The Māori history and settlement of Te Whanganui-a-Tara reflects many changes and waves of migration over hundreds of years. Before the arrival of Māori from Taranaki in the 1820s and 1830s , Te Whanganui-a-Tara was populated primarily by people of Kurahaupō waka descent, including Ngāi Tara, Rangitāne, Muaūpoko, Ngāti Apa and Ngāti Ira. These people have been referred to as ‘Whatonga-descent peoples’ since all claimed descent from Whatonga, an early Māori explorer who named the harbour Te Whanganui-a-Tara, for his son Tara. The Chinese Mission Hall is located very near to the site of one of the largest pā in Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Te Aro Pā. Te Aro Pā was established in 1824 by Ngāti Mutunga near the former shoreline in what is now part of the Wellington central business district, in the vicinity of lower Taranaki, Manners and Cuba Streets. When Ngāti Mutunga migrated to Rēkohu / Wharekauri / the Chatham Islands in 1835, they left their lands ‘from Waitangi Stream to Ngauranga’ in the possession of Taranaki iwi and Te Aro Pā was subsequently inhabited by whānau and hapū of Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki iwi and Te Āti Awa. Te Aro Pā was surrounded by extensive cultivations totalling approximately 60-80 acres, including on Puke Ahu / Mount Cook. The nearby bush, Waitangi Lagoon and harbour itself were also rich in resources, as were the numerous waterways that are largely unseen today, such as the nearby Waimapihi Stream (also known as Te Aro Stream) and the Waitangi Stream, bounding the Te Aro flats to the west and east respectively. Waitangi Stream flowed from Newtown along Adelaide Road to the Basin Reserve (originally a significant wetland known as Hauwai), and then along what is now Kent Terrace, feeding into the expansive Waitangi Lagoon which provided Māori with eels, fish and shellfish, flax, fresh water and was also used for launching waka. The New Zealand Company bought land in the Wellington Harbour (Port Nicholson) area in 1839 in preparation for emigration from England. The area was soon colonised with the Pākehā settlement growing steadily and attracting many immigrants. Te Aro Pā was reserved for Māori in the 1844 deeds of release along with other traditional pā such as Pipitea, but the pressures of Pākehā colonisation, including the transfer of cultivations to less desirable and more remote land, and the effects of the Taranaki wars caused the population of Te Aro Pā to rapidly decline. The 1855 earthquake also resulted in dramatic change to the Wellington landscape and the availability of natural resources – a new shoreline was created and the Te Aro flats were raised by around 1.5 to 2 metres. The inhabitants of Te Aro Pā dwindled from 186 in 1850 to 28 in 1881, and by the 1890s the pā was unoccupied. Remains of the pā were uncovered in 2005 during construction of a multi-storey apartment building, and are now preserved for display at Te Aro Pā Visitor Centre. The Waitangi Stream was culverted as part of the underground storm-water system (original plans to turn it into a canal were abandoned after the earthquake) and it was once again exposed to daylight again as a key element of the Waitangi Park development which opened in 2006. In 1840 Town Acre 231, the future site of the Chinese Mission Hall, was granted to William Liddiard, a land owner who at the same time purchased four other sections in nearby Thompson Street, Kent Terrace, Wallace Street and Tasman Street. In 1865 after the death of Liddiard, Town Acre 231 was purchased by local landowner and brick-works manufacturer William Tonks. Tonks named the street which ran through the Town Acre ‘Frederick Street’ after his son, the then four-year old Frederick Tonks, the eldest son of what were to be fifteen children. There followed a succession of owners and by 1891 there was a small building on the site. Wellington’s early Chinese community By the end of the nineteenth century, many Chinese were leaving the depleted Otago goldfields and moving north to resettle in urban centres hoping for new opportunities. Most of these goldminers were originally drawn from China’s southern Guangdong counties of Poonyu, Jungseng and Seyip. By 1894 there were approximately 200 Chinese in Wellington, running: ‘47 fruit and vegetable shops, ten market gardens, three boarding houses, one wholesale house and one laundry, besides a few other houses’. Frederick Street, along with nearby Haining Street, became the centre of Wellington’s Chinatown. The area, known as ‘Tong Yan Gaai’, gained a reputation for illegal pakapoo gambling and its ‘congestion of tumbledown houses’. Neighbourhood children dared each other to dash down the streets ‘braving … kidnapping or worse’. One commentator recalled that at times the smell of opium was so thick you could ‘cut it with a knife’. These stories reflect the intolerance shown towards Asian people in colonial