Henry Williams and the Herald: Their First Visit to Tauranga Moana

Pilot Bay in the 1800s

Image: John Kinder, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga, 1874, 1937/15/46, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Tamaki

On 26th June 2026 the Karuwhā Trust held three events here in Tauranga Moana to commemorate CMS missionary Henry Williams’ first visit. 200 years ago, he arrived on the Herald, a 55-ton schooner captained by Gilbert Mair (senior) [1]. The two of them had helped construct the ship, launched in January 1826, on the beach at Paihia and the prime purpose for its voyage south was to obtain a better food supply for their fellow workers in the north.

Over the next two years Henry and others made at least four visits to Tauranga in the Herald, trading for potatoes.  While here, they were able to broker some peace and bring the good news of the Gospel to this area. They promised to send others to establish a mission station, which did come about in 1835. There were also other voyages undertaken to the Bay of Plenty in the 1830s, but these were in other vessels, as the Herald was unfortunately wrecked (but without loss of life) on the Hokianga bar in 1828. 

 

Dr Samuel Carpenter giving his Karuwhā Trust Lecture 26 June 2026.

Image: Karuwhā Trust

The three events held in June 2026 were very well attended.  The venue for the afternoon lecture by Dr Samuel Carpenter was relocated from the Elms Chapel to the nearby Vintage Car Club rooms to accommodate the demand for ticket sales. This was followed by a short walk to the old mission station and a guided tour for those who were interested in the Te Papa Mission site and its story.

Earlier in the day there had been a mihimihi and karakia at the Mission and Military Cemetery (formerly Otamataha Pā).  In the evening approximately 500 people attended the symposium presided over by Dr Joe Williams at Holy Trinity, where Dr Alistair Reece and others spoke.

Karuwhā Trust Symposium at Holy Trinity, 26 June 2026.

Image: Karuwhā Trust

There have been several previous articles on this website [2] dealing with Henry Williams and his various voyages.  Here I record a few other aspects of his life that I picked up from Dr Carpenter’s lecture and a podcast of an interview with Dr Alistair Reece. 

Henry was born in Gosport, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom in 1792 and rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Following this he became an ordained priest and married Marianne Coldham. In 1823 they were shoulder-tapped by the Church Mission Society to come and help lead the fledgling mission in NZ. They were quite strong and assertive in leadership and the CMS in Pahia began to make headway with the first conversions and baptism of two local Māori in 1830. Henry was strong on the learning of te reo by missionaries and their wives and was very involved in the preparation and signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. He and his brother William were largely responsible for the translation of the New Testament.

Henry Williams and te Kawenata Hou

Left image: Frontispiece, The Early Journals of Henry Williams. Pegasus Press Christchurch. Right image: Title page, first edition New Testament | Kawenata Hou.  https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/1st-Edition-New-Testament-Maori-1837/32152870474/bd

Henry and Marianne had 11 children. One son established Te Aute College, another was a parliamentarian, and a third was appointed a magistrate in the Native Land Court. Two daughters married other missionaries — Octavius Hadfield of Kapiti and Christopher Pearson Davies.  The latter was another connection with The Elms Te Papa. C. P. Davies and his family lived and worked there for seven years.

Notes

[1] The shipwright, not the soldier. See https://wdc.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/4929

[2] These are all by Dr Trevor Bentley and can be found at
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-karere-messenger-and-paihia.html
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-active-and-rev-henry-williams-1832.html
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2021/09/arama-karaka-pi-and-taeopa.html
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2019/04/during-morning-walks-over-mount.html
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2019/06/early-european-vessels-and-visitors-to.html
https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-schooner-trent-and-major-thomas.html

Sources

Karuwhā Trust information online: https://www.karuwha.org.nz/
Dr Samuel Carpenter: I am Henry, lecture and article, 26/6/2026
Dr Alistair Reese podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mu9FvxYCQRMc5ZECo66a4
Voyages of the Herald: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herald_(1826_ship)
Wendy Davies, descendant of Henry William and Christopher Pearson Davies

The Domestic Services Block (The Cottage) at The Elms Te Papa

In colonial times, for safety reasons, settlers often constructed a kitchen separate from the main homestead.  This was certainly the case in the mid-1800s at the Church Missionary Society station (now known as The Elms) on Te Papa peninsula here in Tauranga Moana. The kitchen building and nearby bakehouse were just a few feet from the main house.  In 1877, however, a fire destroyed both, the cause thought to be a candle left burning in the maid’s room when she went over to the house for evening prayers. 

