The area that has come to be known as Burkes Pass was well known route for pre-Pakeha Maori who travelled into the Mackenzie to hunt birds and eels and was a familiar path from the east coast through to the central lakes and food collecting areas. The pass itself was named after Michael John Burke who, from a Pakeha settler perspective, 'discovered' the route into the Mackenzie Basin in 1855. Burke's discovery opened up the Mackenzie basin for Pakeha settlement and by 1858 huge areas of land had been applied for and taken up. In 1857-1858 a dray track was cut through the Pass and it became the main route for travellers into the Mackenzie. The need for a township near the pass was recognised by the Provincial Government in 1859 and 640 acres was reserved for one between the summit of the Pass and Stericker's Mound. However, the township of Burkes Pass grew up around the first accommodation house on Cabbage Tree Flat, located in a more sheltered spot than the reserved land. By 1877 it was reported that a small village had grown up in Burkes Pass and it was expected the settlement would continue to grow as the administrative centre of the Mackenzie Basin. When Pakeha discovered the vast Mackenzie plain, ‘gold rush’ and ‘land rush’ selectors literally raced to the Land office in Christchurch to register claims. While the majority of run holders in the early years were English, by the last quarter of the nineteenth century, four out of five dwellers in the Mackenzie Country were Scottish. Prior to the construction of St Patrick's at Burkes Pass the spiritual needs of the small community were supplied by a few infrequent visits from clergymen. The visit by the Anglican clergy in April 1871 was the first visit for more than five years. At a meeting held in May 1871 the community decided to raise money for a church and stated then 'that this place of worship be open to clergymen of the Church of England, and also to Presbyterians and Roman Catholics'. As a result St Patrick's was the earliest union church to be established in South Canterbury. The community raised £160, the local publican, John Burgess (1840-1887) donated 34 perches of land for the church and by December 1871 work had begun. St Patrick's Union Church was designed by William Williamson of Timaru, who, although more widely known as an engineer and surveyor, also ran an architectural practice. The small church he designed is typical of country churches erected throughout New Zealand, being built of timber, with pointed Gothic arches over windows and doors, a Gothic-influenced porch and a steeply gabled roof. It could seat 50 when it opened on 18 August 1872. The Burkes Pass Church Committee Minutes record the tender of F J Wilson was accepted to build the church, although it appears that the actual builders were Ogilvie and Jones of Timaru. Despite a heavy snowfall, which had left three feet of snow on the ground nearby, the local community attended the opening in force, some travelling more than 30 miles (48 kilometres) to attend. The Holy Communion was celebrated in the morning by the Reverend W H Cooper, the missionary priest of the Anglican Diocese. Cooper was also known as the 'galloping parson' and was responsible for all the unattached country districts from Banks Peninsula to the Mackenzie, as well as some districts in North Canterbury. In the afternoon a Presbyterian service was held by the Reverend George Barclay. Barclay had arrived in South Canterbury in 1865 and remained there for 25 years. He was in sole charge of South Canterbury until 1872 and was noted for his tirelessness, his interest in education and for his many adventures as he travelled around the region. It is said that 'he often preached with torn garments and water squelching from his boots'. Thereafter at St Patrick's Union Church the Anglicans and Presbyterians held services on alternate Sundays. The stipend for the following year, 1873, was divided between these two clergymen, and the Reverend James Preston from the Anglican parish of Geraldine, who also preached at St Patrick's. In subsequent years the stipend was divided equally between Barclay and Preston and in 1883 it was decided to split all future collections equally between the Presbyterian and Anglican Churches. In addition to the clergy, one of whom it was hoped would be able to visit St Patrick's every three months or so, local run holder Frederick John Kimbell (1828-1905) was appointed as a lay reader in the Anglican Church. Kimbell, who farmed nearby Three Springs, was described as greatly religious and as one of the driving forces in getting the church built. He, along with fellow run holder, Charles Ensor (1842-1901) of Rollesby Station, and Burgess were the original church trustees, with the land title being transferred to them on 29 July 1872. Despite Ensor leaving for a new station, Mount Grey in North Canterbury, by the end of 1872, St Patrick's remained in their names until 1917. While the original trustees were all Anglican, the church committee from 1873 comprised equal numbers of Presbyterians and Anglicans. Although Catholics were included in the original resolution and the name of the church is traditionally Catholic, there are no records of Catholic services ever being held there. A 1912 letter to the Church Property Trustees mentions the Catholics 'declined to use the Church'. Despite this St Patrick's