1 CONTENTS Introduction The Land Story Summary The Key Questions Answered Part 1 The Successive Tangata Whenua of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Part 2 The European Settlement of the Land Part 3 Primitive Methodism in Wellington Part 4 Ward Memorial Church Land and Buildings Part 5 People Commemorated in the Church Part 6 List of Ministers Bibliography

ILLUSTRATIONS Ward centennial plaque Land, church and hail are still used for their intended purpose Map Karori to Kaiwharawhara Block 29 Karori from Plan Revs Josiah, Robert and Charles Ward Sanctuary, Ward Memorial Church Font and Organ, Ward Memorial Church Pulpit and plaque in memory of Isaac and Maria Clark William Isaac Clark memorial plaque and Ellen Dumbell Memorial Sunday School FW Tighe memorial plaque Ward family plaque and commemorative communion chair

2 INTRODUCTION The Methodist Church of New Zealand - Te Hahi Weteriana - passed at its 1989 Conference a resolution requiring that any Parish, Circuit or Board buying or selling property must have completed adequate research of the history of the land under consideration before approval for such purchase or sale is given on behalf of Conference. This booklet fulfils the Conference requirements in respect of the proposed sale of the Ward Memorial Church at Northland, in the Karori-Northland Uniting Parish, to St Anne’s Anglican Church at Northland in the Diocese of Wellington. However, as this church is a memorial to the Revs Robert, Charles and Josiah Ward, aspects relating to the memorial have also been addressed. For those seeking more information, Parts 1 to 6 put events and people in context, cross- referenced in the summary by numbers such as (4.1). The first number refers to the Part, and the second to the numbered paragraph within it. More comprehensive information can be located in the references cited in the bibliography. While the Land Story rightly begins with the Maori tangata-whenua of Te Whanganui-a-Tara, followed by the story of European settlement and land purchase in Wellington, it is noted that it also covers one hundred years from the time the Trustees of the Sydney Street Primitive Methodist Church began planning for a daughter church in Northland.

Elaine E Bolitho PhD 5 June 1999

3 THE LAND STORY SUMMARY Tangata Whenua By 1800 Ngati Ira were tangata whenua of Te Whanganui-a-Tara - the Wellington Harbour area. Prior to 1820 they were living on the Eastern side of the harbour, while the west side (Thorndon to Ngauranga) was deserted.(1.2) Pressure on northern resources led to inter-tribal battles, and migrations south. Te Rauparaha moved to the Kapiti region around 1824, and welcomed parties of Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga from Taranaki who initially settled peaceably on the eastern side of the harbour. However by the late 1 820s, after short sharp clashes, Ngati Ira withdrew from Whanganui-a-Tara and Porirua. (1.4, 1.5) In 1835, when Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga departed for Chatham islands, they made over their lands from Pito-one to Ngauranga by panui (announcement) to their Te Ati Awa kinsman Te Matangi and his son Te Manihera Te Toru, cousins of Te Puni and Te Wharepouri, who had been living with Ngati Mutunga since 1832. (1.7) Ngati Haumia, driven out of Ngauranga, kept within the Te Aro environs. (1 .10) European Settlement Land Dealings Colonel of the “purchased” from Te Ati Awa chiefs Te Puni and Te Wharepouri all the land around the harbour for goods worth around four hundred pounds. Being told at Cloudy Bay that the land belonged to Ngati Toa, he negotiated a sale with Ngati Toa chiefs, including Te Rauparaha for a much wider area (but still including Te Whanganui-a-Tara). The Kapiti deed was supported by a second deed executed by Te Ati Awa. (2.1) The required land transactions with Maori to be made with Crown representatives, not individual purchasers. Thirty one Wellington chiefs eventually signed the Treaty. (2.3) Wakefield’s claim to 20 million acres was ruled invalid and substituted with 110,000 acres at Port Nicholson and 50,000 acres at New Plymouth.(2.4) Land Commissioner Spain, at Wakefield’s instigation, shifted focus from restitution of Maori lands to compensation, and McCleverty finally sorted out the disputed locations where European and Maori could live. The “Wellington tenths” included for Te Matehou of Pipitea their 80 acres of potato gardens near the top of what is now Orangi Kaupapa Road on the slopes of Ahumairangi. (1. 13). This was the nearest Maori land to the area later known as Block 29 in the Karori District, and about a kilometre as the crow flies from the future location of the Northland Primitive Methodist Church.

4 From Governor’s Farm to Crown Grant Land on Ahumairangi (Tinakori) became known as Governor’s Farm when it was used for producing supplies for Government House in Thorndon. (This link is preserved in the names Governor Road, Farm Road, and Garden Road.) When this block - number 29 in the District of Karori - was the subject of Crown Grant 36089 to George BURNAND of London, England in 1879, the five occupants were described as tenants at will. They were William Jonathan TABOR Commission agent, Thomas Henry BROUGHTON Civil Servant, Thomas ELEMAN Traveller, William MOXHAM Dairy farmer and Albert HALL milkman. No indication was given of Maori occupation of this block. (2.10, 4.2, 4.3) Pharazyn Ownership (4.4) Burnand’s Crown Grant was conveyed to Charles Johnson Pharazyn, an early Wellington settler, dealer in land and member of the Legislative Council, who on 21 June 1888 conveyed the land (119 acres 2 roods 21 perches) for £2200 to Charles Pharazyn of Featherston, Sheep farmer. The new Certificate of Title (CT) was numbered 49/210. After three transfers, new CT 83/210 was issued on 16 August 1896 for the balance of land still owned by Charles Pharazyn (114 acres 3 roods 21 perches). Pharazyn engaged Thomas Ward to survey the block for the Northland subdivision, named after Viscount Northland, son of the Earl of Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand 1897- 1904, i.e. the time of subdividing. The first sections were auctioned on 9 March 1900. (4.6) Primitive Methodist interest and land purchase (4.7) Members of Sydney Street Primitive Methodist Church (3.3, 3.4) were preparing to buy sections in the Northland subdivision (Plan 1089), and interested in starting a daughter church there. On 26 September the Sydney Street Trustees moved 1. “That section number 1 in Northland be purchased, the deposit and interest money being guaranteed. 2. That we accept Mr Tighe’s offer to hold section no 2 for the term of two years, on condition that seven per cent be paid on the total outlay at the expiration of two years if the land is required for church purposes. 3. That the trustees hold themselves responsible for the repayment of debenture shares at the end of two years from the time of issue. [Signed by] George Hy Mann and J Dumbell Sec”

5 When the Church did not require lot 2, FW Tighe retained it for his own home. Isaac Clark had initially bought Lot 1 - a prime section near the intersection of Randwick Road and Garden Road with Northland Road. “Transfer 36422 produced 6 August 1900 at 2 pm Charles Pharazyn and Mortgagee to Isaac Clark of lot 1 plan 1087 - New C/T 107/54.” In 1903 Isaac Clark sold lot 1 (22.8 perches) to the church for £200. A Sunday School was started and the Trust constituted on September 8. First church buildings and title transactions (4.8, 4.11) A hall costing £400 was built by Isaac Clark and Son and opened 25 February 1904, being named the Ellen Dumbell Memorial Sunday School. It was extended in 1908 and Bible Class rooms (costing £400 and currently called the lounge) added in 1920. The change of title was formalised on 27 February 1904, under Transfer 48337 from Isaac Clark to the Trustees of the Northland Methodist Church. Mortgage 42861 was also produced on 27 February 1904 - William TRUEMAN and others to William FREEMAN. (This mortgage would eventually be discharged by a grant from the Sydney Street Trust in 1929.) In 1913, following Methodist Church Union, the Northland Primitive Methodist Church became part of the Wellington (Thorndon) Methodist Circuit. (3.6, 3.7, 4.9) The Trustees agreed on 3.7.1919 to convey a strip of land (1.24 perches) to the City Council in exchange for the cost of a dwarf wall being built around the property. This was eventually built in 1930 (cost £59/10/-) and formally conveyed to the City Council by Transfer 204463 on 7 February 1930. (4.10) Ward Memorial Church (4.11 - 4.16) On 31 August 1920 the trust moved “That we start a new church and that it be called the Robert Ward Memorial.” The foundation stone was laid on 18 February 1922 - 100 years after the first Methodist missionaries arrived in New Zealand, and was eventually “buried level with the section in a place directly beneath the centre of the front wall of the new church.” A tablet recording the event was to be secured later and incorporated in some portion of the church building, but if this was done the tablet has since been obscured by plantings. In 1929 Sydney Street Trustees provided for clearing the mortgage and building the new church by grants from the proceeds of the sale of their properties. CH Downes tender for £3,950 was accepted to build the church to the second (smaller) plan submitted by architect W Fielding, the church being opened on 8 February 1930. On 17 July 1929 the Trustees had passed the following significant motion –