 Due to stupendous efforts of the townsfolk who heard the mission bell ringing urgently and came to assist, putting out the fire and draping wet blankets over the shingles of the house roof, the large wooden home was unscathed. The burnt-out buildings were rebuilt as soon as practical, slightly more distant from the main house.

The replacement bakehouse under construction. Image: John Kinder

There is no way of knowing if the floor plan of the new building was the same as the one it replaced.  Today the domestic services block, as it has sometimes been referred to, consists of four rooms in a row, each with their own exterior door, An internal door connects the first two rooms. One source** quotes the rooms being used as “kitchens, bedrooms and a storeroom.”

 On the death of the second Mrs Brown in 1887 the property passed to her sister Euphemia Maxwell, a widow, and her unmarried daughters Alice and Edith. At this time The Elms consisted of 17 acres of land and most of the dozen or so mission buildings the Browns had purchased from the Church Mission Society over the previous decade. Permanent structures had originally included two houses, two schools, the chapel, Archdeacon Brown’s free-standing library, a storehouse, boathouse, carpenters’ workshop, smithy, and the kitchen building and bakehouse. 

Alice outside the cottage, 14 February 1945.  Image: The Elms Collection

In 1913 subdividing the property created 47 sections.  These were sold over the next few years, reducing the land area around the main house to about 3 acres and providing much needed capital to reroof it and add a kitchenette and bathroom. This enabled Euphemia to live out her days at The Elms in greater convenience until her passing in 1919.  Daughter Edith’s death occurred in 1930. Her sister Alice advertised for live-in help and a couple named Turner came to occupy “the cottage” as the 1877 building had become known. 1945 brought another couple, George and Elsie Lambie, who lived there rent-free in exchange for domestic and gardening help, which included Elsie showing visitors around at times.

When my grandparents Duff and Gertrude Maxwell became life tenants after Alice’s death in July 1949, the Lambies stayed on for a while, but then followed a series of tenants and boarders in the 50s and early 60s. A woman and her 11-year-old son* rented the cottage around 1950 until it was possible to find a home at Mount Maunganui where she had a teaching position. One family did two different stints there a few years apart whilst awaiting the building of their new homes in Ōtūmoetai.

 Gertrude Maxwell’s sister Mildred Huggins was in residence for a few years in the early 60s. A bathroom was added for her in the space between the cottage and the old bakehouse (then in use as a laundry area). Mildred returned to England leaving the cottage free for my uncle, his wife and their first child who spent time there while saving up for their first home.  

Mildred Huggins at home.  Image: julie Green

Finally, in 1971, Auntie Mildred returned from England to ‘retire’.  For the next 20 years she lived in the cottage very happily, mending broken china people brought to her, making marmalade on the old stove set up in the corner of the washhouse and washing her very long white hair in her pink bathroom. Mercifully the place was not burnt down again - she had a habit of placing logs in the fire that were too long and gradually feeding them in as the end burnt away. Six years before her passing she moved into a rest home. Several members of the extended family then lived in the cottage at various times.

 By the early 1990s both the main house and cottage were no longer occupied.  The Elms Foundation, which took over the property, began to use the room nearest to the house as an office.  The infill addition, containing the extra bathroom, was demolished. Thus the two buildings (the first kitchen and the old bakehouse) were separated once more. 

The bathroom addition in 1999.  Image: Julie Green

Currently the building is used by the management of The Elms Foundation as offices, a reception area and a base for the visitor guides. There is a very educational laundry display in the “Mangle room” and the Dairy is complete with original shelving for the display of milk pans  and butter making equipment. These two rooms are unlined, showing their interesting construction details, including the old wooden shakes, which remain under the corrugated iron roof.

 Acknowledgements

*This informal record was inspired by meeting the widow and daughter of the 11 year old lad. They visited The Elms recently to ascertain if the story they had heard from him was true.  We were able to confirm that it was.