New Zealand and discrimination against Chinese communities in particular. This was exemplified by the 1881 poll tax placed on Chinese immigrants. It was not waived until 1934 and fully repealed in 1944. Other discriminatory legislation included the 1892 Aliens Act and the 1896 Asiatic Restriction Act. In reality, the area was a community where Chinese individuals and families lived and worked. The extensive neighbourhood support is evident from the various community and political associations established there. Chinese Anglican Mission Hall The first service for the Anglican Diocese of Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington was held in 1839, aboard the ship Tory, anchored in the harbour beside Matiu / Somes Island. Two months later, missionaries Henry Williams and Octavius Hadfield arrived in the Wellington area, and set about establishing the groundwork for the Anglican Church. A key Māori figure in this endeavour was Hōhepa Matahau (Ripahau), a Māori who taught Tamihana Te Rauparaha and Hēnare Mātene Te Whiwhi to read through the study of religious texts. Wellington’s first Anglican church was St Paul’s, built on the Government Reserve (now Parliament Grounds) in 1844. The church expanded and established its spiritual traditions as its presence as the township grew. Early Chinese migrants arrived in New Zealand with ‘a complex and ancient mixture of beliefs – ancestor worship, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism’ but many set about adapting to the traditions and cultures of New Zealand. Historically, Chinese were encouraged ‘not just to integrate but to assimilate’, and for some, regular church attendance was a key part of this. In 1900 the Wellington Anglican Diocese identified the need for a Chinese Missioner and church to meet the specific needs of the small but growing Chinese community in Wellington. The Anglican Diocese of Wellington formally set up the Wellington Anglican Chinese Mission (ACM) in 1903. The ACM soon became the dominant church for Chinese in Wellington. They were based out of temporary quarters in nearby Haining Street, but aspired to a dedicated space in which to teach and minister. In 1905 a parcel of the land in Frederick Street was purchased by the ACM. The simple hall constructed upon it was designed by nationally significant architect Frederick de Jersey Clere (1856-1952). Clere’s motto was ‘Designed in beauty, built in truth’. He was responsible for the design of over 100 churches around New Zealand, constructed in both timber and brick, almost all of which were ‘an economical and unostentatious adaptation of the contemporary Gothic Revival style’. The Chinese Mission Hall is a modest design, a contrast with his more ornate and ambitious designs which include Wellington’s Catholic Church St Mary of the Angels (List No. 36). The design and construction of the hall was largely due to the efforts of Reverend Richard Colley, the Vicar of St Marks Anglican Church at Dufferin Street by the Basin Reserve. The Chinese community raised half of the cost of the building. The rest was met by the Anglican Diocese of Wellington, various Trusts and individuals. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Frederic Wallis in December 1905 and the church was dedicated three months later by Venerable Archdeacon Thomas Fancourt. The opening on 9 March 1906 was presided over by both Coffey and Fancourt, a number of Europeans and with Daniel Wong interpreting to the over 100 Chinese present. Daniel Wong (c. 1864-1908) was an Anglican Lay Evangelist. After an enjoyable visit to the capital in 1900, China-born Wong relocated from Greymouth to Wellington in 1903 to serve the approximately 500 Chinese who were resident there. He ministered to the community from the hall, teaching Anglican spiritual traditions and English literacy through close examination of gospel stories. He was known as ‘the Jesus Preacher’ and taught free of charge. Wong was held in high regarded in Wellington and, when he passed away in 1908, as a mark of respect, the nearby gambling establishments were closed and silence reigned in Chinatown for a period of mourning. Over 200 Chinese attended his funeral at St Marks Anglican Church. Others took over the leadership at the Chinese Mission Hall and the community continued to prosper. By 1922 there were reportedly between 90 and 160 people attending Sunday church services at the Chinese Mission Hall, where they were often ‘packed like sardines’ in the small space. Under the leadership of Baptist Missioner, Mr Chiu Kwok Chun, between 1932 and 1949 Anglicans and Baptists combined in ecumenical cooperation to share the space. As well as attending church services, Sunday School and English language gospel study, the community also gathered at the hall to celebrate the traditional spiritual celebrations of the Christian calendar, including Christmas - complete with Christmas tree. Although