6 “It was moved by Mr Clark, seconded1 by Mr Tighe that the new church be known as the “Ward Memorial Church, it being understood that the building is a memorial to the Rev Robert Ward, the founder of Primitive Methodism in N.Z. and his sons Charles and Josiah - also that the Connexional Office be notified accordingly. Carried.” Furnishing the Church (4.15, 4.18, Part 5) The Ward family donated oak chance! fittings in memory of Robert and Emily Ward. These included panelling, communion table, chairs and railing, plus a brass plaque. The family of Isaac and Maria Clark donated the matching pulpit in memory of their parents, and the Donald McLean Street Church provided a christening font. An organ built by A Brake of New Plymouth (costing £160) was installed after the church was opened, and replaced in 1973 by a Baldwin 2- manual electronic organ. Brass memorial plaques were installed in memory of Francis William Tighe and William Isaac Clark who died in 1933 and 1946 respectively. The centenary of Primitive Methodism in Wellington was marked in 1947 by a marble plaque in the church entrance. The plaque incorporates reference to the Revs Robert, Charles and Josiah Ward. Deeds, Trustees and Titles (4.17) On 14 August 1930 deeds of the church property were handed over by Mr Clark, and it was decided to send them to the Connexional Office for custody. On 18 May 1931, the mortgage was discharged and by Transmission 24912, transferred to the trustees under the provisions of the Methodist Model Deed of New Zealand 1887. Title was later transferred from the trustees to the Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand as follows: 834751.1 Transfer to Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand — 20.2.1987 at 2.24 p.m. 8841215.1 Transfer to Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand — 25.3.1987 at 11.34 a.m. Relationships with other churches (4.19) From 1966 to 1970 evening services were held on a joint Anglican/Methodist basis, alternating between St Anne’s and Ward Memorial Churches. In 1994, as part of the negotiations to unite the Wellington West Parish and St Ninian’s Presbyterian Parish of Karori, the Ward Memorial Church Northland became part of the Karori-Northland Uniting Parish.

7 In 1998 combined Sunday School classes for St Anne’s Anglican Church and Ward Memorial Church commenced, and sale of the Ward Memorial Church to St Anne’s Anglican Church was proposed. Ward Family attitudes to proposed sale On 12 January 1999 Mr John Robert Allison, great-grandson of the Rev Robert Ward wrote I am concerned about the identity of the building and especially that the name and association should be retained. This seems to me to be a matter of principle and I would appreciate being kept informed. The Ward family has over the years produced many distinguished descendants in both New Zealand and Australia and the name and church should remain. With the Methodist Church being reformed Anglican one would think that retention of the Ward name for the building shouldn’t be a problem.” On 31 May 1999 Ivan Ward - a grandson of the Rev Charles E Ward - advised that he and his second cousin Mrs Valerie Brandon - a grand-daughter of the Rev Josiah Ward feel “that it is good that the church is sold and kept in use and maintained, rather than becoming a derelict monument.”

Centennial Plaque

8 KEY QUESTIONS ASKED IN “OUR LAND STORY” Information Leaflet No 46, November 1991 How was the land originally obtained from the Maori people? Was the land purchased? In September 1839, Colonel William Wakefield, on behalf of the New Zealand Company, purchased the whole area of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the Wellington Harbour) and the surrounding ranges for goods worth £400. Translators Dicky Barrett and Ngati were engaged to explain the deed of sale and the New Zealand Company’s land reserve system, whereby Maori would be granted one tenth of the land. The sale was negotiated with Te Ati Awa chiefs, Te Wharepouri and Te Puni, who saw the sale as a means of establishing the bounds of the recently migrated Te Ati Awa and Taranaki people. Did the purchase have tribal consent? The previous occupants of Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Nga Tama and Ngati Mutunga (who may have intermarried with the earlier Ngati Ira residents) - were migrating to the Chatham Islands. “In terms of traditional tenure, Ngati Mutunga had established an unchallenged right to large areas of the harbour, and this right they had formally transferred to Taranaki and Te Ati Awa in November 1835.” (Ballara p30) Chiefs Te Puni and Te Wharepouri did not have the consent of the occupants of pa at Pipitea, Te Aro and Kumototo, who would later dispute the sale. However, when Wakefield moved on to Cloudy Bay in the Marlborough Sounds) he was told that the land he had bought did not belong to the Te Ati Awa chiefs to sell, but that it belonged to Ngati Toa. He then negotiated a sale with Ngati Toa chiefs, including Te Rauparaha for a much wider area, but including Te Whanganui-a-Tara. The Kapiti deed was supported by a second deed executed by Te Ati Awa in Queen Charlotte Sound on 8 November 1839 - both conveying 20 million acres of land between the same extreme boundaries, and centring on Cook Strait. How does the purchase stand in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi? The initial purchase(s) were completed prior to the Treaty which embodies, in clause 2, a pre-emptive ruling concerning land sales. Backing this was Governor Hobson’s Land Titles Proclamation stating that the Queen would only acknowledge land titles derived from Crown grants and that in future it would be illegal for Europeans to buy land directly from Maori. It further declared that a commission would look into all purchases made prior to annexation. In April 1840 the Treaty was brought to 9 Wellington by the Rev Henry Williams. Colonel Wakefield initially deterred Maori from signing, being concerned about the independence of his settlement. However he relented (possibly so that he would be seen in a better light and retain its land) and 31 rangatira from around the harbour signed the Treaty. Signatories included Wairarapa of Pipitea, Ngaponga and Kopeka of Te Aro, and Moturoa of both these pa, men who had in 1839 welcomed the first Wesleyan missionary party (including Minarapa Rangihatuake, and Revs Hobbs and Bumby.) Governor Hobson continued to be concerned over the independence of Wellington, and the New Zealand Company’s claims. In August 1840 he arrived in Wellington with the Chief Protector of Aborigines to sort out local land grievances. Subsequently a Commission was set up in Britain to deal with the New Zealand Company’s claims. Land Commissioner William Spain ruled that the Company’s original purchase(s) were invalid, and allowed a much smaller areas - 111,000 acres at Wellington and 50,000 at New Plymouth. Maori were to retain their pa, cultivations and burial grounds and be granted reserves. However rather than returning disputed land to Maori, the focus turned to compensation, which was paid to occupants of the Te Aro, Kumototo, Pipitea, Tiakiwai and Kaiwharawhara pa. The nearest of these to the Northland subdivision was the 1820’s Nga Tama settlement at Tiakiwai in what is today the northern end of Tinakori Road. The New Zealand Company continued to resist settlement of the reserves issue, but this was finally clarified by the 1847 McCleverty Awards. While these dealings were going on, the Ahumairangi ridge (also called Tinakori) was not occupied by Maori people. Part of this land would become Block 29 in the Karori District and later the Northland subdivision, where the Northland Primitive Methodist Church would be built on Lot 1 of DP 1087. The Te Matehou hapu from Pipitea worked the nearest Maori cultivations - 80 acres of potato gardens near the top of present-day Orangi Kaupapa Road. This would have been about a kilometre, as the crow flies, from the church location, beyond Block 29’s eastern boundary. The nearest Maori reserves, awarded by McCleverty, did not border Block 29, but on its eastern boundary the name of Orangi Kaupapa is a corruption of the earlier name Oranga Kaupapa, meaning food terrace. Was the land confiscated? Not in the way land was confiscated during and following the Land Wars.

