This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1993. The following text is the original citation considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. Information in square brackets indicates modifications made after the paper was considered by the NZHPT Board.
Early History
The name ‘Makara’ is a Maori name originating from Ma, an abbreviated form of ‘manga’ meaning stream or tributary and ‘kara’ which is a form of stone-grey waeke (trap rock). The land around Makara was very important to early Maori, especially along the coastline; a number of different tribes were associated with the area at different times during pre-European settlement. Cape Terawhiti, on the coast, was an important site for Maori, as it guarded the whole of the northern entrance into Whanga-nui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbour), controlling those who wished to cross the strait. There were Maori settlements located all along the coastline, with the westernmost range of Terawhiti being used by Maori to observe the weather and sea conditions before any decision was made about crossing the strait. Furthermore, it has been said that the discoverer Kupe dried his sails on Makara Beach during his voyages in the tenth century. To live along this coastline in the bays around Terawhiti meant control over one of the most important waterways in New Zealand.
European Settlement
The survey of the Wellington land district began in 1839 with the arrival of the New Zealand Company. The first surveyor general, Captain William Mein Smith, was ordered to find rural areas that would be divided into 100-acre sections for selection by holders of land orders. Smith laid out the Makara area in this fashion where there were initially 39 sections surveyed, of which four sections were designated as Native Reserves.
One of the first sections selected under the New Zealand Land Order No. 349 was at the junction of the Makara and South Makara Roads recorded as Section 23. One of Section 23’s joint owners, Samuel Revans was publisher of Wellington’s first newspaper, and his section became known as ‘Printers section’. One surveyor noted the section as having a house and two fenced gardens, one of which he recorded as ‘printers garden’. In 1847, some of Revans’ publishing colleagues took up neighbouring land on section 20, unsurprisingly with the influx of printers and publishers to the area, the land at the junction of South Makara and Makara Road became known as ‘Printers Flat’, a name that stuck for the next fifty years. St Patricks Church is located at ‘Printers Flat’ on land originally known as part Section 23, next to the boundary of Section 20.
At first, European settlement at Makara was slow. Access was a problem until the completion of a road via Karori in February 1858, when settlement began to take place. By the 1860s, Makara was becoming a thriving district. Some of the families came because of military grants made available to them. As with many new settlements in New Zealand, the first settlers cleared the bush before land was converted for farming. In Makara a number of the early settlers survived by selling timber for new houses being built in Wellington. There was a rush to the district when gold was discovered in 1862, however, it was not as prosperous as had been hoped and by 1883 machinery had been abandoned. Initially forestry and sawmilling was very productive, but as land was cleared farming became the main form of income.
Church history
In January 1838, three French Catholic missionaries arrived in New Zealand, followed by Bishop Jean-Baptiste Francois Pompallier later that same year. Pompallier, being the first bishop that Maori had seen, made quite an impression with his elaborate robes, and they soon called the faith ‘Pikopo’ from the word ‘Episcopal’, meaning ‘of a bishop’. Catholicism became a popular way for Maori to distinguish themselves from other tribes who had converted to other denominations. Furthermore, Pompallier urged his missionaries to embrace Maori tikanga and build the Catholic faith around their beliefs.
Later, as Maori began to turn away from the church and as more Catholic settlers arrived in New Zealand, the Catholic Church became less of a Maori mission and more of a settler church. The church was also moving away from its French roots, and with the appointment of an Irish bishop, Bishop Patrick Moran, in Dunedin in 1869, followed by Bishop Thomas Croke in Auckland the following year, the Church began to follow more of an Irish Catholic model.
Karori and Makara districts were [served from Thorndon] with the closest church being [St Mary's Cathedral] in Thorndon, which was constructed in 1851. Early Catholic pioneers in these areas would have had very little religious contact, unless they visited Thorndon, or alternatively, were visited by any Marist missionaries passing through on their way to the coastal Maori pa around Makara beach. The first Mass in the area appears to have taken place in Karori, in the mid 1850s at the home of Major Patrick Monaghan, a landowner in Karori and Makara, who was seriously ill at the time.
During the 1860s the Makara District began to flourish, especially after the road was improved, and more importantly with the discovery of gold in 1862. With the belief that the area would continue to thrive, Makara Catholics decided to build a church in their settlement. The community was greatly supported by Father Cummins, who understood the problems for Makara Catholics, ‘being almost entirely deprived of the Consolations of Religion in consequence of the distance from Wellington’. Furthermore he feared for the future generations: ‘the rising generation will become infidel if efforts are not made to secure for them early Christian training - Catholic chapel and school will be necessary’. While it was not the first church in Makara, it would be the first Catholic Church for Makara and Karori.
