Early History
Aria lies within the traditional rohe of the iwi Ngāti Maniapoto. The region was heavily forested with rivers and other waterways being prominent features and was traditionally known as Te Nehenehenui, the great forest. Archaeological records identify a number of pā sites in the area around Aria, particularly concentrated around the Mōkau River. Wāhi Tapu sites identified by Ngāti Maniapoto in the wider landscape around Aria include Wairere and Rangikōhua. Hapū who occupied the area in 1840 included Ngāti Te Paemate and Ngāti Waiora. Following the New Zealand Wars and the battle of Ōrākau in 1864, the Kīngitanga, led by King Tāwhiao, were forced to retreat into Maniapoto territory. The region was closed to Pākehā and the Crown, including all surveying, between 1866 and 1883 and became known as Te Rohe Pōtae, King Country.
From the early 1890s Crown land agents, facilitated by the Native Land Court, aggressively acquired land in Te Rohe Pōtae. The Crown established settlements under the Improved Farm Settlement Act 1894 along the planned future routes of the North Island Main Trunk railway, including Aria in 1903. Most of the early settlers at Aria were single men who had formerly been employed by the Public Works Department to work on the railway. By 1913 the township was well established with “three stores, two large boarding houses, two billiard rooms”, a school, saleyards and a cooperative dairy company as well as a number of dwellings and farms around the village.
Christianity at Aria
Missionaries had first travelled to Te Nehenehenui in the 1830s where they had established a number of mission stations before leaving due to the rising hostilities between Māori and Pākehā and subsequent outbreak of war. Christianity remained influential in Te Rohe Pōtae during the later nineteenth century. King Tāwhiao established Tariao, subsequently known as Pai Mārire in 1875 and also invited Heta Tarawhiti to establish an Anglican mission in Te Rohe Pōtae in 1877. As European settlements became established by the early twentieth century, the Anglican Church of New Zealand formed new parishes and parochial districts to minister pastoral care to these growing communities. In the earliest years of the Aria settlement Anglican pastoral care was provided by the vicar of Te Awamutu. In 1910 Aria was included in the newly constituted Te Kuiti Parochial District with its first official service on 1 October 1911. The following year saw the Auckland Diocese appoint a stipendiary lay reader for Aria and Piopio and purchase land at Aria for an Anglican church. This would be the third church in the area joining Hato Hohepa built 1907 and a Catholic church built 1910, and a Presbyterian church would also be constructed at the settlement.
Creation of St Barnabas’ Church
While the original site for the church was reportedly intended to be near the centre of the town, the congregation – in particular A J Keighley – felt the church should be on higher ground overlooking the settlement. In 1917, Sec 2 Suburbs of Aria, a four acre section immediately south of the smaller town sections, was transferred to the Auckland Standing Committee Trust Board on behalf of the Anglican Diocese. The early planning for the new church had been interrupted by the First World War during which time many of the young men from the district left to serve overseas, including 50 from Aria alone. In 1919, after Bishop Averill visited Aria to perform the first confirmations and consecrate the Anglican portion of the cemetery, planning for the church resumed and a small Gothic Revival church building was subsequently designed by C. Palmer of Auckland. Over the next two years the congregation raised £430 for construction of the church meaning that it was debt free upon opening. In January 1923 the church committee accepted a tender from Arthur Buckman who had just completed building a church hall in Piopio. The foundation stone was laid on 27 February 1923 by Bishop Averill and the completed church was consecrated a year later on 19 February 1924.
The Church was built from tōtara and heart rimu timber and was large enough for 70 parishioners. It was aligned on an east-west axis with a belfry, a porch at the western end and a large gothic window in the eastern wall. Like many rural churches, it had a relatively simple exterior with vertical board and batten cladding, incorporating gothic features such as a steeply pitched roof and four lancet windows on each side. Internally the church was vertically lined with 10ft oiled rimu timbers and had a dais at the eastern end at the top of three wide steps with the communion rail recessed on the second step. The church featured restrained decoration with shaped timber rafter brackets and prominent timber architraves around each window. Under the supervision of F. Elwood Buckman also made the seats and fitting for the church. Gothic Revival architecture was an important architectural style in colonial New Zealand and was commonly used for Anglican churches although use of the style waned after the nineteenth century. In the post-war period fewer Pākehā churches were being constructed as communities turned to building war memorials making St Barnabas one of a smaller number of churches dating from this period.
The first service in St Barnabas’ was held the evening immediately following its opening with an address from the Bishop and eight confirmations. The church was soon in regular use for Sunday and mid-week services, weddings, baptisms, confirmation classes and funerals.