10 Was the Methodist Church involved in the original transaction? No. It was negotiated by Colonel William Wakefield for the New Zealand Company with chiefs Te Puni and Te Wharepouri. When did the Church become involved and with whom? The story of Wesleyan church involvement is documented in The Wesleyan Maori Mission in Te Upoko o te Ika by John H Roberts. The Ward Memorial Church stems from Primitive Methodism. This story in Wellington begins with the three-month preaching visit to Wellington in 1847 of the Rev Robert Ward. Subsequently the Rev Henry and Mrs Ann Green arrived and established the first Wellington Primitive Methodist Church in Sydney Street. This was a settler church, rather than a missionary church. The Northland Primitive Methodist Church, a daughter church of Sydney Street, was initiated in 1899 when some Sydney Street members were buying land in the Northland subdivision. The land on which the church buildings stand (Lot 1 DP 1087 CT 107/54) was initially purchased by Isaac Clark, and sold by him to the Church for £200. By the time of this purchase the Northland area (Block 29 in the District of Karori) had been through several hands. Crown Grant 36089 to George Burnand in 1879 was conveyed to Charles Johnson Pharazyn (application 1913 states on 1 April 1868, but this may have been 1888), then to Charles Pharazyn on 21 June 1888. He had the land subdivided by surveyor Thomas Ward and auctioned by Harcourt and Co in 1900. In 1913 the Primitive Methodist Church united with the Methodist Church of New Zealand, itself formed by the 1896 union of Wesleyan, Bible Christian and United Methodist Free Churches. After 1913 the Northland Primitive Methodist Church continued its life as the Northland Methodist Church. Is the land still being used for the purpose for which it was originally granted, gifted, or purchased? On the land purchased in 1903, the hall (opened in 1904) and the Ward Memorial Church (opened in 1930) still stand. The church building was gifted by the Sydney Street Trustees, using funds from the sale of the Sydney Street Church, and is a memorial to the Revs Robert, Josiah and Charles Ebenezer Ward. Sunday services and Sunday School continue to be held on the site, the latter being in conjunction with St Anne’s Anglican Church, who are negotiating to buy the property.

11

The land and buildings are still being used for the purpose for which they were intended

12

PART 1- THE SUCCESSIVE TANGATA WHENUA OF TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA 1.1 Whanganui-a-Tara (the harbour and its surrounding coastline), and Cook Strait were traditionally regarded as highways. The land was invaded by potentially hostile forces at least six times between 1819 and 1836. The background to these movements lie in pressure on land resources further north, with clashes between tribes from Kawhia and Waikato being the catalyst for Kawhia tribes migrating to Taranaki about 1821. They were followed there by Waikato people seeking utu, and the Taranaki tribes were then drawn into the turmoil. These wars culminated in the battle of Motonui about 1822. Waikato were defeated but this only served to ensure their return to redress the balance. Before they could do so the Kawhia tribes migrated to the Kapiti coast, accompanied by some of their Taranaki hosts. Other Taranaki people, especially those from the north, most exposed to retaliation by Waikato, were to follow. It was these people who were to occupy Wellington Harbour, with migrants replacing the tangata whenua, and then achieving that status. (Ballara p11) 1.2 Before 1800, for a number of generations, Ngati Ira people, whose earliest known ancestors in New Zealand lived on the East Coast, inhabited Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Descendants of Ira-turoto, they intermarried as they moved south via Southern Hawkes Bay, and Palliser Bay on the way to Whanganui-a- Tara. During the first two decades of the 19th century the west side of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Thorndon to Ngauranga) was deserted, while Ngati Ira settled along the eastern shores from Waiwhetu to Turakirae, and also from Pukerua Bay to Te Rawhiti. 1.3 Invaders from Northland, Waikato, Kawhia and Taranaki, arriving from 1819 onwards told Europeans that all the tangata whenua descent groups of Te Whanganuia-Tara, the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa were ‘Ngati Kahungunu’, with those people in turn giving a similar ‘blanket’ identity to all people from the Taranaki region calling them ‘Ngati Awa’ or ‘Te Ati Awa’. The early war parties in 1819 and 1821 did not drive Ngati Ira away, but did weaken the tangata whenua descent groups. 1.4 After the Waikato defeat at Motonui in 1822, Te Rauparaha took his Ngati Toa people south, via Waitara, where his brother’s actions led to bitter enmity between Ngati Toa and Muoupoko, and to Te Rauparaha moving to Kapiti Island for safety. In 1824 tangata whenua tribes living in areas from Wanganui to the South Island combined to try to expel Te Rauparaha and his allies, but the latter won a decisive victory at the Waiorua battle. The Land Court subsequently debated the status of Ngati Ira who were allowed to continue living in the area.

13 1.5 In 1824 Te Rauparaha welcomed parties of Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama from Taranaki. Their settlements included Tiakiwai near the northern end of present day Tinakori Road (Ngati Tama) and from Te Aro to Kaiwharawhara (Ngati Mutunga) where they lived peaceably, while Ngati Ira continued peacefully on the eastern side of the harbour. However by the late 1820s relationships deteriorated and Ngati Ira, after a series of short sharp clashes, withdrew from Te-Whanganui-a Tara and Porirua. 1.6 About this time Ngati Raukawa, a Tainui tribe from Waikato, migrated to the Kapiti coast. The presence of these former enemies would contribute to the eventual departure of Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga to the Chatham Islands. Further migrations of Te Ati Awa people took place and they began to assume proprietorship of the harbour. Te Ati Awa were in competition with Ngati Raukawa. Rights were not clearly defined as mana over the land and the people, recently acquired through conquest, was open to challenge. With the permission of chief Ngatata-I-te-rangi, Te Ati Awa supporters from Paukena, Waitara and some Ngati Ruanui, settled between Te Aro and Waitangi streams (Taranaki Street to Kent and Cambridge Terraces — Basin Reserve was a swamp called Waitangi) when the previous occupants Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama were about to seek refuge in the Chatham Islands. 1.7 With one contingent of 500 on their way on the ‘Rodney’ and a second group waiting to go, Te Wharepouri and the Ngamotu division of Te Ati Awa (perhaps 300-400 people in all) migrated by canoe to Te Whnganui-a-Tara and met on Matiu (Somes Island) with the chiefs of Ngati Mutunga. In 1835 the latter, by panui (announcement), made over their lands from Pito-one to Ngauranga (north east side) to their Te Ati Awa kinsman Te Matangi (later baptised Rawiri) and to his son Te Manihera Te Toru. These two cousins of Te Puni and Te Wharepouri had been living with Ngati Mutunga since 1832. 1.8 Confirming and extending the gift of Ngatata-i-te-Rangi to Te Hanataua in 1834, the lands from Waitangi and Te Aro to Ngauranga (southwest side) were made over to Ngati Flaumia and Ngati Tupaia of the Taranaki tribe. (Ngati Tupaia had taken over land given to a party of Ngati Ruanui which had later returned to Taranaki.) The various gifts of land were acknowledged by the presentation of greenstone to Pomare and Te Poki, chiefs of Ngati Mutunga. 1.9 When Te Wharepouri, Te Puni and their people were invited to take up residence at Pito-one, the harbour was largely deserted, but for Te Matangi and his father with a few other people (perhaps 20), a small community of Ngati Tama at Kaiwharawhara, and some Taranaki people at Te Aro and Waitangi. 1.10 Te Manihera Te Toru and Te Wharepouri drove Ngati Haumia from Ngauranga, with Te Wharepouri taking up the Hutt side of Ngauranga, and Te Manihera and his father settling initially on the Wellington side — later on the Hutt side. Te Wharepouri refused to listen to any protest, and Ngati Haumia restricted their

14 activities to Te Aro and its environs. In terms of Maori customary tenure, this withdrawal was recognition of the legitimacy of Te Manihera Te Toru’s actions. From 1836 Ngauranga was Te Wharepouri’s permanent home. Ngatata-i-te-rangi was living at Kumototo pa. Te Matehou hapu under Te Ropiha settled at Pipitea. 1.11 This was the situation when the New Zealand Company ship Tory arrived in 1839. “The Company agent, Colonel William Wakefield, was to assume from its relative weakness that the Taranaki tribe at Te Aro was a slave tribe, but while its relations with Te Wharepouri and his senior cousin Te Puni were strained and wary, its claim to legitimate occupation of the harbour rested on exactly the same basis as did that of Ngamotu of Te Ati Awa. Ngati Mutunga had occupied the harbour and gradually conquered and banished its original population; this population had either been killed or had withdrawn to Wairarapa or to the South Island, and had failed to regain its lands. Ngati Mutunga’s claim had been legitimated by several years of unchallenged occupation, although they had abandoned their lands, they were a people with mana intact when they did so; the abandonment was unforced. In terms of traditional tenure, Ngati Mutunga had established an unchallenged right to large areas of the harbour, and this right they had formally transferred to Taranaki and Te Ati Awa in November 1835.” (Bellara p30) 1.12 After two decades of attrition and dislocation, new ways of resolving conflict were being provided by the Christian message of ceasing warfare and making peace with former enemies. Formal Maori peace arrangements concerning Port Nicholson began in 1840. Wairarapa was returned to its tangata whenua who abandoned any claims to the west coast, including Te Whanganui-a-Tara. From a Maori perspective, Te Wharepouri and Te Puni were, by the act of selling, establishing the bounds of Te Ati Awa and Taranaki claims. 1.13 Maori pa, burial grounds, and cultivation sites were mainly on flat land near the harbour and near rivers. The slopes of Ahumairangi, (or Tinakori) being further inland, and steep, appear to have not been occupied. Only Te Matehou worked cultivations in what is now the upper part of Orangi Kaupapa Road, the latter name perhaps originally being Oranga-kaupapa - meaning food-supply terrace. “Heaphy’s 1841 watercolour of Wellington clearly shows this 80 acre strip of land on Tinakore Hill, labelled “Native Potato Gardens” on his sketch accompanying the painting. In 1847, Orangikaupapa was reserved in Native Title to Maori of Pipitea, including Ropiha Moturoa, Wairarapa, Porutu, Parata, Te Wiremu Otaki, Pakau and others. By the 1860’s the land was leased to a Mr O’Neill. In 1863 the Crown tried unsuccessfully to purchase the whole block for public purposes. In 1873, the 80 acre block was divided into three roughly equal parts - Tinakore North, Tinakore South, and Orangikaupapa (The latter being

