- nate carvings recording an- As more and more Europeans came cestral stories) represent to settle in New Zealand, disputes two different types of peo- began to arise. New Zealand did not ple, cultures and ways of life. have any rule of law; justice had to be sought in New South Wales. So It is inevitable that clashes will sometimes the Maori asked for some form of law occur when two so diverse cultures come appropriate for New Zealand. The together. However, there is a key to achiev- answer was to send William Hobson ing the unity of separate peoples. As you to establish a British colony, and to step back from the two buildings, you see design a treaty as a legal base for a large flag pole on the Treaty Grounds, the fledgling nation. in the shape of a cross. This is of course the symbol of Jesus Christ, worshipped The Treaty of Waitangi was quickly by Christians as having died on a cross to put together by Hobson and British become the mediator of reconciliation be- Resident James Busby, and trans- tween all people. At the foot of the cross of lated into Maori by the missionary Jesus all people become one. Henry Williams. 6 Inside Life ‘If Williams had not actively court- ed the chiefs and explained to them the importance of the treaty—specif- You are invited to come and meet the sponsors of ically that the Crown was honouring Inside Life! their request for protection—it would Grace Communion International services are held weekly in the following locations: never have been signed’, states his- torian Keith Newman.11 Auckland: The Mt. Eden Senior Citizens’ Club Hall, Balmoral (corner Dominion Rd and Brixton Rd) The missionaries supported the document, believing it was the best Saturdays at 2.00 pm. chance of protecting Maori inter- Contact: Rex Morgan, ph. 09 489 8910 ests in the face of increasing British Rotorua: Contact Peter Lindop, ph. 07 349 2272 settlement.12 They were the ones who led the effort to take the treaty Wellington: “Thumbs Up” Hall throughout the nation, collecting sig- 5 Elizabeth Street, Petone natures from the chiefs of the vari- Saturdays at 2:30 pm. ous tribes. Contact: Dennis Gordon, ph. 04 386 2094 When preparing Maori leaders to Invercargill: Contact: Les Evans, ph. 03 218 7020 sign the treaty, British Resident James Busby told them that the Other NZ locations: Small groups meet regularly in other cities English too had been a nation of nationwide. warring tribes until the story of Jesus For details, contact Dennis Richards, had brought forgiveness, reconcilia- ph. 06 353 6224 or visit www.gci.org.nz tion, and restitution.13 Dr Laurie Guy’s 2011 book, Shaping Godzone, states that ‘the church and teach them literacy and other from Maori themselves. The great has been midwife to the nation’, and practical skills, as well as the ethical Ngapuhi chief Tamati Waka Nene claims that message of love and peace which said: ‘When the Governor came here ...without missionary influ- is the foundation of the Christian he brought with him the word of God ence there would have been no gospel. Historian James Belich de- by which we live; and it is through Treaty of Waitangi and no New scribed the missionaries as ‘agents the teaching of that word that we are Zealand as we know it today. of virtue in a world of vice’—a world able to meet together this day under Governor Hobson expressed the British Resident James Busby one roof’.18 his gratitude for the efforts 15 labelled ‘extreme frontier chaos’. Another Maori chief, Eruera Kahawai of Henry Williams, and lat- er declared to the Legislative Historian Dr Paul Moon records: of Rotorua is quoted as saying in Council (in 1841) that if it wasn’t ‘Christianity played a central role in 1860: for the help of the missionar- the development of our state edu- It was the introduction of the ies, a British colony would not cation system. By the 1820s, New gospel that put an end to all our have been established in New Zealand’s mission schools were the evil ways. Yes, my friends, it was 14 Christianity alone that did it. It Zealand. only source of primary schooling in 16 put an end to thieving and many Christianity’s Contribution the country’. other sins. We have abandoned It is easy to underestimate the valu- A missionary, explorer, botanist, our old ways. The rule is now able contribution of Christianity to and politician, William Colenso kindness to the orphan, chari- ty, peace, and agricultural pur- our national story. Imagine if it hadn’t brought the first printing press to been missionaries who started the suits. I have now come under New Zealand, and published the the wings of the Queen.19 first permanent settlement. Many of New Testament in Maori in 1837. the sealers and whalers arriving in Keith Newman writes: ‘The tecton- ‘This had a profound impact as the the early 1800s had been convicts ic shift away from blood utu and Maori language had no form of writ- in Australia and their behaviour was cannibalism, the