THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

New Zealand Tablet, 13 August 1908, Page 11

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

- ' (Contributed.) -•-..: ,\ OTAGO. . . . - -Before the- end' of the eighteenth century,- and about the same time as' the foundation of the -convict settlement of Ne*v South Wales (states a well-known authority),.' - whalers *.;ind sealers began' to" settle in scattered groups along the. New Zealand coast. A whaling station was founded in. Preservation Inlet so early as 1829. -" In 1832 and' 1834 stations were started on Dusky Bay. Other ' stations were- situated- at various points along the coast, at Aparima (Jacobs-R iver), Oreti (New River), Awarua (the- Bluff), Toitoi (Mataura), Waikawa (Catlin's River), Matau (Molyheux), • Moturara Island (Taieri Mouth), Otakdu (Otago^ Heads), Purakanui, Waikouaiti,' and Moeraki.- The station at Otago Heads, under the same proprietary-'as that off the Taieri between 1830 and 1840, employed- from 70 to 80 Europeans at a time, atid this nucleus of a European settlement Was constantly recruited from the American, "French, and English whalers and sealers, that worked the New Zealand coasts. Various published works will give, some idea of the types of men represented -by these whalers. Leading hard and dangerous lives, much given to coarse dissipations, they had (it is recorded) the virtues of courage and generosity highly developed, and they did a great- deal to clear "the way for the higher civilisation that was to follow.' As -regards the Native -population, it is stated that between 2000 and 3000 were settled about Otago Heads in 1836, and about an additional 500 at Purakanui, whilst as many as twelve double canoes were seen in Otago - Harbor at once. The old Maori settlements on the. Upper Harbor, however, had already been deserted, for "the remnants' of the Ngaitahu and Ngatimamoe had long since been broken into scattered bands, attracted to various spots along the coast by the allurements of the whaling stations. The Natives were then, as always, on good terms with the whites, and many of the best whalers on the coast were Maoris and half-castes. But "the vices of civilisation along with diseases and imported disorders soon decimated the Maoris who came in contact with the whalers. From the foregoing brief remarks an idea may be conceived of the conditions obtaining when in 1840 the little' missionary schooner Sancta Maria made the entrance of Otago Harbor conveying the intrepid Bishop Pompallier, the first messenger of the Gospel to come upon the fcene.

When the Sancta Maria was repaired at Akaroa (writes the B lS hop in his diary) I set sail for the Bay of Otago where a considerable number of Natives, resided. Fathers Comte and lesant accompanied me. Goingdown towards Otago with a favorable wind, we ran great danger of shipwreck. The Sancta Maria, whilst sailing along near the entrance to Otago (the coast being still but little known to sailors), ran on some hidden reefs below water, but happily broke nothing. The captain saved her from being wrecked and our lives from the perils oF death by getting her away : , from those rocks' and- out into the open sea, favored by a strong breeze which lifted her off the reefs. Two days afterwards we reached Otago, -.ill safe. The people of the bay had not yet been evangelised by anyone My arrival amongst them had already been announced by the Natives of Banks Peninsula. They received the visit I pa.d them very well, and soon had a fair knowledge of the tenets of religion. During the stay I. made, in Otago I celebrated Mass one Sunday with as much solemnity as possible in a large store that an English Protestant merchant had the goodness- to lend me for the occasion. All. the Native* 'of' the vicinity attended thereat, and some twenty English, French, and American Sr t S °. C T C : ThC ««•»*■ "number of whites '.were ProrSnTc f k Same th6y dJsplaye< * th « g^test'religious SSL, <hC . ce r re^ nies ' the . Church. Two sermons. w« nay, *' °S ? **««* .•"* thcither.in Maori, and one would" have hought that on that day all were Catholics/" " A universal appeal was made for a resident missionary but owing T the to comply. Were ,i possible to. accede to the request mado all these people to-day would have been Catholics ' w«re one European and nWo f - si * Na tira from their -Wbe£

The European was an Irishman by birth, and "a Catholic. He brought with him two of his ~ children*' whom the Bishop, baptised on board the Sancta " Maria. An -.- attempt *to reach the settlements failed * bwih£ to 'contrary weather, conditions, and much lo the disappointment of the messengers, -who were, however, supplied with books of instruction-'- and given- the assurance of spiritual' ministrations as soon as ' practicable. ■ .. After spending five or "six mutually profitable > days among .. the , Natives of Moeraki, to whom the services- of the missionary proposed^ to be stationed in Otago 'were promised, the TJi shop left on his return to Akaroa, taking with him several young- Natives of the better class to be instructed^'by-the Fathers 'there. EARUY" IRISH COLONISTS. \ The. mention of the liishman. from the remoteness "of Foweaux Strait to,, greet Bishop Pompallier proves the saying, that the sons_of Erin are to be found in .all manner of places, -• accessible and apparently inaccessible,, and under all manner of varying circumstances. _ Some, notable instances, may be quoted here, from an interesting series "of articles, under the heading 'The Making of T a : Nation: Beginnings, of "New Zealand Nationality",' written by Mr. Guy H. S.chVlefieid.T which recently . appeared in. the ' Lyttelton Times/ and from which" I am permitted to make -the- following extract:—;, . ' If ever -political despair and economic desperation", extending not- over one year ot^a decade, but over centuries, could drive a people from the land of jts birth and tradition to renew its institutions and its glories under different skies, these motives were present as a goad to the Irish. Possibly there never went forth to the making of new natrons so"- potential a body of men ; such a" force of character and "individuality. Irish ability and common sense hayc-been at the base ot-domocratic institutions ifi -every part -of "the New World"; ' frish bravery try" Have carried entrenchments' of- difficulty and despair unsuspected' T>y soldiers; Irish intellect has been in the Van of culture wherever = leisure has succeeded to the-arduous struggles of-the pioneer. < ■ ' Lieutenant McDonnell, 5a native of- -County Antrirn^and^m^ officer in the "British' Navy,- purchased in 1831 the whaling s btig^,Sir George Murray, which was built at-lHoreke. - He acquirecTat the same time the 4 dockyard at Hokianga, and forthwith sailed--with his wife and family and sfome mechanics, to settle there. - He returned to Sydney in a -few months. -At- a later period ho. surveyed- portions of the New Zealand "coast, giving the name*of McDonnell's Cove to. Port Ahuriri -(Napier). He .developed: his Mew Zealand possessions and interested influential Englishmen in the country. He' afterwards- became;, additional British Resident at Bay of IslaVids.- ■ ■ ,--, 1 The earliest settlement of -Irish in. New Zealand— the Kellys, Lynch?, O'Briens; O'Neills, and Ryans at the- Bay of. Islands and Hokianga in 1836 — in all- probability arrived by way of Sydney, for there was then practically no- intercourse between New Zealand and England. -On the other haridv'-rthelr doyen, . Thomas Poynton, arrived seven-years earlier. • He was a seafarer, and, having married" in Sydney,- settled' down in 1829 at Mangamuka, on the Hokianga River,; where* he followed the occupation o.f a -timber -merchant. H« had a number of children, the eldest of - whom was taken to Sydney- -to be baptised.' (To be continued.)