15 subdivided into Orangikaupapa No’s 1-14).” (Source - Nga Waahi Taonga o Te Whanganui-a-Tara). 1.14 Orangikaupapa No 2 adjoins Block 29 of the Karori District on its eastern boundary, the cultivations appearing to be about a kilometre distant (as the crow flies) from Lot 1 DP 1087, where the Northland Primitive Methodist Church would be located from 1903.

Karori to Kaiwharawhara from “The Great Harbour of Tara” by G Leslie Adkin pages 120 and 121 including Orangi-kaupapa cultivation area. The Northland Primitive Methodist Church was built in the angle of the road just to the right of where the Northland Tunnel is marked.

16 PART 2- THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT OF THE LAND

2.1 1839 The New Zealand Company’s agent, Colonel William Wakefield, arrived on the ‘Tory’ in September. He “purchased” from Te Ati Awa chiefs, Te Wharepouri and Te Puni, for goods worth four hundred pounds, all the land around the harbour, including the surrounding ranges. Translators Dicky Barrett and Ngati were engaged to explain the deed and the land reserve system, whereby Maori would be granted one tenth of the land. There was no consultation with the people of Te Aro Pa, where Wakefield wanted to set up his town, or with those at Kumototo Pa (near Woodward Street) or Pipitea Pa in Thorndon. Moving on to Cloudy Bay, Wakefield was informed that the land he had bought did not belong to the Te Ati Awa Chiefs to sell, but that it belonged to Ngati Toa. He then negotiated a sale with Ngati Toa chiefs, including Te Rauparaha for a much wider area, but including Te Whanganui-a Tara. The Kapiti deed was supported by a second deed executed by Te Ati Awa in Queen Charlotte sound on 8 November 1839 — both conveying land between the same extreme boundaries. 2.2 1840 The New Zealand Company’s survey party arrived on the “Cuba” set up operations (January). 14 January 1840 New Zealand was annexed to the Australian colony of New South Wales, and declared Governor of the new dependency. One of Hobson’s first priorities was to clarify land ownership in New Zealand. He therefore issued a Land Titles Proclamation stating that the Queen would only acknowledge land titles derived from Crown grants and that in future it would be illegal for Europeans to buy land directly from Maori. It further declared that a commission would look into all purchases made prior to annexation. 22 January 1840 The first New Zealand Company settlers arrived at Pito-one (Petone) on the “Aurora”. The first settlement at Petone being flood prone, in mid-March they took possession of land from Te Aro to Pipitea, to the consternation of the current Maori residents, who pulled out survey pegs. 2.3 6 February 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi, embodying in the second article the pre-emptive ruling concerning land sales, was signed at Waitangi, where Methodist missionaries and Tamati Waka Nene encouraged chiefs to sign.

April 1840 The Treaty was brought to Wellington for signing. Colonel Wakefield initially deterred Maori from signing, being concerned about the independence of his

17 settlement. However he relented, (possibly so that he would be seen in a better light) and 31 chiefs signed. Governor Hobson continued to be concerned over the independence of Wellington, and the New Zealand Company’s claims to twenty million acres, centring on Cook Strait. ARTICLE THE SECOND Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective families and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess, so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession. But the chiefs of the united tribes, and the individual chiefs, yield to her Majesty the exclusive right of preemption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate, at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them on that behalf.

4 June 1840 Governor Hobson’s earlier proclamation of sovereignty over the whole North Island by right of cession was read in Wellington. Maori discontent over the loss of lands continued. 19 August 1840 Governor Hobson arrived in Wellington with the Chief Protector of Aborigines to sort out local land grievances. Subsequently a commission was set up in Britain to deal with the New Zealand Company’s claims.

2.4 November 1840 British Government gave New Zealand Company a charter of Incorporation. On the basis of their colonisation expenditure, they received a Crown grant for four times as many acres as pounds spent, with the land being that claimed before Hobson’s arrival. They were granted 111,000 acres in the Port Nicholson area, and 50,000 acres in New Plymouth but had to give up interests in most of the 20 million acres first claimed. This assumed that the original claims were valid. 2.5 5 September 1841 Wakefield persuaded Governor Hobson to waive Crown pre-emption in favour of the Company and guarantee title to Company settlers for lands properly bought from Maori. Maori were unhappy, but Wakefield continued to claim that Maori title was fairly and completely extinguished by virtue of the Company’s system of Maori reserves. These were made up of one tenth of the company lands, allotted in the same random basis as the settlers’ lands. Hobson was bound by both this agreement and the Treaty of Waitangi, the latter recognising Maori ownership of unalienated lands and promising justice for

18 Maori as for British subjects. He therefore would not treat the investigation as the mere formality Wakefield hoped for. 2.6 24 December 1841 William Spain, the commissioner appointed to deal with claims by and against the New Zealand Company, arrived in New Zealand to deal with 116 cases. April 1842 William Spain arrived in Wellington. George Clark was appointed to look after Maori interests. Spain ruled the New Zealand Company Claim to Wellington to be invalid. But rather than determining land ownership for Maori, the focus shifted (at Wakefield’s instigation) to compensation. Spain said Te Aro Maori could keep their pa, cultivations and burial grounds, receive compensation, and some reserve lands. Despite Wakefield’s claim that “the natives who denied the sale seemed to be more anxious to obtain payment for their land than to dispossess the settlers then in occupation of it,” the compensation would be accepted very reluctantly after protracted negotiations. December 1843 Of all the New Zealand Company claims, only two Crown Grants were made by new Governor Robert FitzRoy - one being for Port Nicholson (although it would later be rescinded as too vague - see 2.8). It excluded the areas which Spain said Maori could keep, (pas, cultivations and burial grounds) but settlers already held title to some of the excluded lands. Compensation was paid to Te Aro (£300) Kumototo (£200) Pipitea (£200) and Tiakiwai (£30). 26 March 1844 Compensation of £40 paid to Kaiwharawhara Pa. Generally compensation had become the cure-all for a faulty title. 2.7 1845 Tensions were rising. Hone Heke sacked Kororareka. Hutt Maori were deemed to be illegally occupying land. Soldiers were requisitioned, fortifications erected, and militia drilled. Wellington was put under martial law. Iwi in the area disputed the sale of the land to which they had a prior claim, and continued to cultivate it. The New Zealand Company was resisting settlement of the reserves issue. 2.8 1847 New Governor George Grey cancelled FitzRoy’s grant as being too vague, and appointed Colonel GWA McCleverty to organise Maori lands in Port Nicholson. In November 1847, McCleverty awarded 44 urban one-acre sections and 2,868 rural acres to hapu, from the Company’s tenths. During 1847 McCleverty made a series of exchanges, confirmed by deeds, with Maori of the Port Nicholson District. They subsequently gave up their cultivations on land occupied by Europeans for property which comprised a mix of original Maori lands, parts of the town belt, Hutt valley lands, and apparently some unsurveyed Company lands. Pipitea pa cultivation grounds were mainly in the Hutt, although, in 1847, 19 Orangikaupapa was reserved in Native Title to Maori of Pipitea. Pipitea was the nearest Maori site to Sydney Street West in Thorndon, where the first Primitive Methodist Church was commenced in 1847, and Orangikaupapa No 2 adjoined Block 29 of the Karori District, where, on Lot 1 DP 1087 the Northland Primitive Methodist Church would be built. 2.9 1848 A new Crown grant for Port Nicholson was issued by Governor Grey Many Maori would return to Taranaki, from whence their people had come. Later many would be drawn by the King movement. 2.10 When the Governor’s house was established in Thorndon, food supplies were needed for the Governor’s household. For this purpose, land on Ahumairangi (Tinakori) became known as Governor’s Farm. When this block - number 29 in the District of Karori - was the subject of Crown Grant 36089 to George BURNAND of London, England in 1879, five occupants were described as tenants at will. They were William Jonathan TABOR Commission agent, Thomas Henry BROUGHTON Civil Servant, Thomas ELEMAN Traveller, William MOXHAM Dairy farmer and Albert HALL milkman. No indication was given of Maori occupation of this block.