unionism is said to have influenced the neighbouring community at Fairlie whose Presbyterian and Anglican congregations also built a union church in 1879, which served both groups until the Anglicans erected the Church of St Stephen in 1896. Other churches in the South Canterbury area were built on a cooperative principle with Waihao Downs and the first church built in Waimate being two other local examples. Over 60 years later another Mackenzie District church followed the cooperative tradition. Although owned by the Anglican Church, the Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo was also open to the local Methodist and Presbyterian congregations. It is not clear whether or not the church was ever consecrated, though the cemetery nearby was consecrated by Bishop Harper on 17 January 1875. In the 1870s many of the congregation of St Patrick’s travelled long distances and stayed overnight with friends to attend church on the Sunday. In this way the gatherings provided important social contact. Mail was also delivered by horseback from Timaru, via Cave and Fairlie, once a fortnight on Sundays, enabling letters to be handed out to the congregation coming out of the church. The New Zealand Church News records a visit by Bishop Julius who preached ‘in the little church at Burkes Pass’ on 15 March 1891. The usual services were conducted at various frequencies. At times they were every two months or more, later, by 1891, they were fortnightly. In 1912 it is noted that the Anglicans and Presbyterians used the church on alternate Sundays. St Patrick’s Union Church eventually became a secondary venue to Fairlie for church services. A monthly service at St Patrick’s continued for about 50 years, with both Anglicans and Presbyterians attending, but later they became more occasional. Clergy often came by horseback to take the services, but at other times locals took the services as lay readers. There are various reminiscences recalling how local Anglicans and Presbyterians often attended one another’s services. St Patrick’s Union Church soon acquired a church organ to accompany the singing. Services were held regularly and varied over the years from two-monthly to fortnightly and later once a month. It had been hoped that Burkes Pass would develop into the main township of the Mackenzie. Hopes of this faded in 1883 when the railway line stopped at Fairlie. Eight years later the Mount Cook Road Board, the first local governing body, decided to relocate to Fairlie and from then the town grew no more. The population went from 143 in 1901 to 84 ten years later and continued to decline with the local school closing in 1943 due to falling rolls and an inability to attract teachers. In 1917 the Presbyterians bought the Anglican Church's share of St Patrick's, although Anglican services continued to be held there. Weddings, baptisms and funerals were held in the little church. The church was notoriously cold in the winter. It appears that initially it had no heating. A moveable cylindrical cast iron burner was then installed. In the 1970s the first organ was replaced with an American organ with an oak cabinet, made by Estey, which had earlier belonged to the Fairlie Presbyterian Church Sunday School. Like many other small country churches a declining congregation and the rural downturn meant that little was happening at the church by the late 1980s. In 1992 St Patrick's was leased to Shirley O'Connor for use as an art gallery/craft shop, which operated until 1998. The Mackenzie Cooperating Parish Council leased the church for use as an art gallery, with the provision that occasional services be held there as required. In 2000 St Patrick's was threatened with removal to the Hermitage at Mount Cook, where it was planned to use it as a church and particularly as a venue for overseas weddings. However, strong community reaction against the proposal meant the church was retained in situ and the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust, formed in 2000 primarily to protect the church, purchased it in 200l. At this time the first organ was donated back to the church. Today the building is used as a church and as a community meeting place, and is open to visitors. The church is signposted as a major feature on the Bullock Wagon Trail to Mount Cook by the Heritage Trails of New Zealand. Comparative Analysis Although there are a number of other nineteenth century union churches that survive in New Zealand, these are either no longer used as churches or have been removed from their original location. St Patrick’s Union Church is the only one known to continue its church use and to remain on its original site. In New Zealand, the concept of the union church in the nineteenth century was most widely exercised in Otago. In all, there were upwards of 20 ‘union’ churches in Central Otago, though many did not survive longer than the time when diggers were sluicing for gold. On the whole, the buildings were far from elaborate but they were effective. Very often the churches served also served as a school and a meeting place for public occasions. One union church that is known to pre-date St Patrick’s Union Church and still used as a church is the Mission Hall at the top of Lake Wakatipu. However, this church is no longer on its original site as it was relocated there in 1957. Hogburn in Naseby was another early union church, being