Maori History
Ancient stories tell the origins of southern Maori, with the waka of Aoraki becoming Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island), and its sternpost, Te Taurapa a Te Waka o Aoraki becoming Bluff Hill (also known as Motupohue). The Maui traditions are told in the south, with Maui arriving in his waka Maahunui, and pulling up the stone to be used as an anchor - Te Puka o Te Waka a Maui (Rakiura). Maui's achievements are recognised in place names in the south, including Omaui near Bluff, and Te Tapuwae o Maui and Te Rereka o Maui in Fiordland (Maui's footstep and Maui's leap).
Stories of the original explorers of the south are also told. The explorer Rakaihautu journeyed through the south with place names recalling his journey.
After Rakaihautu came the Takitimu waka with Tamatea Pokai Whenua. The waka was overcome by three waves O-te-wao, O-roko and O-kaka, coming to rest near the mouth of the Waiau (Waimeha). The three waves continued across the low lying lands and ended up as features of the landscape.
The early generations learnt about the land and its resources: stone sources were found, and stone (especially pounamu) became an important trading item. Kaika were established close to resources. Rights and resources and places were established, and traditions established which protected the manawhenua.
When traditions were written down Kati Mamoe and Kai Tahu dominate the history after Waitaha, with stories of war and peace, and intermarriage that spread through the south. In the early 1820s there was further fighting, with muskets first being used at this time, with major sieges in the more northern area of the South Island leading a retreat to the south. Ruapuke Island became the centre of leadership in the south, its isolation giving a measure of security. The final fight with the northern taua of Te Puoho and his followers at Tuturau in 1835-1836, where Te Puoho was defeated, saw the end of warfare in the region.
According to the Ngai Tahu Statutory acknowledgments in the settlement important villages along the south coast included: Te Wae Wae (Waiau), Taunoa (Orepuki), Kawakaputaputa (Wakapatu), Oraka (Colac bay), Aparima, Turangiteuaru, Awarua (Bluff), Te Whera, Toe Toe (mouth of the Mataura River) and Waikawa. Mokamoka (also known as Mokemoke or Mokomoko) was a settlement at the Invercargill estuary sustained by the rich resources found there. Tauranga waka occur up and down the coast linking land and sea trails with mahinga kai resources. Whaling boats plied the waters from the 1820s leading to changes in settlement patterns and resource use.
1853 saw the Murihiku purchase which left Maori south of the Waitaki (excluding the Otakou Block) with only 4,630 acres, the start of a long quest by southern Maori for justice questioning the legality of the purchase as well as the inadequacy of the land reserved.
Greenhills and its church
It was not long after John Turnbull Thomson (1821-1884) started his survey of Invercargill in 1856 that the first Presbyterian clergyman arrived in the burgeoning settlement, and it is Rev. Alexander Bethune who is attributed with preaching the first Christian sermon in Invercargill in late 1856. Prior to this a Christian presence had been introduced by Maori Anglican missionaries from the North Island, and there were also early Methodist missionaries active in Southland in the 1840s. By the 1850s it appears that most of the major Christian denominations had established a presence in Southland, but it was not until the early 1860s that the first purpose-built churches were constructed.
Despite the strong Presbyterian settler influence, it is important to note that Southland was not a religious colony like Otago, and in the 1860s Presbyterians only nominally outnumbered Anglicans. It was in 1862 that a Methodist clergyman was first assigned to the Otago and Southland region. Rev. Isaac Harding was based in Invercargill but was required to circuit the area, and in 1863 the first Methodist chapel was constructed in the town.
The Greenhills area, south of Invercargill and just north of Bluff Harbour, was first surveyed in the late 1840s, followed by Thomson’s (1821-1884) survey of Bluff and surrounding area in 1856. Greenhills had not been named at this stage and, like Bluff, was relatively inaccessible because it was surrounded in swamp. This isolation lessened when the road between Invercargill and its port at Bluff was opened in 1862.
A railway was built soon after motivated by the fact that as the closest well-established township to the Otago gold-fields that Invercargill’s economy could benefit significantly if it could meet the increasing demand for supplies. It was during this period that Greenhills was laid out with the railway and a flag station at its centre. After the Southland Provincial Council was subsumed back into Otago, Greenhills was surveyed again as part of the Campbelltown Hundred. In the meantime, the flax and sawmilling industries, as well as quarrying, continued to dominate the Greenhills area’s economy.