20

Block 29 Karori District from Certificate of Title 49/210, with adjacent names added from Crown Grant 36089.

21 PART 3- PRIMITIVE METHODISM IN WELLINGTON 3.1 1844 Rev Robert Ward arrived in Taranaki, with his wife Emily and their first four children, to be the first Primitive Methodist missionary south of the Equator. He learned the Maori language, established a preaching circuit around Taranaki pa and a settler church in New Plymouth. 3.2 1847 With Taranaki work established, Ward visited Wellington from January 22 to March 7 to establish a mission, conducting the first Primitive Methodist services there on 24 January, in the open air at three different spots. He had already been warmly welcomed by resident Wesleyan ministers Watkins and Ironside. Subsequently he visited the Hutt, Porirua Road and Karori. Ward’s diary for 18 February records - “Waited till late to speak with the Governor about some land. He has none that he can give us in Wellington, or we should have a piece given to us for building purposes.” After Ward’s departure the work was continued by the Rev H Green, the first Primitive Methodist minister appointed to Wellington, and his wife Ann Green, formerly Sister Anne Go(o)dwin. In England she had been a travelling preacher, and in Thorndon established a school. The Sydney Street church site was bought for £105. The first quarterly meeting in September recorded services being held in Wellington and the Hutt, and R Kebblewhite and AW Marsters, local preachers from England being included on the preaching plan. There were 34 members. 3.3 Sydney Street Church The first Church, built of mud by the method known as ‘slab and dab’ destroyed by October 1848 earthquake. It was replaced within three weeks by a plain weatherboard building, towards which the Governor contributed a donation, and highly commended the members for their zeal in soon replacing the wrecked sanctuary. Successive replacement churches would be built on the site in 1858, 1869 and a new schoolroom added in 1886. When the church was sold in 1905 the schoolroom was retained, and income generated from properties purchased in Aitken Street. 3.4 Further expansion Services commenced at Tawa Flat in 1850, and at Stokes Valley continued between 1852 and 1879. After Rev Robert Ward’s appointment in 1868 a church was built at the Te Aro end of town, in Webb Street. Hutt services were discontinued in 1872, and Newtown work commenced in 1879, resulting in the first Donald McLean Street church being opened in 1888 - the same year as the Porirua church was built. Work began at Petone and Island Bay in 1900, and the Northland hail was opened in 1904. 22 3.5 Status The Wellington Mission became self-supporting in 1870, no longer relying on grants from Britain. In 1873 The New Zealand church was formed into a separate district, and the first District meeting was held in Wellington. Wellington Primitive Methodist churches were divided into two stations in 1884, reunited under Rev CE Ward in 1892, and split again in 1899. A third station was formed in 1904. 3.6 Union with Methodist Church In 1913 Primitive Methodist Churches joined in union with the Methodist Church, which in 1896 had been formed by uniting Bible Christians, Wesleyans and United Free Methodists. 3.7 Effects of Union on Northland Church Rationalisation of buildings followed union, when Sydney Street was amalgamated with Molesworth Street Methodist Church in the Thorndon Methodist Circuit. As the growing Northland suburb had only one Methodist cause, the church there continued, also being part of the Thorndon Methodist Circuit. In 1920, when a new Northland church was planned, the Trust was reconstituted as the Ward Memorial Church Trust. Sydney Street Trustees promised funds from the sale of their church properties. They also gave the silver communion service set from the old Petone Primitive Methodist Church to Northland Church. To mark the new church’s foundation stone ceremony, the communion service Northland had been using - originally from Sydney Street - was engraved and “handed to Rev CE Ward and family as a memento and a relic of the early pioneer days of the late Primitive Methodist Church.” When the properties owned by the Sydney Street Trust were finally sold, £3944 was gifted to Northland for building a memorial church to Robert Ward, New Zealand’s first Primitive Methodist minister and his sons the Revs Josiah and Charles Ebenezer Ward. This church was opened debt free in 1930. 3.8 1999 Only two former Primitive Methodist church sites in Wellington still have functioning churches on them. The Donald McLean Street Church is currently owned and used by the Wellington Chinese Baptist Church. The Ward Memorial Church is therefore the last church in Wellington with Methodist “parentage” to still function on a site where Primitive Methodists earlier worshipped.

23

From left, the Revs Josiah, Robert and Charles E Ward

24 PART 4- WARD MEMORIAL LAND AND BUILDINGS 4.1 Maori Ownership Land on the slopes of the ridge known as Ahumairangi (or Tinakori), later described as Block 29 in the District of Karori appears to have not been part of Maori cultivations. However the eastern boundary of Block 29 adjoins Orangi Kaupapa section number 2 for a short distance. Cultivations located at what is now the upper part of Orangi Kaupapa Road were about a kilometre as the crow flies from the eventual location of Northland Primitive Methodist Church. 4.2 Governor’s Farm Following the building of the Governor’s residence - Government House - in Thorndon, Block 29 was farmed to supply meat, vegetables and dairy products to Government House. Consequently it became known as Governor’s Farm. 4.3 Crown Grant On 21 October 1879 Crown Grant No 36089, covering Block 29 of the Karori District, being 119 acres 2 roods and 21 perches, was made to “George Burnand of London in England Esq”. Nothing further has been discovered about this gentleman. 4.4 CJ Pharazyn (1802-1903) Burnand’s grant was conveyed to Charles Johnson Pharazyn an early Wellington settler who had arrived in 1841 on the “Jane.” He and Nathaniel Levin formed Levin and Co in 1852 and Pharazyn retired in 1878 to devote himself to his extensive land interests. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1869 to 1885. Much Wellington land passed through his hands. The date of transfer to CJ Pharazyn is somewhat ambiguous - Application 1913 notes it as 1 April 1868 (predating the Crown Grant) but this should possibly read 1 April 1888. On 21 June 1888 CJ Pharazyn was applying to bring the land under the provisions of the Act and convey it to Charles Pharazyn. At this time the country section was valued at £2,200. Solicitor H. Stratton-Izard noted receiving the Crown Grant from the Land transfer Office on 4 September 1888. However an error in the original land description was remedied on 8 March 1889, and endorsed by the Deputy Registrar of Deeds on 22 March 1889, the following being the correct legal description: “All that parcel of land in the Provincial District of Wellington in the Colony of New Zealand containing by admeasurement one hundred and nineteen (119 acres, two (2) roods and twenty one (21) perches more or less being the section numbered twenty nine (29) Karori as shown on the plan deposited in the Office of the Chief Surveyor Wellington Marked S.O. 4211/4 Bounded towards the North by a Public Road Four thousand five hundred and seventy

