Maori History
Traces of human occupation in Murihiku can be dated back to around 1250–1300. The first Polynesian arrivals in New Zealand soon found their way to the eastern and southern South Island, where moa were found in large numbers. By the time of European settlement, however, moa were extinct and Maori were clustered on the coast. Key coastal settlements were at Shag Point, Waikouaiti, and Huriawa (Karitane’s original name). They identified themselves as Ngāi Tahu, and also with that tribe’s predecessors, Ngāti Māmoe and Waitaha.
Circular depressions revealing the presence of Maori umu can be seen inland in the Waihemo area. This was part of a well used route to inland Otago, a rich source of moa and greenstone. Archaeology indicates, however, that these sites were occupied only temporarily. Indeed it has been suggested that from the mid 1830s there were no permanent Maori settlements in inland Otago. Certainly there are no recorded Maori archaeological sites on the land on which St Mary’s Church sits.
The Waihemo area is connected with the traditions surrounding the wreck of the Arai Te Uru canoe. The canoe was on a return trip from Hawaiki but was wrecked at Shag Point. The canoe’s crew explored the southern South Island but if the explorers did not return before dawn they turned into hills and other natural features. One of these explorers was a woman, Puketapu, who travelled too far. Dawn broke as she came through the Waihemo Valley and she was turned into the hill Puketapu which overlooks the township of Palmerston.
The story of the Anglican Church in East Otago begins with Maori. Tamihana, the only surviving son of Te Rauparaha, was converted to Christianity and wished to spread the Word to Kaitahu who had been badly treated by his father. He set out to Otago in 1842 and was reportedly well received by local Maori. Many converts were made and when Bishop Selwyn visited in January 1874 four were baptised. Selwyn then visited Waikouaiti and visited many of the local English. Despite this early activity, it was several years before Anglican services were held in Waikouaiti.
Palmerston
Palmerston lies 50 kilometres to the north of Dunedin at the junction of two major transport routes – State Highway 1 linking Dunedin and Christchurch and State Highway 85 (known locally as ‘The Pigroot’) which is the principal highway to the Maniototo and Central Otago beyond. One old Palmerston resident remembered the development of the settlement.
At the inception of the Dunstan Rush the country in the Shag Valley had not been surveyed. The sheep and cattle belonging to Mr John Jones…roamed unheeded over the wide expanse of the valley…The land was open tussock country, affording fine natural grazing. ..There were no settlers resident on the site of Palmerston. The earliest farmhouses were near Goodwood... [Following the gold rush] It was not long before an accommodation tent was erected here [in Palmerston] at a spot near ‘Johnny’ Jones’ cattle yard, and that represented the real start of Palmerston.
Following the development of this temporary camp site at the beginning of the gold fields’ route, the township was mapped in July 1862. Later that year the first Crown grants of surveyed sections were issued. In April 1864 town sections were laid out and sold. Farms had previously been taken up and the township now began to move ahead. Trade soon sprang up with the Dunstan diggings in the transport of stores and supplies. On occasion there were as many as thirty wagons preparing to leave on their journey to the interior. Shops and hotels began to open and ‘Palmerston began to assume an air of importance’.
The Anglican Church
Otago and Southland were unique from the rest of New Zealand as the only regions where the Church of England was not the major denomination. Anglicans made up 40% of the population nationwide in the colonial era but in Otago and Southland they represented only 25%. The south was the stronghold of Presbyterianism and this was even more so in rural areas. Some Otago Presbyterians called the Church of England ‘The Little Enemy’. Anglicans responded with the label ‘The Old Iniquity’.
Otago and Southland were incorporated in the Diocese of Christchurch from its inception. The advent of gold, however, brought such an influx of people into Otago that a new diocese was required. The Diocese of Dunedin was created in 1869, although the first bishop, Bishop Samuel Tarratt Nevill, did not arrive until 1871.
In the early days of settlement the enormous parish of Otago was under the sole care of Rev. J.A. Fenton. St John’s Church in Waikouaiti, funded by Johnny Jones, was opened in 1858. It was the second parish created in the Diocese of Dunedin, the first being St Paul’s in Dunedin in 1852. The church drew its congregation from as far afield as Goodwood and Palmerston. Certainly by 1868, however, there were local services held at Palmerston in the school room, with the occasional district service incorporating Waikouaiti. For example, on 15 February 1869 the first Bishop of Dunedin, Henry Lascelles Jenner, wrote in his journal that he ‘…rode to Palmerston, 10 miles (from Waikouaiti) for a service at 3 and returned in time for Evensong at 6.30’. Replacing Fenton in 1863, Rev Alexander Dasent took over the parish. Under his charge St Mary’s Church was erected.