It was not until 1879 that the first church in Bluff was constructed, and until the completion of a church in Greenhills in 1887 many of that settlement’s residents would have travelled to Bluff for services. In 1886 the Southland Times reported that:
‘In most rising townships progress is shown first by the erection of an [sic] hotel, and in nearly every case these monuments to civilisation precede all other public buildings. The Greenhills residents have, however, departed from this rule. A few weeks ago a meeting was called there for the purposes of considering the advisability of erecting a new church..’
At a subsequent meeting the tender of local man, Samuel Sullivan, was accepted for the construction of a church to his design. The timber for the building was sourced from local sawmills and the church was completed in February 1887. Originally the church consisted of a main gable section with a porch and tower, and was described as ‘a small, but suitable, building.’
It seems that a stated purpose of the new church was that it would be open to everyone interested in Christian teachings. This has given rise to the idea that from the outset it was a non-denominational church. This appears to have been reinforced by the fact that Sullivan, who donated the site and oversaw the church’s construction, is said to have been Catholic. However, from its conception the church was referred to in the local press as a Primitive Methodist church, and soon after its completion the church was incorporated into the Greenhills Bluff Methodist Circuit. Of course, this does not mean that Greenhill Church’s congregation was exclusively Methodist, because it was common for people in rural settlements to take advantage of any Christian services available to them.
It has been said that small country churches ‘made a statement that religious belief was important to country folk. Moreover, the country church often became the focus for community activity well before the advent of the community hall.’ Despite steady population growth in the nineteenth century many people in the Greenhills area were still relatively scattered and isolated. Therefore, occasions such as the church opening and its subsequent services were important social gatherings, particularly for women who generally did not have the same socialising opportunities outside of the home that their male counterparts had when they went off to work.
Local women seem to have advocated strongly for the church, and for the first few years of its history the church was also used by the children as a school. Groups associated with the church continued to be socially important for women, such as the Greenhills Methodist Guild, later known as the Methodist Womens’ Fellowship. This guild was still operating in the 1980s, and was responsible for organising various fundraising activities for the church, as well as its cleaning and decoration.
In 1901 the population of the Greenhills area was 133 people. One of these early twentieth century residents remembers attending the Sunday school at the church, and being taught by Salvation Army members before the school came under the jurisdiction of the Bluff Methodist Circuit. When this occurred the minister from Bluff would cycle to the church and take the class before the weekly Sunday church service. As the local population grew, and transportation improved leading up to the middle part of the twentieth century, so did the students attending the Sunday school and the number of teachers required. At one point up to six different classes would be operating at once in the small space: four in the nave separated by curtains, and one class each in the porch and the vestry.
A significant change occurred at Greenhills Church in 1975 when the first co-operative Methodist and Anglican services were held there. Dignitaries at the inaugural service included the Bishop of Dunedin and the Chairman of the Otago-Southland Methodist Church, along with Pastor Hendrick Taakens who became the Minister for the Methodist-Anglican District of Bluff, Stewart Island, and Greenhills. This move was an effort to maximise the use of the church as attendance had dropped, and it was felt that unless this picked up then the church would inevitably have to close. Eventually, in 1989 regular services did cease. The next period of use for the church was solely as a Sunday school. This began in 1991 and was organised by a committee of local people. It was not the lack of students which led to the Sunday school closing five years later, but not enough adults being available to supervise.
Although the Sunday school no longer operated, the Greenhills Sunday School Committee still existed, and in 2001 they called a public meeting to discuss the future of the aging building. It was here that the community voiced its commitment to the church which led to the building being deconsecrated and donated to the newly formed Greenhills Historic Church Charitable Trust in March of that year. Although still sound, by this time the building was deteriorating and as such an early priority of the Trust was to raise $60,000 in order to carry out a substantial restoration project.
Maintaining the church had always relied greatly on the generosity of the community it served for financial contributions or labour. For example, when the west wall required recladding, it was made possible through a street appeal. Slightly later, in 1985, when it was discovered that the building required new piles, the labour was undertaken by local community. However, because the 2003 restoration project involved significant costs, the Trust appealed to the larger community for help and secured contributions from various local and national charitable trusts, as well as some local businesses, and the Invercargill City Council. Therein the required funds were successfully accumulated from a variety of sources, with the main portion being $40,000 from the Lottery Grants Board.
After this significant project was completed, under the direction of architect A. R. Hesselin and builder Alan Gieseg, the building was officially reopened by Invercargill’s Deputy Mayor Neil Boniface on 16 March 2005. In completing the restoration of the church, the Trust ensured the continuance of the iconic building which is the oldest remaining timber church in the Invercargill district. The building is currently open to visitors by appointment and available for private functions, such as weddings.