25 (4570) links towards the East by other part of the aforesaid Public Road, Orangi Kaupapa number two (2) Botanical Gardens and section number twenty eight (28) Karori Four Thousand six hundred and ten (4610) links towards the south by section number ten (10) Ohiro one thousand four hundred and forty seven (1447) links and towards the West by the section numbered thirty two (32) Karori Five thousand eight hundred and twenty (5820) links. Be all the aforesaid linkages more or less. Excepting and always reserving the Public Road one hundred (100) links wide running through the said section and subject to a Right of Road one hundred (100) links hereby reserved through the said sections under the Crown Grants Act 1883.” 4.5 Charles Pharazyn On 23 January 1889 Charles Pharazyn was given title to 119 acres 2 roods and 21 perches in the Provincial District of Wellington being Section 29 on the Public Map of Karori District. The new Certificate of Title was numbered 49/2 10. Following two small sales to Robert Martin and Henry Bramley, and a transfer to the City Council, a new Certificate of Title numbered 83/202 was issued to Charles Pharazyn for the balance of the land - 114 acres 3 roods and 21 perches. Transfers to Robert Tait in 1897 (new CT 86/101) and George and George Ernest Fearn in 1899 (new CT 102/84) preceded sales of sections in the major subdivision of Northland. (After the death of Charles Pharazyn on 20 February 1903 probate was granted to Charles Buckland Pharazyn and Charles Chapman Elgar, but this change did not affect the Northland Primitive Methodist Church as they had their own section arrangements in hand.) 4.6 Northland Subdivision The subdivision (named after Viscount Northland, son of the Earl of Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand from 1897-1904) was advertised from April, when Thomas Ward (not a descendant of the Rev Robert Ward) was surveying the sections for plan 1087. Provision of tramcar services, roads a chain wide and a school were included in its advertised amenities. The first sections were auctioned by Harcourt and Co on 9 March, 1900. 4.7 Primitive Methodist Interest in Northland Subdivision The subdivision appealed to Primitive Methodists worshipping at Sydney Street, and section-buyers would include Francis Tighe (lot 2), Isaac Clark (lot 1) and his son William Isaac Clark (lot 43) William Trueman (lot 57), John Watters (lot 96), while the Sydney Street minister, the Rev GH Mann, and his wife bought lots 37, 38, 41 and 42. On 26 September 1899 the Sydney Street Trustees moved 1. “That section number 1 in Northland be purchased, the deposit and interest money being guaranteed. 26 2. That we accept Mr Tighe’s offer to hold section no 2 for the term of two years, on condition that seven per cent be paid on the total outlay at the expiration of two years if the land is required for church purposes. 3. That the trustees hold themselves responsible for the repayment of debenture shares at the end of two years from the time of issue. [Signed by] George Hy Mann and J Dumbell Sec” When the Church did not require lot 2, FW Tighe built his own home on it, next door to the church on the Northland Road side, and lived there for the rest of his life. Isaac Clark had initially bought Lot 1 - a prime section near the intersection of Randwick Road and Garden Road with Northland Road. “Transfer 36422 produced 6 August 1900 at 2 pm Charles Pharazyn and Mortgagee to Isaac Clark of lot 1 plan 1087 — New C/T 107/54.” In 1903 Isaac Clark sold lot 1 (22.8perches) to the church for £200 A Sunday School was started and the Trust constituted on September 8. 4.8 Building begins A hall costing £400 was built by Isaac Clark and Son and opened on 25 February 1904, being named the Ellen Dumbell Memorial Sunday School. Enlarged in 1908, it was used for both Sunday School and Church services on Sundays. Let during the week let to a series of community groups, including kindergarten, school, Plunket, lodges, and Scouts. The Sydney Street Trust had made themselves responsible for the financial liability. The change of title was formalised on 27 February 1904, under Transfer 48337 from Isaac Clark to the Trustees of the Northland Methodist Church, namely William TRUEMAN Engineer, John WATTERS Platelayer, Francis William TIGHE Carpenter, William Isaac CLARK Builder, Matthew MURDOCH Builder, James RUSSELL Grocer, Nisbet McROBIE Printer and Isaac CLARK Builder all of Wellington. Mortgage 42861 was also produced on 27 February 1904 - William TRUEMAN and others to William FREEMAN. (This mortgage would eventually be discharged by a grant from the Sydney Street Trust in 1929.) 4.9 Church Union The Northland Primitive Methodist Church became part of the Wellington (Thorndon) Circuit. The organ from the closed Sydney Street Primitive Methodist Church was transferred to Northland. 4.10 Land for footpath On 3 July 1919 the Trustees agreed to give a strip of land on the Northland Road frontage to the City Council in consideration for concrete wall 2’6” high all along the frontage of section, necessary plans to be submitted by Mr I Clark. On 19 August 1920 the Trust moved “that we appoint Mr I Clark to see the Mayor (Mr Luke) in reference to the dwarf wall and footpath.” The wall was eventually constructed to match the new church.

27 On 7 February 1930 Transfer 204463 conveyed 1.24 perches of frontage to the Mayor Councillors and Citizens of the City of Wellington. 4.11 Building Plans On 31 August 1920 the Trust moved “That we start a new church and that it be called the Robert Ward Memorial also that the name be registered with the connection (sic) at Christchurch.” On 1 October 1920 building Bible Class rooms (today known as the lounge) in wood with a brick wall was approved. Cost £400, and 10 years later the piece of land behind the Bible Class rooms and alongside the schoolroom was concreted. In 1973 the interior of the Bible Class rooms was damaged by fire. On 8 November the Trust resolved “that the Trust in future be known as the Robert Ward Memorial Church Trust and that when the names of the new Trustees are registered the connexional secretary be notified of the same” and the new trustees are recorded on the title. Plans for new church seating 350 were to be prepared by W Fielding. 4.12 The Foundation Stone On 27 January 1922 the Trust decided that the foundation stone would be placed temporarily, then later “buried level with the section in a place directly beneath the centre of the front wall of the new church. The tablet recording the event to be secured later and incorporated in some portion of the church building.” On 18 February 1922 one hundred years after the beginning of Methodism in New Zealand, and coinciding with the Methodist Annual Conference, the foundation stone for the new church was laid by Rev CE Ward. Nine ministers, the Vice President of Conference and many representatives of Primitive Methodist families were present. 4.13 Sydney Street Trust gifts the cost of the new church On 20 March 1929 the Sydney Street Trustees (who included Ward Memorial Trustees WI Clark and FW Tighe), having sold their property to the NZ Locomotive Engineers and Fireman’s Assn for £5500, resolved that “Northland Methodist Trust be notified of sale of property and that they could now proceed with preparation of plans for building new church at Northland.” The payment was made up as follows: clearing the Northland mortgage (f500), interest and grants (429/17/6) and £3944/2/2 for the new church. On 28 September 1931 the final meeting of Sydney Street Trust received a letter from Ward Memorial Trust, thanking them for the gift of the Ward Memorial Church which they consider a worthy memorial to the pioneer missionary of Primitive Methodism to New Zealand - also a monument to God of which the Methodist Church may well be proud.

28 4.14 Building proceeds On 27 March 1929 Northland Trust resolved ‘that the plan previously prepared by Mr Fielding was for a church which is too large for our requirements and that this building be not proceeded with.’ Consultations on a new smaller building included visits to the St John’s Methodist Church in Bryndwr, Christchurch, the Hataitai Methodist Church, and the Catholic Apostolic Church in Webb Street, Wellington. By 17 July 1929, with new plans for brick church seating 250, CH Downes tender for £3,950 with £59/10/- for the dwarf wall was accepted. (No reference to City Council paying for this despite earlier references to consultation with City Engineer. A later meeting placed the matter of transfer in the hands of Mr Arthur Luke, solicitor.) On 17 July 1929 the Trustees also passed the following significant motion – “It was moved by Mr Clark, seconded by Mr Tighe that the new church be known as the “Ward Memorial Church, it being understood that the building is a memorial to the Rev Robert Ward, the founder of Primitive Methodism in N.Z. and his sons Charles and Josiah - also that the Connexional Office be notified accordingly. Carried.” 4.15 Furnishing the church On 21 November 1929 an offer was received from Mrs Marion Humphries, (daughter of Robert Ward Jnr 5.5) on behalf of the children and grandchildren of the late Rev Robert Ward and Mrs Ward to donate the chancel furnishings in their memory. This would include the oak communion table, chairs, railing and chancel panelling and a brass memorial tablet in the chancel. The oak pulpit donated was donated by the Clark family in memory of their parents Isaac and Maria Clark. The seating and other furniture was also made of oak, the walls above the pointed brick dado being plastered and painted in a stone colour, and the roof was lined with figured rimu, placed on an angle. On 28 November 1929 the Trustees accepted offer from Mr A Brake, organ builder to install an organ complete with German pipes for £160. (It was actually installed after church opening. The organ chamber and/pipes were located behind the console, pipes visible in church being for display purposes only.) In 1973 a Baldwin 2-manual electronic organ purchased to replace small pipe organ. On 26 March 1930 Donald McLean Street Trust offered to provide a christening font for the new church to the value of fifteen pounds. Teachers of Primary Department of Northland Sunday School donated a crystal bowl for the font. Brass memorial plaques were installed, in memory of Francis William Tighe and William Isaac Clark who died in 1933 and5 1946 respectively. The oak lectern was donated by Rev Gordon Peterson, minister at Karori Methodist Church 1960-67.