St Mary’s Church
Considerable building activity was taking place in the Anglican Church, during the 1860s and 1870s, particularly in the South Island. In January 1871 three members of the Church of England congregation in Palmerston applied to purchase sections 1, 2, 3 and 4, Block XVII. The purchase was agreed to by the Waste Lands Board subject to payment being made within the month, according to section 29 of the Waste Lands Act 1868. The title was issued to Francis Dyer Rich, Henry Orbell and Joseph Preston, presumably as Church trustees, on 15 February 1871.
In January 1871 a report appeared in the Otago Daily Times concerning the proposed new church.
‘A church is about to be erected at Palmerston for the Church of England congregation there, who now meet in the school-room. The building – the contract for the erection of which has been accepted – has been designed by Mr R.A. Lawson. It is to be built of stone, in the early English style of architecture, and is to consist of nave, chancel, vestry, and entrance porch. The nave is to be 38 feet by 24 feet [11.6 x 7.3 metres], and it is estimated will comfortably seat about 150 persons, the chancel is to be 16 feet by 15 feet [4.9 x 4.6 metres], and a vestry of an octagonal form is to be annexed to it. The building, though small, will, judging from the drawings, be a pretty one. Its estimated cost when finished is somewhat under £700.’
On 12 June 1871 an advertisement was placed in the Otago Daily Times inviting tenders for the erection of a Church of England at Palmerston in stone. Particulars could be obtained from R. A. Lawson, architect.
The church’s designer, Robert Arthur Lawson (1833-1902), became one of Dunedin’s leading architects. Born in 1833 in Scotland, Lawson commenced his architectural training in Perth around 1848, completing his studies in Edinburgh in the early 1850s. Lured by greater opportunities, Lawson immigrated to Australia in 1854. He spent the next seven years in various occupations including gold mining and journalism, but by 1861 he was an architect in Melbourne. Under the pseudonym 'Presbyter', he won a competition for the design of the First Church of Otago. In June 1862 Lawson set up in practice in Dunedin. Lawson received commissions for commercial, public and domestic buildings, including the Bank of Otago, the Union Bank of Australasia, the Dunedin Municipal Chambers, Otago Boys' High School, Seacliff Lunatic Asylum and Larnach’s Castle. As an active Presbyterian, Lawson became predominantly a church architect designing and supervising the construction of over forty churches. Examples include St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Trinity Wesleyan Church (later the Fortune Theatre), and his most celebrated building, First Church. His designs demonstrate a wide range of styles based on the needs of the individual congregation. St Mary’s Church is an early example of Lawson’s work in eastern Otago. It was completed prior to some of his more major undertakings, particularly First Church which was still under construction.
Construction began at the end of September 1871 and by November the foundations of the church were laid. The Bruce Herald reported that St Mary’s was opened on Tuesday 2 April 1872. On a journey from Oamaru to Dunedin, Bishop Nevill stopped at Palmerston and officially consecrated the church on 28 May 1873.
St Mary’s was Gothic in style, like most of Lawson’s churches, and built in stone. The stone was grey but flecked with a soft ginger hue adding to its character and giving warmth to the exterior. The stone was probably limonitic sandstone and likely came from one of two sites. A report into the building stones of Otago in 1875 noted that sandstone quarried near Horse Range Road, eight kilometres from Palmerston, was smooth-grained with dark red ferruginous stone which would make an excellent building material. Indeed this stone was used by architect David Ross in 1875 for Palmerston’s Presbyterian Church which weathered to a remarkable ginger hue. Alternatively, the stone may have come from the northern slope of Puketapu. This was a hard stone, generally coloured a light blueish gray, occasionally merging into yellow. Although found in large blocks, the deposit was deemed to be limited. Certainly contemporaries regarded the local stone highly, and as one newspaper report explained local ‘Waihemo Stone … is regarded as of even better quality than the Oamaru Stone’. The report concerning the nature of these building blocks was dated 1875, but it seems Lawson may have earlier discovered the properties of this local stone as St Mary’s, built in 1872, soon weathered to a blueish grey with soft ginger tones.