Parochial District of Piopio cum Aria (1927-1972)
By 1926 the growing number of parishes and districts in the Auckland Diocese had become administratively unwieldly and the Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki was established. St Barnabas formed part of the new Diocese and in also became part of the newly constituted Parochial District of Piopio cum Aria in August 1927. The district was run by a central vestry based in Piopio with members from both St Barnabas in Aria and St Albans in Piopio, however St Barnabas maintained a degree of independence and ran their church with as little input from Piopio as they could. One of the longstanding Aria members of the vestry was Kathleen Reeve-Smith who received a M.B.E. in 1967 ‘for community services for many years’. As well as assisting the priest in charge with the day to day running of St Barnabas, Reeve smith hosted vestry meetings at her home and, after many years representing Aria both locally and at Anglican synods, resigned from the vestry in 1972. She was later described as exerting ‘more influence on the parish than any other single lay person’. Her community service also included being on the Waikato Hospital Board and in the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers.
The church often struggled to raise sufficient funds as the population of the district rose and fell between the 1920s and 1970s. The Aria Ladies Guild was an important source of fundraising for the church and the guilds in both towns were vital in keeping the parochial district solvent although the district was financially supported by the Diocese during the Second World War. Some money was also raised by renting out the large paddock around St Barnabas to local farmers. The services at St Barnabas’ were said to be well attended during the 1950s with a small but constant congregation and it was said to be the stronger part of the parish. The planned branch of the North Island Main Trunk Railway that had been intended to run through the Aria district which would have turned the dairying settlement into a service town had not eventuated and many families moved away to other centres. Returned servicemen were heavily involved in the running of the district and worked during the 1950s to preserve the parochial district which was renamed in 1958 to the Parochial District of Piopio-Aria.
From the 1950s the St Barnabas congregation undertook a number of alterations of the church. In 1953 a vestry was added to the western side of the church. The extension was paid for from funds raised locally. A heating point was added in 1956 and in October 1958 a working bee was held to create a carpark by the road in front of the church and plant shrubs around the building. Also during 1958, the ladies guild made new hangings for the chancel and needlework for the altar, prayer desk, lectern, and bookmarkers were made by Mrs Jannet. In 1960 a concrete path was laid from the gate to the porch and the church roof was painted and the belfry was removed. Olga Weeks, a member of the congregation painted and gifted to St Barnabas an oil painting recreation of William Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World. After discussion with the Diocese, the painting was blessed and placed on the west wall of the church in December 1961 although the committee originally wanted to hang it by the altar. In October 1966 the most substantial changes to the building interior were completed with the widening of the doorway from the porch into the church and additions of new bookshelves in the porch to create space for an additional row of seating.
Cooperating Parish of Piopio-Aria-Mokau (1975 – twenty-first century)
On Whitsunday in 1966, in a sign of changes to come, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations of Aria joined the St Barnabas congregation for their first combined service. Reverend John Spear encouraged cooperation with the other Protestant denominations due to low congregation numbers and by 1975 it had been noted that the ‘people of the district’ were ‘combined in every way except worship. On 1 July 1975 the Cooperating Parish of Piopio-Aria was formally established with combined services for the different Christian denominations. The formation of a cooperating parishes pooled church resources which supported the ongoing provision of pastoral care for small communities. The parish expanded to take in the Mission District of Mōkau in 1981. While St Barnabas’ maintained a regular congregation in the cooperating parish, service times were changed and the frequency of services was reduced in efforts to increase church attendance at Aria however these were reported to be unsuccessful.
Restoration of St Barnabas
While some maintenance of St Barnabas continued with some painting of the church and gardening including new planting being recorded in 1982, other maintenance issues were deferred. The congregation turned down the offer to expand the building with portions from the recently replaced St Albans church building in 1984 and, with a congregation of 10 regular worshipers a decade later, there were concerns that sufficient funds couldn’t be raised for the necessary repair works. Consequently, a recommendation was sent to the Parish Council that ‘serious consideration be given to the closure of St Barnabas’ church and it’s removal’ in 1994.
In the face of the imminent closure of the church, the wider Aria community rallied to save the place and formed the St Barnabas Restoration Committee. The committee contacted all householders in the district who then pledged $2,730 as well as cement, timber, voluntary labour as well as further offers of fundraising support. In light of the wider community’s efforts, the Parish Council gave their blessing for the restoration of the building. Fundraising methods included bake sales, an annual raft race on Mōkau River, and garden bus tours with commentary on the history of Aria. With the success of these events the church was able to be repiled and repainting within two years and the church roof was replaced in 2004. In 2019 a small kitchenette was added to the vestry in the porch, an outdoor portable toilet and water tank were added on the south side of the porch and continued maintenance such as replacing rotten timbers was carried out.