29 4.16 The new church is opened On 8 February 1930 the new church costing £3700 was opened (debt free) by the Rev JF Goldie, President of Conference. Addresses were also given by the Mayor (GA Troup) and the Rev CE Ward. The following day (Sunday) services were conducted at 11.00 am by Rev CE Ward, 3.00 pm by Miss HR Ward and 7.00 pm by the Rev JF Goldie. At this time the church had 49 senior members, 22 junior members and 12 infant members. Tenders were called for cleaning church, and fund to cover cleaning costs was opened, with Mr F Sellers being appointed to collect sixpence per month from the men of the church. (The first cleaner was Mrs Stead who was paid £2 per month.) Planting of grounds around church and Sunday School left in the hands of Mr Clark. 4.17 Deeds, Trustees and Titles On 14 August 1930 deeds of the church property were handed over by Mr Clark, and it was decided these be sent to the Connexional Office for custody. On 18 May 1931, when the mortgage was discharged) by Transmission 24912, the trustees under the provisions of the Methodist Model Deed of New Zealand 1887 were: Francis William TIGHE a Carpenter, William Isaac CLARK a Builder, David Young WILSON a Bookbinder, Alfred Edward KENNARD a Jeweller, William Henry HODGE a Commercial Traveller, Douglas Goodall CODY a Clerk, Herbert James ATKINSON a Warehouseman, Frederick SELLERS a Poster Artist and Charles Lewis BLACKBURN a Railway Clerk all of Wellington. Title was transferred from Trustees under the Methodist Model Deed to the Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand as follows: 834751.1 Transfer to Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand - 20.2. 1987 at 2.24 p.m. 8841215.1 Transfer to Board of Administration of the Methodist Church of New Zealand - 25.3. 1987 at 11.34 a.m. 4.18 Centennial of Primitive Methodism in New Zealand This was celebrated on Conference Sunday by the whole gathered Conference. A white marble plaque costing £15 and stating the significance of the church as memorial to the three Revs Ward was placed in the entrance porch. 4.19 Relationships with other churches From 1966 to 1970 evening services were held on a joint Anglican/Methodist basis, alternating between St Anne’s and Ward Memorial Churches.

30 In 1994, as part of the negotiations to unite the Wellington West Parish and St Ninian’s Presbyterian Parish of Karori, the Ward Memorial Church Northland became part of the Karori-Northland Uniting Parish. In 1998 combined Sunday School classes for St Anne’s Anglican Church and Ward Memorial Church commenced, and sale of the Ward Memorial Church to St Anne’s Anglican Church was proposed.

The font donated Donald McLean Street and the organ at Ward Memorial Church

31

Interior of Ward Memorial Church in 1999, showing chancel with carved oak panelling, communion rail, table and chairs given in memory of Rev Robert and Emily Ward, pulpit in memory of Isaac and Maria Clark, lectern donated by Rev Gordon RH Peterson, and some of the pews. The arched windows are just visible through the curtains.

32 PART 5- PEOPLE COMMEMORATED IN THE CHURCH

5.1. Isaac Clark An old Sunday School Scholar and trustee of the Sydney Street Primitive Methodist Church, he purchased Lot 1 in the Northland subdivision in 1900, selling it on to the Church when they were ready to begin work in Northland. A builder by trade, his family firm built the first hall - opened in 1904 - and did a great deal of practical maintenance of the buildings. He was also a trustee of the Northland Primitive Methodist Church from 1904 until his death, and was active in all the work of the church. He and his wife Maria are commemorated by the oak pulpit in the Ward Memorial Church. Their family included sons Percy and William Isaac.

Pulpit gifted by the family of Isaac and Maria Clark 33

Commemorative plaque gifted by the family of Isaac and Maria Clark 5.2. William Isaac Clark (d. 1946) A foundation member and trustee of Northland Primitive Methodist Church, he too was a builder and active in all the life of the church. With his father Isaac and brother Percy he operated the tackle to lay the foundation stone of the new church. He was Trust Treasurer from 1904-192 1 and 1923-1946. At his death, his widow and family wished to have his ashes interred under the pulpit commemorating his parents, but this request was declined. Instead, the last of Northland’s brass memorial plaques was erected in his memory. 5.3. Rev John (1830-1923) and Mrs Ellen Dumbell (1831-1903) On arriving in New Zealand in 1870, the Rev John Dumbell began his ministry at Sydney Street Church, where both he and his wife Ellen presented their credentials - the only occasion when a Sydney Street minister’s wife was mentioned in this way. The Sunday school erected at Northland in 1904 was named the Ellen Dumbell Memorial Sunday School (Source AL Olsson, Methodism in Wellington 1839-1989) John Dumbell was born in the Isle of Man and entered the ministry in 1852. He was minister at Sydney Street Church 1870- 71 and 1877-79 (when as Superintendent Minister his charge included Webb Street), and 1898-1890. He was President of the Primitive Methodist Church in New Zealand when it met at New Plymouth in 1874 and Christchurch in 1876. Having attended the initial 1883 meeting to discuss union with Wesleyans, Bible Christians and United Free Methodists, in 1913 as a supernumary, he signed the declaration of union with the Methodists and his photograph appears on page 24 of the souvenir bulletin. His wife Ellen was born 6 June 1831, into a family of 13 children in Edenfield, Lancashire, and converted by his preaching at Edenfield on the text “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” After their June 1857 marriage she was an earnest church and Sunday School worker, both in England and New Zealand. They served in New Plymouth, Wellington, Timaru and Dunedin, before retiring to Wellington. There appears to have been some ill feeling in 1890-1 over the withdrawal of John’s small superannuation allowance. Their sons WD and JT Dumbell resigned, 34 the latter complaining about acts of discourtesy by prominent officials. JT had been preacher, auditor, doorkeeper, circuit steward and secretary of the Quarterly meeting. The quarterly meeting regretted that their actions resulted in so many members withdrawing from the Sydney Street Church, thereby causing much loss to that society. It may be that naming the Northland Hall as Ellen’s memorial was something of a conciliatory move, but more likely was an honour in her own right. Her obituary notes that in all their appointments “she proved herself to be a very worthy and efficient coadjutor, especially in Sunday school work, and amongst the young men and women; she was no less useful in the working of the church, and the pastoral care of the people.” At the time of his death in 1923, 92-year-old John Dumbell was the senior Methodist minister in Australasia. “His long years of retirement were spent in the Thorndon Circuit, where his presence alike in the street, the pew, and the pulpit, proved a benediction to all who came within his influence.”

Memorial Plaque for William Isaac Clark

The Ellen Dumbell Memorial Sunday School 35 5.4. Francis William Tighe (pronounced Tie) A carpenter by trade and a foundation member of the Northland Primitive Methodist Church, he lived next door to the church in Northland Road. Like the Clarks, (5.1 and 5.2) although he transferred his membership from Sydney Street he continued to be a trustee of that church, and no doubt they encouraged the gifting of Sydney Street funds to build the new Northland church. “He was a trustee of the Church since the first building was erected, a period of nearly 30 years, and during all that period he acted either as secretary of the Trustees, or as Church Steward. He also for a long period filled the position of Sunday School teacher and Superintendent also choir member and choir master.” He died in 1933. In every position that he occupied our brother gave willing and cheerful service. His work was always well done and he will be greatly missed in our church.” (Ward Memorial Trust Minutes 22 May 1933.)

Memorial plaque for Francis William Tighe 5.5. Rev Robert Ward (1816-1876) Born at Sporle in Norfolkshire, Robert attended revival open-air meetings and was converted at age 15. He became a Primitive Methodist preacher, entering the ministry at age 19. During 9 years in the Norwich district his preaching led to 400 people being converted. The British Primitive Methodist Society appointed him their first missionary south of the Equator, this work being supported by their Sunday school teachers. Robert and his wife Emily (flee Brundle) chose as their motto “All that Thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever Thou sendest us we will go.” They arrived in Taranaki in August 1844 with their children, Robert (1840-1901), Martha Ann (1841-1931), John (1842-1918) and baby Elizabeth Raymond Ward (1844-1927), who had been born during the voyage out on the ‘Raymond’.

36 Standing on a borrowed chair, he conducted his first service on 1 September 1844 at Huatoki Bridge, Henui, New Plymouth. A group of Bible Christians welcomed him as their minister and were happy that their small church become the first Primitive Methodist Church in New Zealand — a spiritual home to settlers, soldiers and sailors. He initiated Primitive Methodist churches in Wellington (1847) Auckland (1850) and Christchurch (1871), as well as initially learning Maori and establishing Christian services at 11 pa within a 10-mile radius of New Plymouth. During the Land wars he and his family were twice taken to live in a small church for sanctuary during the raids. The Ward family grew to include eight more children - Charles Ebenezer (1846- 1935), Frederick William (1847-1934), Josiah (1848-1926), Harland (1851-1895), Hester Hannah (1853-1921), Garner (1854-1933), Octavus (1856-1858) and Emily Ellen (known as Ella, 1860-1941). Charles, Josiah and Frederick became ministers. He was Superintendent at Wellington 1868-1870 and 1874-1876, being minister at Sydney Street West when he died of Bright’s disease in Wellington in 1876 at the age of 60 and was buried in the Bolton Street Cemetery. Robert Ward was described as “being free from all cant, humbug, pettiness and selfishness., pure in heart and a living witness to the beauty of holiness... He had the genius for seeing the good in the bad, the strong in the weak, the great in the small, the best in the worst. Further, he was an outstanding preacher whose life was wholly surrendered to Christ.”

