Art Stuff - Abandoned Church Otuhianga Rd Matakohe Northland NZ from my visual diary
I did this last year during a wet miserable winters day when my lifelong friend of thirty years Lisa aka Timespanner and I went for a trip to Dargaville to visit the museum. Not much is known about this little lonely church now abandoned to the elements. Eventually it will fall down from disrepair. Somehow though for all these decades the little church has held out against the sun wind and rain. Sheep graze around its foundations and hardboard has replaced the long since broken glass panes. I'll be back there again to draw it once more over the summer. It holds its own mysteries and stories which is why I love it so much.
Madbush - it will now survive on your sketch pad even if it disappears. In the future people will look at your drawing and wonder where the church was. We have a corner near us called Parsons Barn corner - that barn disappeared about fifty years ago but the name lives on.
ReplyDeleteHi Weaver. I love old barns especially those over in England. Thanks for your wise words. You're right it will survive on the pad perhaps a few times where drawings go. I'm going to find out more about it just so I have a history.
ReplyDeleteLiz
That's so awesome, I love our country's old churches scattered around new zealand, they're a true part of our vintage kiwiana.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to find out more. It's supposedly a Ratana Church but no-one is really certain. I love old run down buildings.
ReplyDeleteTimespanner's response:
ReplyDeletehttp://timespanner.blogspot.com/2008/11/old-church-in-northland.html
I'm sitting on your blog in another tab Ice. Thank you!!! Now i"ll have to edit this post and link over to your photos. Awesome and St Ninians Images are fantastic as well.
ReplyDeleteYour wildlife paintings are very nice and I have enjoyed visiting your Farm.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful children and a beautiful spirit about you.
Blessings,
Leslie
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteWonderful that you enjoyed coming over to visit. I've just visited your blog. Wonderful to visit yours.
Thank you for your great words.
Blessings too
Liz
This church...started life as a place of Anglican worship for a group of Te Rarawa, who had migrated to Parirau to find work in the nearby gumfields and forests.
ReplyDeleteKnown as Zion Church, it was the second Anglican church built on this site on Otuhianga Road and its dedication in April 1889 is well documented in the Anglican Church Gazette for May 1889:
'Parirau, Kaipara. – New Maori Church. –It is several years ago that the Maories of Parirauewha, Kaipara, commenced collecting funds wherewith to build a new church, their old one having become dilapidated. They are a colony of the Rarawa tribe from Whangape, Herekino, and Ahipara, and as they had to purchase the land they occupy from the European settlers, they have had a hard struggle to acquire the means for attaining their object. By steady exertion they have succeeded, and are now in possession of a house of prayer of which no English community need be ashamed. The building will accommodate 130 worshippers, and is complete in every detail. The cost, with furniture, was £198, and on the evening of the opening day, not only were all the liabilities defrayed, but there was a small balance to credit...'
The church served the Anglican congregation at Parirau until the 1930s when it was transferred to the Ratana congregation. It is currently closed for restoration and the local restoration committee is seeking funds for this work.
Hi Christopher yes! Thank you so much for the information. I've also found a full article on the opening of the church. There isn't much in Papers Past but we have the builder and we have an account of the opening service and who attended. Also a great description of the building. It's very important to Kaipara History. I wasn't certain at the time but now you've confirmed that it is Parirau so now I can fill in some gaps in my notes on the building; Thanks so much for the information much appreciated.
ReplyDelete