Paparoa 100.Pdf

1 FOREWORD Dear Friends, In honour and memory of those who have ‘gone before’ and of those with whom we still have ‘fellowship’, this booklet has been produced as part of our Centennial Celebrations, and we trust that it will be a valuable record of the past century’s operations. Necessarily much has been omitted, but we trust that what is written here will be accepted in the spirit in which it has been presented, as we should all be deeply grateful for the BLESSINGS inherited. We should think of the opportunities we have and the liberty we enjoy compared with the early days — then the Church and the Home were the centres of Social activities and all were content — today the sphere of activity has moved outside the Church and Home, with resultant discontent and loss. Man thought that if he had more clothes, more leisure, more education, more material things, then he could do without GOD, but has discovered that if God and the eternal virtues are left out each NEVER SATISFIES. As the hymn puts ‘It — ‘WE TRIED THE BROKEN CISTERNS, LORD, BUT, AH, THE WATERS FAILED.’ To us of today the dress of yester-year may look strange, but inside that dress were folk who were a power for good in the community. Yes, they made mistakes, so do we: they had their limitations, so have we: they stood for something and knew what they stood for, do we? They had a clear goal before them and so sang with all their hearts — “A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE, A GOD TO GLORIFY, A NEVER DYING SOUL TO SAVE, AND FIT IT FOR THE SKY.” This was the basis for all their living and it matters not how we may have progressed materially, we can never get beyond that. All our modern ‘MUSTS,’ wireless, T.V., electrical appliances, fast transport, etc., were unknown to them, but because they “KNEW HIM OF WHOM THEY BELIEVED”, they found the secret of satisfaction and of inward peace. I would not suggest that we all go back to the oil-lamps, camp cookers, and the good old ‘buggy days’, and I trust that we are all grateful for the blessings so abundantly available under Social Security, but I would suggest that all the material blessings of today do not, indeed cannot, satisfy the inner longings of people with Souls to Save, unless among them is the FAITH by which our fore-fathers lived and which proved a Safe Refuge in every walk of life. We today are treading where the Saints have trod — they in their ‘buggies’, we in our ‘car’, but is it the same road with the same requirements — oats for the horse, petrol for the car, yes — but for the INDIVIDUAL, the ‘INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that there may be a deeper understanding of what is GOD’S WILL for us of today. Let us never be content with ‘PAST EXPERIENCES’. wonderful though they may have been, but let us face this NEW CENTURY OF SERVICE for GOD and the COMMUNITY, knowing that our GOD is a GOD of great YESTER-YEARS, but is also a GOD of still GREATER TOMORROWS. In gratitude for Blessings received let us consecrate the future to HIM. Yours in HIS SERVICE, Francis L. Johnson, Minister. 2 THE PAPAROA CIRCUIT From the beginning Paparoa was included in the old Kaipara Circuit of the Wesleyan Maori Mission, which ran from Kaihu and Tangiteroria in the North to Helensville in the South, and included all communities adjacent to the harbour, both Maori and Pakeha. The Circuit was led by the Rev. William Gittos, assisted by one or more Maori ministers, The best-known of these in the early days was Hoani Waiti, At a later date, after Mr Gittos’ removal to Auckland, Hauraki Paul was in charge of the Maori work on the Kaipara. Mr Gittos welcomed the Port Albert settlers on arrival, and preached to them on the following day. They were very near neighbours,just across the water from his home at Oruawharo. He looked up all the Albertlanders on arrival at the various settlements, and proved a very good friend to them. In the earliest years he included Paparoa in his regular circuit round, visiting the settlement at least once a quarter. He travelled mainly by Maori canoe. A curious illustration of this wide, thinly populated ‘circuit is provided by the list of original trustees for the Helensville parsonage. They were: James Redfern, Thos. Wilson, James Trounson, James Cliff, Wrn. Dawson, and Morris Henley. Four of these names belong to Paparoa (see Kaukapakapa Methodist Church Centenary Brochure). The one link of course was William Gittos, who was always on the move. It was under these circumstances that the Methodists came into Paparoa. They were really present the moment the Trounson-Wilson family stepped ashore on the bank of the Paparoa River. The settlers brought their faith with them, and practised it in tents and shacks. They determined to let no Sunday pass without worship. But under the influence of the founders of the Nonconformist Association they tried to think in unsectarian terms. In Port Albert an undenomination al congregation was set up under the Rev. Samuel Edger; but this faded out along with the hopes of its founders. Mr Edger went to a Congregational Church at Auckland, and Port Albert was left mainly to the Methodist local preachers. In Maungaturoto the settlers opted for a Congregational Church. In Paparoa the settlers found that a majority were Methodists, and moved accordingly. In the District Minutes for November 1867 we read: Kaipara Circuit: A small weather-board chapel has been built at Paparoa, and is free from debt. It was free from debt because the settlers built it themselves. The nails and necessary hardware were begged in Auckland, and the local men did the rest. The land was given by Mr John Hook, originally a Baptist. The settlers pit-sawed the timber and split the shingles. The first sawn timber in the settlement went into the chapel. In this humble little place the first generation of settlement children received their early religious impressions. This building was situated in what is now the Cemetery, slightly below the present entrance gates. It 3 was also used for public meetings and as a school, later becoming part of the first Anglican vicarage. THE FIRST CHURCH OPENED IN 1867. In 1863, in a moment of rash optimism, the authorities appointed a young probationer, John Smith, to assist Mr Gittos in the pastoral care of the Europeans residing in his vast circuit. (The writer just remembers seeing John Smith as an aged Supernumerary. Between us we span the century). But the settlers had no money, and could not support him, so the experiment fell through. For a decade and more the settlers battled through on their own, with a little help from Mr Gittos. They were fortunate in having local preachers among them, and others who had the potential. These were the real founding fathers. They combined the stubborn independence of the dissenters with the evangelical passion of the Methodists, and they won through. Ten years after the first chapel was built the Paparoa Methodists felt strong enough to make a cautious forward move. James Redfern, a very much respected but elderly local preacher, was appointed Home Missionary for the district. He is described as “a faithful, meek and loveable man.” His Bible, the one presented to him by the Hanley Church when he left England, is still in use as the pulpit Bible in the Paparoa Church. In those days the Home Missionary did not receive a stipend. He would of course be a trusted preacher, usually an elderly man or possibly a traveller by profession, who was given a small retainer to cover his travelling costs, and recommended to those he visited as an accredited representative of the Connexion. He lived off his farm or his family. Several such men gave most useful service in the North at this period. It must have been a great boon to the scattered settlers when James Redfern sought them out, and prayed in their homes. This was an heroic service for an elderly man, 4 considering the difficult conditions of travel, especially in winter. Few bridges, and mud everywhere. Redfern stuck it out for three years. His daughter Annie was married to George Cliff Senr., one of the staunchest Methodists in the community. It is clear that the settlers were beginning to find their feet, and at least a tolerable standard of living, with a small surplus for the work of God, because in 1876, in the Conference Property Report we read: Do we sanction the erection or purchase of any property? 5. Kaipara. At Paparoa, a new weather- board Church to cost £300. Of this amount £200 has alreay been raised. Next year the Church was described as in course of erection, and twelve months later it was reported to be completed, cost £320. Debt £100. The Church was actually built in ‘77. This is the building still in use. I remember hearing my grandfather Wilson speak of going to the sawmill to order the timber and being told that he could select the best in the yard, whatever he wanted. Two years later there was an official move to divide the Kaipara circuit, the new circuit to be centred on Paparoa, and to include places on the Wairoa River; but it didn’t work out that way. We can see how the authorities were trying to stretch their slender resources to cover a wide field.

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