**I referred to Sarah Ell’s book, ‘The Spirit of a Place’ to confirm some details to add to my recollections.

Tauranga School

Tauranga School, c. 1890-1892
Carte de visite format albumen print by Stewart Bros., Tauranga
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-502

Tauranga School was first established as a Missionary School in 1835, on the site where the Elms now stands, as part of the missionary plan to educate young Maori. Soon after her arrival at Te Papa in August of that year, Sarah Wade, the wife of Reverend William Wade, started her school with 30 female students.

Tauranga School, c. 1905
Black-and white silver gelatin print, by unidentified photographer
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-493

By 1860 a two-storied gable building, with a belfry designed by Bishop Selwyn, was opened. This was to become a Mission Training Institute for sixty young Maori children. Owing to the conflict between Maori and Europeans, this closed in 1863 and was used as a hospital during the Gate Pa battles, eventually reopening as a school around 1866, with Mrs Dalziell as the teacher and fifty pupils on the roll. Not on a salary, in those days the teacher had to charge fees. When the Central Education Board took over the operation of the school in 1871 Mrs Dalziell was paid forty pounds a year with the community expected to match this.

In 1872 the school was moved onto land bounded by St John Street, Tenth Avenue and Edgecumbe Road, and officially opened on December 14^th as the Opepe Memorial and District School, known as No. 1 School. A soiree which appears to have consisted of a substantial tea followed by a concert was held. Those responsible for the function proudly announced that they had a proper road laid out to the school from Cameron Road, opposite Mr. Darby’s house.

Tauranga School, c. 1909-1913
Silver gelatin postcard print, photographed by R.W. Meers, Tauranga
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0251/09

In 1873 the School Committee recommended that the Tauranga School district was to be comprised of the area within a radius of three miles from the school house. The Education Act 1877 established free, compulsory education for all Pakeha New Zealand children. Maori children could attend these schools if their parents wanted them to. Primary school education was made compulsory for Maori children in 1894.

In March 1878 a donation of seven pounds was made by the Dramatic Club and used to erect three substantial swings for the boys and girls. It was also decided that a competitive examination should be held at the end of the year, with prizes to be given at the annual festival. A magnificent copy of the Life of David Livingstone was also to be presented to the pupil most deserving of a reward for good conduct and proficiency. Under the new Education Act, provision was to be made for singing and drawing lessons. In order to obtain a library the school needed to raise fifty pounds and the government would supplement the grant with another fifty pounds. In June 1880 the Board of Education granted a sum of fifteen pounds for planting, repairing and painting.

 

Tauranga District High School, c. 1913-1915
Silver gelatin postcard print, photographed by W.T. Wilson, Auckland
Collection of Justine Neal

It was a long walk for small children from the more populated northern area of the town, so in 1880 the School Committee pressed for a second school at the Harington Street/Cameron Road corner – No. 2 School. After much heated discussion throughout the town, which included the resignation of the whole committee, their wish was granted, and by 1886 Tauranga had two schools.

By 1896, rather than do the extensive renovations needed on the No. 1 School, the committee suggested that it be demolished and that the No. 2 School be moved from Harington Street to a central site and enlarged. On March 13 1899 the Bay of Plenty Times ran an advertisement saying tenders were required for a post and wire fence around the boundaries of the Tauranga School Reserve, and for the erection of a shelter shed on the Tauranga School grounds.

The site of No. 2 School, Cameron Road, Tauranga, undated
Unmounted silver gelatin print (68 x 90mm) by an unidentified photographer
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0449/08

It took eight years but eventually the No. 2 School replaced the No.1 School at Tenth Avenue. One more move six years later saw the much travelled school settled on the site where Tauranga Primary School stands today. At the time of all the moves Cameron Road was shell-paved and hilly. Bullock teams took weeks to move the tall buildings on huge drays with wooden wheels and axles. The original school provided seven classrooms, two large enclosed porches, headmaster’s study and staffroom. Children were taught up to primer seven. Secondary education was not provided until 1907 when District High School status was conferred on the school.

References

A Centennial History of Tauranga, by W.H. Gifford and H. Bradney Williams, publ. 1940

Tauranga 1882- 1982, edited by A.C. Bellamy, publ. 1982

Brown and the Elms, by C.W. Vennell, publ. 1984

Tauranga School Centennial, 1871- 1971, publ. 1971

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers

Tauranga Primary School Website https://www.tauranga.school.nz/our-school

Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Koroki https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/

Tauranga Heritage Collection https://view.taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz/