OVERLOOKING THE MISSION SITE. THE SMALL PURIRI RIVER MEANDERS TOWARDS THE WAIHOU RIVER PAST THE CLUMP OF TREES IN THE MIDDLE DISTANCE OF THIS PICTURE. THE LARGER WAIHOU RIVER RUNS LEFT TO RIGHT IN THE DISTANCE. LOOKING WEST FROM HILLS c1990.
[Look at the rest of the Preece story by following the link to the Index page.]
The Bay of Islands missionaries had long planned to establish stations further to the south. However inter-tribal warfare meant that new ventures were impossible. As it was, the men put themselves in danger when trying to bring about peace.
In October 1833 Rev Henry Williams and three fellow missionaries left the Bay of Islands on yet another exploratory journey southward. They sailed into the Firth of Thames and then on up the Waihou River as far as Te Aroha, eventually reaching Matamata.
They had stopped at a village of the Ngatimaru people situated on the Puriri Stream on the way south, and then again on the return journey.
[In 1821 the Ngatimaru fortified pa at Te Totara had been sacked by the Ngapuhi under Hongi. There had been great loss of life and the area was still tapu. Hongi died in 1828.]
The Ngatimaru were gathered at Puriri, their summer home, in great numbers. The missionaries decided to make Puriri the site of the "Southward" mission and arranged for three native houses to be prepared. The appointed spot was at the upper limit of the tide, on a bend, and adjacent to a ford.
Following their return to the Bay of Islands, committee meetings were held to select personnel for the new station. Although the Preeces were not at first chosen, to their delight they found themselves on the schooner "Fortitude" sailing southwards towards Puriri. It was late December, the weather fine and pohutukawa blossom at the water's edge making the journey memorable.
The ship carried timber and stores for the new station. Also on board were the Rev William Williams, the Rev William Yate and Catechist John Morgan and thirty East Cape Maori who were to be returned to their homes. The ship anchored off the mouth of the Waihou River.
The "Fortitude" began to land the stores as close as possible to Puriri. Meanwhile Williams and Yate took a small boat and began to explore some of the villages a little to the north.
William William's Report to the CMS recorded his impressions. It was Christmas Day 1833:
Mr Yate and myself left the vessel this morning at five o'clock. The River Thames is perhaps the largest in this Island. Its banks are occupied by four principal tribes. The Ngatipaoa who live on the banks of the river nearest the sea, is the most powerful... The next tribe live pricipally at Kaweranga and Kopu, fifteen miles further up the river, where it suddenly narrows from about fifteen miles to about three-quarters of a mile. Ten miles further up reside Ngatimaru, among whom the Mission Settlement is about to be formed. About twenty miles higher up are the Ngatitamatera.
... We landed at Tararu, one of the residences of the Ngatipaoa. This little village is in a romantic situation, on a small tract of land at the water's edge, having a fine range of mountains in the back-ground, covered with every variety of foliage, while several deep ravines contribute to make the scenery truly sublime. The Chief Hauahauru received us with much civility. We spoke to about seventy natives, and after taking breakfast, we proceeded onward...
At Kopu the missionaries found four European traders, and after visiting their houses, turned up river towards Puriri. William William's report contimues:
The country, for many miles, is flat on either side, rising but a few feet above the level of the bed of the river. The land appears to be exceedingly rich, and, on one side, is clothed in dense forest of white pine, called kahikatea.A little before dusk we arrived at Puriri, the principal residence of the Ngatimaru. The spot selected for the Station is on an extensive plain of very flat land and possesses many advantages as an abode for Missionaries. There is a goodly number of natives living on the spot; the place is central as regards to the other tribes of the Thames; and it is only two days' journey from Tauranga.
We were much pleased with the first appearance of the Natives. The men were, many of them, busily employed upon the houses for the missionaries. There are three in a state of forwardness, and they are far the best pieces of native workmanship I have seen in this land.
The missionaries pitched their tents in the fading light and after a meal, began their evening prayer service. About one hundred Maori were gathered around in the moonlight, and to the missionaries' delight, many joined in the prayers and hymns. Unfortunately mosquitos plagued the travellers. Puriri proved to be unsuitable for the newcomers in many other ways.
While unloading the schooner continued, Williams and Yate proceeded up river and then overland towards Tauranga. Morgan and the Preeces were left to start work on the Station. Catechists William Fairburn and John Wilson arrived in their newly built longboat (45 foot long and 7 foot wide) the "Kukupa" shortly after the "Fortitude" reached Puriri. They had been delayed by Fairburn's illness. Fairburn and Wilson returned to the Bay of Islands once the stores were landed. In April the "Fortitude" returned bringing the Rev A N Brown and family and also the Wilson and Fairburn families.
Meanwhile the mission buildings were gradually being put into some order with the addition of floors, doors, glazed windows, chimneys. A perimeter fence kept in the mission stock (ducks, hens, rabbits) and local dogs and pigs (and the "overcurious") out. A weatherboard store was built adjacent to the "landing place". A chapel and flag-pole bearing the mission's Rongo Pai flag completed the initial stage.
On his return from Tauranga, William Williams was pleased to find that schools had begun. About sixty male and thirty-six females, aged from flour to sixty years attended.
THIS DAGUEROYPE PHOTOGRAPH OF JAMES PREECE WAS PROBABLY TAKEN MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS LATER, WHEN JAMES WAS IN HIS FIFTIES. IT SHOWS A VIGOROUS MAN. MISSIONARIES WERE NOT THE TIRED ILL OLD MEN OF LATER PHOTOGRAPHS.
In the absence of clergy, James Preece was in charge of the Mission. He was able to converse in Maori. He held classes in Puriri and in many neighbouring villages during the week, and on Sundays conducted services.