rapid growth in ten script prior to the printing of the very disorderly. Their drunken con- literacy, the reduction of inter-trib- New Testament. By the middle of the duct caused the principal settlement al wars, new agricultural and trad- 19th century, two thirds of Maori had of Kororareka to be called ‘the hell- ing skills and the freeing of slaves hole of the Pacific’. They fought with rejected their old ways and turned to 17 can primarily be attributed to the Maori and took advantage of them. the Christian message’. practical, spiritual, and humani- The missionaries on the other hand The strongest testimony to the ben- tarian input of the missionaries and 20 were eager to live together with Maori efits brought by Christianity comes their faithful Maori teachers’. Issue 21 7 churches as Notes 1 they failed to Samuel Marsden, HO 176A, p. 26; Patricia come to sup- Bawden, The Years Before Waitangi, 2006 reprint, p. 49 port of Maori 2 Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa, ‘The day when their Maori first said, Haere mai, Pakeha’, NZ land was un- Herald, 6 February 2014 3 justly confis- Robert McNab, Historical Records of New cated, such as Zealand, 1908-1914, Vol. 1, p. 363 4 at Parihaka in Luke 2:10-11 5 the 1870s. Robert McNab, Historical Records of New Zealand, 1908-1914, Vol 1, p. 363 6 But Stenhouse Matthew 5:44 7 notes: ‘If Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches, London, 1890, pp. 509-510 Maori-Pakeha 8 British and Foreign Bible Society, 37th relations have Report 9 been rela- Michael King, History of New Zealand, tively good in 2003, p. 143 10 comparison NZ Christian Network, ‘Discussion Paper with race re- for the Gospel Bicentenary’ 11 lations else- Keith Newman, Bible and Treaty, 2010, p. 148 where in the 12 NZ Christian Network, ‘Discussion Paper world, then for the Gospel Bicentenary’ 13 e v a n g e l i c a l Jeff Fountain, ‘Midwife to a Nation’, www. Christianity schumancentre.eu/category/weeklyword 14 had a great Keith Newman, Bible and Treaty, 2010, deal to do with p. 159 15 it. Professor New Zealand History Online, section ‘The Christian Missionaries’ Sir Keith 16 The first Christian mission in New Zealand was founded Paul Moon, ‘Bible in School battlers de- in 1814 by a Sydney chaplain, Samuel Marsden. Though Sinclair, who nying our heritage’, NZ Herald, 13 they had little success initially in converting Maori, the mis- could never February 2014 17 sionaries also wrote down the Maori language and started be accused of www.cai.org/bible-studies/christian- printing books in Maori. One of the leading missionary or- having a reli- history-new-zealand 18 ganisations was the Church Missionary Society. In a tract gious axe to Keith Newman, Bible and Treaty, 2010, published in England after 1849 by the society to muster p. 290 grind, has ar- 19 support, there were images of Maori and Maori life. On the Te Karere The Maori Messenger newspa- gued exact- per, July 1860 page pictured here are verses of the society’s 50th jubilee ly this. The 20 hymn. Keith Newman, Bible and Treaty, 2010, fact that Maori p. 312 Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington NZ, must be obtained 21 before any reuse of this image. New Vision, New Zealand, 1993, New rights and wel- fare were re- Zealand Christian Network, p. 34 22 All of this is not to say that the mis- spected and protected as much Keith Sinclair, ‘Why are Race Relations in New Zealand Better Than in South sionaries were always just and right as they were in New Zealand, en- Africa, South Australia or South in their conduct. Far from it! They shrined in the Treaty of Waitangi Dakota?’ New Zealand Journal of squabbled amongst themselves and and in subsequent legislation, History, 5:2 1971, pp. 121-127 often set a poor example of their shows how important Christian faith. According to John Stenhouse, attitudes were in setting positive Rex Morgan, in an article entitled ‘The History standards for Pakeha attitudes the editor of of the Christian Movement in New and behaviour from the beginning Inside Life, Zealand’: ‘Many Maori became dis- of settlement’.22 and his wife illusioned with Pakeha Christianity, Marilyn live especially after the wars of the New Zealand certainly has a rich on Auckland’s North Shore. 1860s. Tragically, they had reason and fascinating history. The bi- Rex has so to do’.21 In the land wars a num- centenary of Christianity is an worked in Christian ministry and opportune occasion to review the ber of missionaries acted as chap- office administration for over 30 lains to government troops, and this development of our nationhood, years and has contributed articles seemed like a stab in the back to and to recognise the positive con- to a number of international publi- many Christian Maori. Large num- tribution Christianity has made to cations. Rex can be contacted at bers of Maori left the established our heritage. [email protected] 8 Inside Life