As much of Lawson's early work has since been either demolished or heavily altered, St Mary’s is an interesting example of Lawson’s early period of work in the colony. It is a remarkably aesthetic building for such a young and rural community, although Lawson’s best work was always in the ecclesiastical field. Certainly contemporaries considered the small church to be particularly appealing. Indeed in 1892 one travelling journalist felt St Mary’s was the only local church worthy of note. He wrote that the ‘English Church here is a handsome building of bluestone with white facings and the cure is in the charge of Rev. W.S. Lucas.’
As with most small rural churches, local fundraising was central to the erection of the church. A concert, for example, was held in aid of St Mary’s in the Palmerston Assembly Rooms in October 1872. In May 1873 a bazaar in aid of the building fund was held over two days in the schoolroom. Presided over by the women of the congregation, the takings were £170. Efforts to clear the debt continued into the next decade. In July 1888 an entertainment consisting of a concert and waxworks exhibition was given in aid of the building fund. Reportedly, it was a most successful affair with the building being crowded to its maximum capacity. ‘Neither trouble nor expense was spared by those taking part in the entertainment’ although the takings amounted to only £20.
On 13 September 1892 the property was transferred to the Diocesan Trust Board. In 1974 Lot 4 was transferred to the Waihemo County Council. In 1984 Lot 1 was sold to private ownership. Lot 2 and 3 remained in the ownership of the Diocese.
The Waikouaiti Parish, incorporating St Mary’s, was extensive, extending from Waikouaiti to Seaclifff, and then inland to Dunback and Macraes. Yet it was not until 1907 that a curate, Rev. P.T. Jones, was stationed at Palmerston. Jones was followed in 1909 by Rev. G.W. Harding. In 1913 Palmerston became a parish and its first minister was Rev. George Stubbs. For the first time, the vicar had a workable parish in geographical terms.
Under the charge of Rev. Stubbs, a Sunday School Hall was erected in 1913. The Sunday School movement was a growing international trend. In England, nineteenth century Sunday Schools evolved for children of the poor. The aim was ‘the inculcation of moral and religious truth, for the reformation of life and manners, which was the great object and final purpose of the Sunday School.’ Studies indicate that Sunday Schools became an important social institution not only for children but for women, who predominantly served as teachers. At the heart of the movement were the feminine philosophies of nurture and guidance and it was here that women found opportunities to use their abilities. Sunday School teaching was considered to be a fitting womanly role that became central to women’s Christian reform work. It was in the last quarter of the nineteenth century that churches adopted the Sunday School as part of the church programme. By 1900, over 5 million children in Britain attended Sunday School. By the early twentieth century a new international movement arose to see the Sunday School as a training ground for future church leaders. Religious education took a higher profile.
Rev. Stubbs took the lead for the Church of England in Palmerston and at his impetus a Sunday School Hall was built. The wooden structure consisted of a small entrance porch through which the main hall was accessed. Three sets of windows were set into the side elevations and a fire place set into the eastern elevation.
Modifications
On 29 October 1950 memorial gates were erected in memory of past parishioners. A lean-to was added to the rear of the Sunday School Hal incorporating kitchen and bathroom facilities. While the Hall was clad in horizontal timbers, the lean-to’s cladding was vertical boards.
In 1984 the Ministry of Works conducted a review of the building. The contractor noted the church had been kept in good repair although the timber trusses appeared extensively riddled with borer and required treatment.
In the early 1990s a new stained glass window was added to the western elevation of the church. It is in three panels and features Mary holding the Christ child with Puketapu Hill beyond. In 1993 a new stained glass window was installed in the eastern elevation. It also features three panels. The middle panel shows a small cross with ‘St Mary’s’ inscribed below. Beyond is the view of Puketapu Hill with the monument on its crest. A banner flows across the three panels reading ‘To the Glory of God’. These windows were installed to the memory of all benefactors of St Mary’s, in particular May and Jack Wheeler and Edna Heckler (1918-1990). The windows were made by Donald Harman of Dunedin.
St Mary’s Church experienced a number of short term and temporary ministers until 1934 when the Palmerston parish was reunited once again with Waikouaiti as a parochial district. In 1945 the Waikouaiti-Palmerston parochial district once again resumed full status as a parish. St Mary’s Church is now part of the East Otago Parochial District.