it was primarily members of the Chinese community who ran and attended these events, Pākehā also assisted with playing the organ and running the Sunday School. The Chinese school, Bible classes, Youth Groups and Chinese folk dance classes who also used the hall catered for Wellington’s Chinese youth – both those born in China and New Zealand. Parents sent their children to the hall for not just Chinese language lessons but socialisation, worried that their children might otherwise ‘lose their Chineseness’ if mixing mainly with non-Chinese children. The hall also provided a space where romance blossomed – with parents hoping their young people might meet and marry other Wellingtonians of Chinese descent and in doing so hold onto their Chinese culture and traditions. Around this time there were rumoured to be underground tunnels linking the hall with illegal gambling operations further along Frederick Street. They were dug to facilitate a speedy escape during periodic police raids. These rumours have never been substantiated. Just next door, the Murdoch family firm built one of the first industrial structures in the street, running a prosperous business on the corner of Frederick and Taranaki Streets. The factory premises, ‘Murdoch’s Pickles and Anglo-Indian Chutneys’, was a large, latterly pink building (demolished 2011). It was originally set up by Scottish-born Alexander Murdoch, in 1886. Successive generations of the family produced ‘icing sugar, pickles, jellies, cordials, herbs, spices and vinegar as well as selling kerosene, turpentine, methylated spirits, Epsom salts and mothballs’. But they were most famous for their chutneys, made with Nelson apples and Hutt-grown tomatoes. Dean Murdoch, great grandson of Alexander Murdoch, remembers his father frequenting the illegal Chinese gambling dens nearby. According to the Murdoch family it was the ‘evil-smelling vinegar’ emanating from their factory which ‘proved too much’ for the Chinese worshipers next door and prompted them to sell the Chinese Mission Hall to the Murdoch family in August 1956. The Murdoch’s purchased it by auction for £3,725. The Anglican Chinese Mission moved to a new site at Taranaki Street, then again in 1978 to their current complex at 30 Glenmore Street beside Wellington’s Botanic Gardens. The Murdochs then leased the hall as a photographer’s studio. Between 1979 and 1984 it was the photography studio of ‘Sal Criscillo Advertising & Illustrative Photography’. Salvatore Antonio Criscillo, born in Australia of Italian parents, arrived in Wellington at the age of two. He had first worked for advertising firm Catts-Patterson, then Studio 57. After going solo he converted the three small rear rooms of the church into a darkroom (west side) and changing room/toilet (east side). He built a cyclorama as a backdrop for photo shoots, spanning the main part of the hall. Around 1979 he enlarged a split-level mezzanine supported by steel beams, which provided further office space. A kitchenette to the east of the front doors and reception area opposite completed the studio. During his tenure in the building he took the cookbook photographs for iconic food writer and television celebrity chef Alison Holst. He was also responsible for the Wool Board’s fashion shoot, among many other commercial assignments. By 1986 David Hamilton was the leaseholder of the premises for his business ‘Yakka/DB Hamilton Photography’, sharing the space with an assortment of other artistic tenants. They occupied the building until 1989. From 1989 Murdoch leased the hall to a number of sound and music artists. The hall already had excellent acoustics, but the tenants also created two sound proofed spaces within the hall as a place to rehearse and record sound and music. Between 1992 and the late 1990s Nick McGowan, a Wellington-based sound recording engineer, worked and lived in the hall with his young family. Between the late 1990s to the early 2000s indie Wellington rock band The Phoenix Foundation used the hall as a rehearsal space. From November 2004 to October 2007 film composers Plan 9 leased the hall as they worked to craft the music for the King Kong film, before relocating to Miramar. Between 2007 to 2009 the hall sat vacant. In May 2009 Murdoch leased the hall to the newly formed ‘Frederick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society’. The Society was founded by Wellington musician, sound engineer, ethnomusicologist, and instrument inventor Daniel Beban. He developed the Chinese Mission Hall (Former) into a music, rehearsal, and performance space where musicians could try out new, experimental ideas ‘that wouldn’t get a look in in other places’. The hall acquired the moniker ‘Fred’s’ and soon became well-established in the Wellington experimental music scene and as the venue for ‘Fredstock’. Snefru Limited, with Director Maurice Clark, purchased the property from the Murdoch family