The Catholic community of Makara set about collecting submissions, and preparations began for the construction of their new church [which noted Wellington architect Charles Tringham was engaged to design]. An acre of land at ‘Printers Flat’ was purchased for £50 and on 15 June 1873 Father Cummins visited Makara to bless the land. Upon hearing of the imminent visit of Father Cummins, the Catholic community in Makara endeavoured to construct a ‘temporary chapel’ by which to show their appreciation for the efforts that he had made to secure the piece of land which was to be the site of the future chapel. A large tent was erected for the occasion, ‘seats were made, carpets procured and the whole ornamented with evergreens, giving it the appearance of a neat little bower. Such is the first chapel in Makara where Mass has been celebrated.’
On 7 September 1873, construction was finished and the Right Reverend Bishop Moran of Dunedin consecrated St Patrick’s Church. The Wellington Independent newspaper described St Patrick’s as being of the Gothic style, and capable of comfortably seating 150 people; its location on ‘Printers Flat’, near the intersection of Makara Road and South Makara Road, known as the Makara Junction, was admired as a most convenient location in regards to the scattered community of Makara. The Bishop travelled from Wellington, arriving at Makara at 10.30am. Ceremonies began at approximately 11.00am, which included the consecration of the new Church, Mass, the Sisters of St Mary’s singing parts of Mozart’s Twelfth Mass, confirmation, and the Bishop preached a sermon about St Patrick. The ceremonies lasted until 2pm, followed by a large lunch supplied by the congregation at Makara. On his departure, the Bishop reinforced that now the congregation had built a church they should not waste time in establishing a school. This was a large and important occasion for Makara and to some extent Karori, attended by some 300 people, including people who had travelled from Wellington.
Although the Catholic community had passed the largest hurdle of getting a church built in Makara, they now had the difficulty of getting the Parish to commit to regular visits of a priest to Makara. Makara’s greatest supporter within the church, Father Cummins, was transferred elsewhere shortly after the opening of the church. In a letter dated 4 September 1876, the Catholic Committee requested that a priest be sent to Makara every five weeks, more often if possible, and in return the committee would offer £30 a year ‘towards his sustenance’. The committee received a reply that the offer needed to be resubmitted when all Catholic families had signed it, and proposed that six-weekly might be more logical. Receiving regular visits from clergy would be a problem for the church for the rest of its consecrated existence.
Tragedy struck the small community after a fatal accident on the treacherous Makara Hill on 13 January 1889. Father Power and an acolyte from the Cathedral, Joseph Brennan McDonald, were travelling to Makara for Mass, on a carriage owned and driven by Mr Thomas McElligott. Near the summit, one of the horses was startled by what appeared to be a stone rolling down the bank and shied, and while the driver attempted to get the horse under control it walked the carriage backwards and over the edge. The carriage rolled some 300 feet down a steep bank into a creek bed. Joseph McDonald was killed; Father Power was badly injured, while the driver, who had leapt from the carriage, survived with serious bruising. The inquest found that the death was caused by purely accidental circumstances; nevertheless, it greatly shook the community.
St Patrick’s remained the only Catholic church in the Karori district until the 1920s, when St Teresa’s was built. Karori was established as a Parish in 1940, and as a result St Patrick’s held a monthly Mass, which became weekly in 1976. However, over time attendance began to dwindle. In 1982, St Teresa’s Parish Council in Karori found that it was no longer viable to hold Mass at St Patrick’s; subsequently transferring all masses to Karori. With the church no longer in use, the fate of the building was called into question. In 1982, the Parish Council saw little future for the church; and while there was mention of restoring the building it was a commonly held view that this would require rebuilding, and extremely high ongoing maintenance costs. The Parish Council agreed that the church should be demolished, voting in favour of doing so. However this caused an outcry within the Makara community from Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Demolition was stalled so that a restoration plan could be formed and a committee, ‘Friends of St Patrick’s’, was founded.
Winton Holdings purchased the church for $1 with the intention of moving the building to their Ohariu Country Golf Club, restoring it, and using it as a setting for weddings and other functions. Three out of five members of the Friends of St Patrick’s agreed to this plan. However, the Wellington City Council explained that permission would be required for the removal or demolition of the building and that further permission would also be required for any future use; and therefore, plans were again stalled. After much publicity surrounding the future of the church, Mr Anderson, of Winton Holdings, gave the church to the residents of Makara in July 1983. Earlier that same month the Parish Council allowed the Friends of St Patricks a 20-year lease of the land which the church sat on. As a result of great community spirit and dedication, St Patrick’s Church is now in the final stages of restoration. The restoration project included the installation of stained glass windows depicting the early history of Makara, and some of the original families who settled in the area.
Although the church has since been deconsecrated, it still maintains a strong sense of spiritual significance and value. A sign at the front of the grounds advertises the church as a ‘Settlers church, St Patrick’s non-denominational church’ that is available for hire. Indeed this church is still in use as a popular wedding venue, and it is also a place that people passing through Makara stop, visit, and admire, as the many comments in the visitors’ book testify.