built in 1865. However, after its initial 12 years as a church, its function changed to become an athenaeum (which it remains today). Similarly, Sowburn in Patearoa was built as a union church in 1870 but changed its use to become a library in 1898, and it is currently used as a tearoom. Others are younger than St Patrick’s. For example, Serpentine Union Church opened in 1873 at 1000 metres above sea level, and was used briefly as a church but soon was adapted to become a cottage. In the Mackenzie District St Patrick’s Union Church created a successful example that was repeated in nearby Fairlie when the Fairlie Union Church was built by a multi-denominational committee in 1879. This served both Presbyterian and Anglican congregations until the Anglicans erected the Church of St Stephen in 1896. Other churches in the South Canterbury area were built on a cooperative principle, with Waihao Downs and the first church built in Waimate being two other local examples. Over 60 years later another Mackenzie District church followed the cooperative tradition. Although owned by the Anglican Church, the Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo was also open to the local Methodist and Presbyterian congregations. St Patrick’s Union Church was cited as a good historical example in the national debates about church unionism in the 1970s. In the Mackenzie District, St Patrick’s Union Church is the oldest church, originally in a parish serving the large area between Geraldine, Burkes Pass, Tekapo and Mt Cook, south to Lake Ohau, Hakataramea Pass, and back towards the coast to Cave. There are two NZHPT registered Category I historic place churches in the vicinity of St Patrick’s Union Church. These are the Church of the Good Shepherd at Tekapo, built in 1937 and now used by the Mackenzie Cooperating Parish, and St David’s Church in Cave, built in 1930 by T D Burnett. Both are churches of high quality construction, built as memorials to the pioneers of the Mackenzie District during a period where increasing wealth and certainty of land tenure allowed such sophisticated and ‘romantic’ memorials built in permanent materials.

Burkes Pass township comprises a small cluster of houses on the Burkes Pass valley floor below the geographical pass at 500 metres elevation. The pass is situated between the Two Thumbs range and the Rollesby Range that comprise the eastern boundary of the vast Mackenzie basin. The township consists of 20 houses over an area of approximately one square kilometre. The cemetery situated along the road 600 metres to the west of the church. St Patrick’s Union Church is built on a slight elevation overlooking the central part of the Burkes Pass township, centred on a curve in Highway 8 that bisects the town. The church itself is located on the south side of the road and is set back from the road about six metres behind a wire fence and picket gates. Flanking the east and west sides of the section are mature pine trees. Once visible on the rising ground above the township, St Patrick's Union Church is now partly hidden from view by mature pine trees flanking the east and west sides. St Patrick's Union Church is a simple, small, rectangular timber church building, clad in weatherboards, with a steeply gabled roof sheathed in corrugated galvanised steel. There are three lancet windows down each side of the church and a triple lancelet at the south rear. Most of these are paned with plain glass though recent glass conservation work involved the installation of a small amount of patterned glass. The church has pointed arches over the door and the lancet windows and a Gothic style front porch, notable for its decorative trefoil piercings in the bargeboards. Small crosses surmount both the main door and the entrance to the porch. A three-sided louvre ventilator sits above the porch on the north side. The ventilator above the triple lancet window at the rear is rectangular and may have been modified. On the interior, the floor is timber framed and lined. The chancel is indicated by a small raised platform on which stand the two organs (one at each end) and the lectern. There is clay packing between the wall lining and external weatherboards. The interior is lined with vertical tongue and groove boards to the level of the dado and match lining is placed horizontally this. The ceiling is open and is matchlined in a diagonal pattern. A simple trussed roof has curved bracing and collar ties. Modifications Timber shingles found under the porch floor suggest that this was an original roof covering. The windows were originally lead lights with plain sandblasted diamond shaped glass quarries surrounded with an edge of narrow rectangles. The original windows were removed from the building and replaced with plain glass in the late 1950s. Conservation work including the partial restoration of an original window with some modifications has been done in 2010 but its installation has been delayed by the Canterbury earthquakes. Timber bracing was in place by the early twentieth century but was later removed. In 1993 the walls of the church were straightened and timber buttresses set in concrete were erected on each side of the church. Other conservation work was undertaken in the early 1990s. Cladding which had become rotten was replaced as was part of the cross above the entrance. It is painted light cream with a reddy-brown trim.