later that year, but the tenancy continued. Fred’s gained a reputation as a fixture in the local music scene and regular performers included the Orchestra of Spheres, Fertility Festival, The Mantarays, The Honkies and Bright Colours. As one attendee explained, ‘what is good about life is happening at Fred’s’. Some musicians shared the music they created there on the YouTube Channel ‘Fred’s TV’. Despite its popularity Fred’s closed in 2012 at the request of Maurice Clark, the hall’s owner. This was due in part to concerns about the safety of the brick structure in an earthquake. The Society continued to rent and perform in the small garage next door also owned by Clark (since demolished), but they relocated to new premises at 272 Taranaki Street in October 2013. In 2013 the hall began being used as a Wellington City branch of the national organisation Menzshed New Zealand. Operating around 120 sheds throughout New Zealand, from Kaitaia to Invercargill, the group ‘brings men together in one community space to share their skills, have a laugh, and work on practical tasks individually … or as a group’. After regular meetings and the completion of a wide assortment of projects the Frederick Street ‘shed’ closed in 2017 due to the ongoing concerns about its earthquake prone status. The club moved to a new premises at Wellington’s Ewart Hospital in Coromandel Street. Around this time the mezzanine was removed and the hall has since sat vacant.

Current Description The Chinese Mission Hall (Former) is located on the northern side of Frederick Street, a narrow street linking Taranaki Street and Tory Street in Wellington’s central suburb of Te Aro. The hall is surrounded on its northern, western and eastern sides by an empty lot, which is under development for an apartment block to provide social housing (and possibly a park) due to be completed in 2023. Between the 1880s and the 1960s, Frederick Street and the parallel Haining Street were the centre of Wellington’s Chinatown. On Frederick Street only the Chinese Mission Hall (Former), the Chinese Masonic Society Building / Tung Jung Association at 2 Frederick Street and the Chee Kung Tong hall at 23 Frederick Street remain as tangible links to the street’s past. The hall is built in a simple Gothic Revival style to a design by nationally significant architect Frederick de Jersey Clere. This ecclesiastic architectural style is a striking contrast to the other buildings on Frederick Street which are utilitarian light industrial, residential, and commercial buildings. Frederick de Jersey Clere designed the building in brick with concrete foundations and a symmetrical façade. The brickwork for the walls is in English bond. Pilasters with minimal decoration are positioned at either corner of the front façade. The central timber front double-door has two steps leading up to it and a fanlight above. The fanlight and the door, sit within a smaller, projecting entrance gable. There are lancet arch windows, each with eight lights, on either side of the door and three smaller lancet arch windows above in the gable of the façade, each comprised of five lights. Above these, at the top of the gable there is a five-sided star shape raised and set within a sunken circle. There is a simple cross fixed to the top of the front gable. The original cross which was fixed above the entrance gable has been removed. The original raised lettering for the signage of ‘Chinese Mission Hall’ is largely gone, only the fragment of ‘NES……M..SION’ still remains. Typical of New Zealand’s Gothic Revival churches, the roof is a relatively steep-pitched gable and there are four main internal timber trusses which support it. It incorporates a clerestory of small, pivoted lancet windows on the western and eastern elevations which admit natural light into the interior. There is a nave with a chancel at the northern end of the hall. It extends out the rear of the building using an arched format echoing the shape of the rest of the building, but on a smaller scale. The roof above this chancel has a lower roof and it has a row of windows on each side. There are two smaller doors at either end of the hall on the western side. Two small rooms, originally with toilets and doors to the outside, flank the chancel. The western one has been roughly blocked up with concrete blocks. The eastern one is blocked by fixed timber. Both are currently (2021) inaccessible. The brickwork of the interior has been plastered with plaster containing lime, sand and cow hair. There is a timber dado and other joinery is fixed to the brickwork with tōtara plugs. There are eight wall ventilators. The mezzanine, added in the mid-1980s and used for office space, has been removed but it has not been painted and where it was fixed to the walls is still evident. A previous tenant describes a small cellar accessed by a trapdoor in the timber floor in the northwest corner of the hall.