Mary Ann taught reading, sewing and domestic skills in the girls' school. She was assisted by other mission wives and by Tini, a high-born woman of Ngatimaru, wife of Tara Whati. (At one time Tini saved James Preece's life.) One of the first undertakings was to sew blue calico dresses for all the women. They were not permitted to attend school without clothes.
Marnie Spicer recounted the story of Aotuiata, a Maori woman of high birth from the Bay of Islands, who accompanied the Preece family to Puriri. She lived with the family and helped with household duties. She married one of the Mission's boat crew.
Many missionary men and their families came to Puriri. It was a staging post for other stations. At various times the Morgan, Wilson, Brown, Fairburn, Stack, Knight, Flatt, Maunsell and Hamlin families, as well as the Preeces, were at Puriri.
Children born at Puriri, include Hawker Wilson, Harriett and Eliza Preece, a son of James Stack (James West Stack) and probably others [who are waiting to be discovered].
In 1835 Preece and Fairburn were instrumental in purchasing the estimated 500 acre Te Puriri Block for the CMS to the value of £300. Payment included sixteen blankets, sixteen iron pots, twelve axes, twelve adzes, eighteen spades, four shirts, twelve handkerchiefs, eighteen pounds of tobacco, seventy-two pipes, twenty-four scissors, twenty-four combs, twelve knives, six razors, one hundred fish-hooks, twenty plane irons, and twenty dollars. Twenty-five Maori attested the document, and four European and two Maori witnesses, Hamiora Pepene and Hemi Pepene, added their names.
Names on the Deed of Sale were: Tuma, Tahu, Tahuru, Tini, Takutai, Weta, Tokatupua, Rangihiroa, Maruwanaunga, Manoko, Awio, Waumahi, Reiroa, Rawea, Taranahia, Maunganoa, Riri, Taripo, Hana, Tohi, Tuangahuru, Noihina, Hou, Hauwenua and Matapihi.
A DRAWING OF PURIRI MISSION STATION AS IT WAS IN 1836, APPEARED IN WILLIAM WADE'S BOOK "JOURNEY IN THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND". LILA SPICER MADE A COPY OF THE SCENE
Puriri Station was not a healthy place. The chosen site was too low lying and wet. In summer the heat was stifling. Disease and its after-effects sapped the strength of the misssionaries. Many of the children were dangerously ill. Apart from their ever-present medical chest and books, there was no help closer than the Bay of Islands.
It was 1833, seven years before the Treaty of Waitangi, and Auckland did not exist.
James Preece continued his work as well as he was able while suffering the prostrating effects of illness. As well as managing the day to day work at Puriri, he regularly visited villages at a distance, holding schools and services. Places on his 1835 visitation list included Kopu, Matapari, Kauwaeranga, Karaka, Waiotahi, Paru, Waimoteronga, Puru, Waiomu, Rangiora and Mangarahi.
At Puriri the romantic scene of missionaries hard at work amongst peaceful tribes was immediately shadowed by the threat of attack from Matamata. However, after many "alarms" expansion of the mission continied. New stations were opened at Matamata and Mangapouri, another on Lake Rotorua, and also at Tauranga.
By 1836 everything was in ruin.
Apart from threats and skirmishes which were almost continuous in the area, fighting began in earnest in 1835, when Huka of the Ngatiwakaua of Rotorua murdered Hunga, a close relative of Te Waharoa of Ngatihaua at Matamata. Immediately, tribal allegiances involved the whole area in fighting.
By stages the mission families were forced to return to the relative safety of Puriri, while the men where possible, remained at their posts. Most were in great danger. Some missionaries were roughly handled "stripped" and beaten, and their mission goods "carried away" by opposing factions. A great cannibal feast was held in the grounds of the Tauranga Station. Rotorua station was burnt to the ground. By the Grace of God, none of the Europeans was killed. Tragically one Maori girl Tarore from the Matamata school, daughter of Ngakuku, was killed at Wairere Falls while on the way to safety.
THE BEND IN THE RIVER ADJACENT TO THE MISSION SITE 1989. THE MISSION SETTLEMENT WAS PROBABLY SITUATED NEAR THE POPLAR TREES WHICH CAN BE SEEN BEHIND THE SHED. THE CAR IS PARKED ON STATION ROAD.
Puriri was soon overcrowded with refugees. To relieve the pressure James Preece began immediately to build at Parawai near the present town of Thames, where a site for a new station had been selected. Catechist William Fairburn began to construct his new station at Maraetai, on the Waitemata Harbour.
Most of the mission's stores which had been kept at Puriri were returned to the Bay of Islands for safe-keeping. The Puriri store was dismantled.
Preece moved his family to Parawai mission early in 1837. The house and buildings were unfinished, and remained in this state for many years. In July 1837 Fairburn moved his family to Maraetai. Most of the outlying mission stations were re-opened.
Everything from the Puriri Mission was removed for use elsewhere. The land was rented out. Before long the Puriri Mission was only a memory.
The site was visited in 1865. There was no sign of it ever having been a settlement, apart from a profusion of white lilies and multiflora in bloom and a few large willow trees. "It is just a green spot ... in the midst of a great waste of swamp".
More than one hundred years passed. The swamp has been turned into pasture. It is still not possible to be sure of the mission site.
In the summer of 1991/92, archaeological excavations along the Puriri River were made prior to the destruction of the site by darinage ditches and stop-banks. There was much evidence of pre-european Maori sites and more recent European occupation at the site of the old landing place. Nothing was found to pin-point the site of the mission buildings.
Look at other parts of the Preece story by following the link to the Index page. [Updated 10.12.2004.]
THE BEND IN THE RIVER BELOW THE MISSION SITE c1989