The Robert and Emily Ward Memorial Plaque 37

A Commemorative Communion Chair 5.6. Rev Charles Ebenezer Ward (1846-1935) Charles was educated at Wesley College Auckland, before he fought in the Land Wars for 3 years with his brothers John and Frederick in the No 1 Company TVR and Taranaki Bush Rangers under Major (Sir Harry) Atkinson in 1864. Offered a commission in recognition of his good work, he chose instead to enter the Primitive Methodist ministry. He ministered in the New South Wales goldfields town of Nundle near Tamworth 1870-76, then, by invitation, followed his brother Josiah at Timaru, serving later at Invercargill, Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch and in Wellington, where from 1905-1910 as minister of Sydney Street, he was also responsible for the Northland Church. An ardent Temperance Reformer, he was three times President of the Primitive Methodist Conference and for some years editor of the “NZ Primitive Methodist.” A member of both the 1883 and 1911 Church Union Committees, he signed the 1913 declaration of union as the Vice President of the Primitive Methodist Conference, and laid the foundation stone for the Ward Memorial Church. He retired to St Albans, Christchurch, but 38 still took an active interest in Church matters until 1930, attending services to within a fortnight of his death. Charles and his wife Helen (nee Hannaford) had twelve children, Frederick Egmont (1876-1947), Areta Mabel (1878-1964), Robert Beecher (1880-1929), Charles Kay (1880-1929), Ivan Selwyn (1884-1959), Wilfred Irving (1885-1963), Pearl (188- 1947), Ruby (1888-1897), Muriel Gladys (1890-1966), baby boy - twin to Gladys (b and d 1890), Garner Wakefield (1895-1974). 5.7. Rev Josiah Ward (1848-1926) Josiah joined the Treasury at age 19 and 3 years later entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry. His ordination in 1872 began 54 years as a Methodist minister. Appointments at Timaru (1873-76) and Dunedin (1876-80) were followed by a transfer to the Wesleyan ministry. His first Wesleyan appointment was to Greytown, where his Treasury training came in useful for sorting out the church’s accumulating mortgage and interest debt. After the manner of short Methodist stationing, he served in 8 further appointments before retiring in 1920. He was best known for his Dunedin work where he gathered congregations and built three churches, while in Christchurch he did effective open-air preaching. Like his brother Charles he was for a time connexional editor. He had married Martha Annie Dean in 1879, and their family were Hilda Raymond (1880-1955), Emily Rosena (1882-1936), Sidney Harland (1884- 1959) and Egmont Holmes (1890-1891) 5.8. Dr Frederick Ward (1847-1934) Although not named in the Ward Memorial Church, Frederick was the third of Rev Robert Ward’s sons to enter the ministry. However he resigned and became one of Australia’s best known journalists and editors. 5.9. Future Identity of the Ward Memorial Church On 12 January 1999 Mr John Robert Allison, great-grandson of the Rev Robert Ward wrote “I am concerned about the identity of the building and especially that the name and association should be retained. This seems to me to be a matter of principle and I would appreciate being kept informed. “The Ward family has over the years produced many distinguished descendants in both New Zealand and Australia and the name and church should remain. “With the Methodist Church being reformed Anglican one would think that retention of the Ward name for the building shouldn’t be a problem.” On 31 May 1999 Ivan Ward - a grandson of the Rev Charles E Ward - advised that he and his second cousin Mrs Valerie Brandon - a grand-daughter of the Rev Josiah Ward feel “that it is good that the church is sold and kept in use and maintained, rather than becoming a derelict monument.”

39 PART 6- MINISTER AND DEACONESS APPOINTMENTS TO THE CHURCH As part of the Wellington I Station of the Primitive Methodist Church 1903-1905 Samuel Bailey 1905-1910 Charles E Ward 1910-1913 Percy I Cossum Following Church Union 1913, as part of the Wellington (Thorndon) Methodist Circuit, renamed Wellington West Circuit, circa 1942 1913-1916 George S Cook 1916-1919 Amos Reader 19 19-1920 Egbert R Warburton (Probationer) 1920-1924 George E Brown 1924-1928 Frederick B Lawrence 1928-1931 Ernest D Patchett 1931-1932 Charles Wickham (Supply) 1931-1935 Henry I Odell 1932-1933 Charles Blair 1933-1935 William WH Greenslade (Probationer) 1935-1938 James Richards 1938-1942 Robert B Gosnell 1939-1940 Robert H Allen (Supply) 1940-1941 Sister Martha Coulter (Supply) 1942-1943 Frank Bateup 1943-1948 Charles E Dickens 1948-1951 Robert H Allen* 1952-1956 R Graham Bell* 1957-1960 R Leslie George* 1961-1968 Wilfred J Cable* 1969-1972 Ian H Robertson* 1973 Frank H Woodfield (Supply) 1973-1976 Charles B Oldfield 1977-1984 Keith C Griffith 1984-1987 William F Elderton (Self-supporting) * 1988-1995 Bryant SL Abbott* In 1994 Wellington West Methodist Parish and Karori Presbyterian Parishes Unite as Karori-Northiand Uniting Parish 1995 Pamela Tankersley Ministers marked * lived in Northland, after the parsonage at 18 West Road was bought in 1950.

40 BIBLIOGRAPHY Land Information Office, Wellington Records of Crown Grants, Plans and Transfers Minute Books in Methodist Connexional Archives, Christchurch Sydney Street Trust Minutes 1897 to 1931 Thorndon Circuit Quarterly Meeting Minutes 1908-1926 Ward Memorial Trust Minutes, 1903-1931, 1933-1949 Wellington West Quarterly Meeting Minutes 1926-1944 Minutes of Methodist Conference, 1927, 1936, 1990-1999 Periodicals New Zealand Methodist Times, selected issues including - April 1, 1922, 9 October 1926, March 8 1930, September 1 1934, 14 September 1935, August 5 1944, September 2 1944, August 311946, February 1 1947 New Zealand Primitive Methodist, selected issues including - January 1 1904 Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Journal 1996, Proceeding No 63, Wesley Historical Society (NZ) of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, Auckland 1996, particularly - ‘From Mow Cop to Airedale Street’ by Donald Phillipps (pp 9-39) ‘Remember the Primitive Methodists’ by Verna Mossong (pp 40-63) Letters Allison, John R, letter dated 12 January 1999 (and oral information) Angel, Alton, letter dated 10 February 1999 (and oral information) Ward, Ivan, letter dated 31 May 1999 enclosing Ward genealogy information Books and Pamphlets Adkin, G Leslie, The Great Harbour of Tara, Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, Christchurch, 1959 Blight WT, Primitive Methodist Church in New Zealand 1893-1912, manuscript copied by Methodist Archive, Christchurch 1993 Guy, James and Potter JW, Jubilee Memorial Volume or Fifty Years of Primitive Methodism in New Zealand, Primitive Methodist Book Depot, Wellington, 1893 Guy, James and Potter JW, Whom God Hath Joined - Souvenir of Union 1913, The Methodist Church in New Zealand and the Primitive Methodist Church in New Zealand, 1913 Hamer David and Nicholls Roberta (eds) The Making of Wellington, Victoria University Press, Wellington 1990, particularly

41 ‘Te Whanganui-a-Tara: phases of Maori occupation of Wellington Harbour c. 1800- 1840, by Angela Ballara (pp 9-34) “A Difficult and Complicated Question’: The New Zealand Company’s Wellington, Port Nicholson, Claim’ by Rosemarie Tonk (pp 35-59) Irvine-Smith, F, The Streets of My City, Wellington 1947 (pp 226-228) McGill David, The Pioneers of Port Nicholson, Reed Publishing, Wellington 1984 Olsson, AL, Methodism in Wellington 1839 to 1989, Wellington District Synod of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, 1989 Roberts, John H, The Wesleyan Maori Mission in Te Upoka o Te Ika, Methodist Publishing, Christchurch, 1992 Nga Waahi Taonga o Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Maori Sites Inventory, Wellington City Council, undated

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