100 Years Ago Bishop Selwyn Landed In N.Z.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 126, 30 May 1942, Page 6

100 Years Ago Bishop Selwyn Landed In N.Z.

QNE hundred years ago to-day there arrived in Auckland one who was to contribute more to the growth and development of New Zealand than any other person who ever came to these shores. He was horn at Hampstead on April 5, 1809, just a few years before the Battle of Waterloo.

By Rev. C. W. Chandler

rto5 e ? rge -Augustus Selwyn descended from an ancient family His fo rea i if,nln^ ra r dfatl ] er - was admitted veai^nfFMwh during the 26th year ot Elizabeth s reign. His ereatgrandfather was some time Governor maiCa ' while . his grandfather was Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn His father, William Selwyn was the Instructor of Prince Albert in thl Constitution and Law of his adopted in°T ß^ y 'w and ' atthe timeSfhtodSg in 1805, was senior Queen's Counsel. ca^e f ir r vl distinguished scholastic rvTrfrrL- u as P rie sted in St. George s, Hanover Square in On October 17, 1841. he 'was con' of C r a t mph' Shop the Arc hbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of thTnh"' { jin , c ? ln and Barbados, in the chapel of Lambeth Palace Nine days later he took his D.D. degree nv£ a 7 lbrid , ge ' whilst Portly after See Conferred on him the same

Five Months' Voyage At the early age of 34 he was to found the See of New as iS'S 3 count ry wherein, as late as 1828, cannibalism was rife amongst its native inhabitants. On board the Tomatin he set sail for New Zealand on Boxing Day, 1841 His fellow-passengers included two S a '!J s ' Mr. Cotton and Mr. Whytehead, three missionary clergy named Cole Dudley and Reay; Niiiul' Messrs. Butt, Evans and Nihill, a schoolmaster, and a schoolmistress, and, last but not least, the ori * a d> Rupai, who became a livir>g grammar and lexicon for the Maon langTjage. Wh " e lMrni "*

Remarkable is the fact recorded by the Bishop, that through all the journey, which occupied over five sea voyaging, not a single Sunday service was interrupted by foul weather. It was on board this arv 1 h?«h i that h his great missionary bishop learned something about navigation, in readiness for occasions when he was to steer his own vessel, the Southern Cross, around the widely scattered islands of his huge missionary diocese.

Leaving Sydney, where they had tZZf 1 ° n A P ri !, l4 . 1842, on another t£T f i- a *1™ brig na med the Joristonan, this grand shaper of New Zealand s history, with his wife the rest of the party and the crew arrived in Auckland, 100 years ago y ' ,? fter having sighted "The Three Kings " North Cape and the Bay of Islands during the there previous days. His first episcopal act was to kneel on the sand and give thanks to God for a safe voyage to these shores.

Cathedral Site Because houses had already been prepared for the bishop's party at Waimate, it was there that Selwyn chose to establish his headquarters, rhere ' fettered by no usages, subject to no fashions, and influenced by no expectations of other men," he took that course which seemed best, and pursued it with unobtrusive perseverance. With wooden stumps tied to his insteps with native flax, because his feet were badly blistered (his last pair of thick boots being worn out), he borrowed a horse and started out on January 3, 1843, to Mr. Hamlin's Mission Station on Manukau Harbour Arriving there at 7 a.m., he breakfasted, and then sailed in Hamlin s boat a distance of 10 miles to Onehunga, across Manukau Harbour, "a noble sheet of water." From there he trudged six miles on foot to Auckland, taking back streets wherever possible, on account of his ragged appearance. He arrived at the judge's house at 2 p.m "Passing over land which I have bought for the site of the Cathedral," he recorded in his diarv, "a spot which I hope may hereafter be traversed by the feet of many bishops, better shod and far less ragged than myself." It is a noble site for a large building, overlooking the whole town, and with a sea view stretching out over the numerous islands of the Gulf of Hauraki."

This Is the very site whereon, not many years hence, the Church in the Diocese of Auckland hopes to erect the noble edifice already planned. It will stand as a permanent memorial to the work of George Augustus Selwyn.

Zeal and Tenderness A final word upon the character of this man, and that, for the most nart, In the words of one of his bestknown biographers, the Rev. H. W. Tucker, M.A. The Bishon's career was singularly simnle: "He was a stranger to all double-dealing, and his m'nd and conscience recoi'"d from diplomacy and finesse. He had the courage of his opinions. He was fearless and outspoken, and yet so gentle in the use of language, that in all his voluminous correspondence. not one word or phrase can be found that is not couched in the terms of love.

"He had the fervid zeal of St. Paul, and the tenderness which earned for Barnabas the title of the "Son of Consolation." While he had the asceticism of St. John the Baptist, he had also imbibed ihe spirit of the Beloved Disciple. He was hard and exacting, it was often said, and not untruly: he never praised men for doing their duty, and to none was he harder than he was to himself. "Brought up in the most aristocratic and luxurious school, he ever trained himself to endure hardness as a condition of useful service for God; the raiment of camel's hair and the leathern girdle seemed to him more appropriate to the calling of the evangelist of the nineteenth century than purple and fine linen and sumptuous fare."