Patea Wesleyan Mission Station established 1844
Rev John Skevington had established a Wesleyan Methodist Mission Station at Heretoa on the Waimate Plains near Manaia in 1842, and Patea was included in the vast territory he covered in his ministry. In April 1844 William Hough was appointed to be the first European Missionary stationed at Patea. Arthur Fryer writes in ‘Missionary Wives’ that the Mission Station was situated on the Whenuakura side of the Patea River in the flat area below the cliffs, known at Raumano. But it is thought that they may have lived on the clifftop above at Haere Hau Pa. William lived on this exposed point in a raupo hut with his wife Ann and 6 young children for four years, until their two youngest sons died of whooping cough. They are buried at Heretoa, Manaia.
In January 1848 the unmarried, 27 year old, Thomas Skinner arrived in Patea to replace William & Ann Hough. Very few Europeans were in the area in these early days. Thomas was apparently one of the Mission’s most fluent speakers of the Maori language and was very comfortable with the culture. By this stage the Patea Mission Station had relocated to higher ground on the other side of the river, on what is now the site of Brian Headley’s house at 32 Norfolk Street. Rev T.G. Hammond’s book “In the Beginning” written in 1915, helped us locate the site of the 2nd Mission Station: ‘He resided in the vicinity of the present town of Patea just where Mr Willis’s house now stands, probably to take advantage of a spring of water near Mr J.A. McKenna’s present residence.” Mr James McKenna’s home in 1915 was where Derryn Gunn lives today, at 25 Norfolk St. And there was a spring flowing from a bank at Brian Headley’s house when he bought it 40 years ago. The spring has since dried up due to drainage being diverted on the streets nearby. Livingston Baker’s research papers state that the Mission Station overlooked Mr McCardles workshop (Gunn’s Panelbeater’s), which Brian’s front lawn indeed does.
Great Great Granddaughter of Thomas Farenden Skinner; Trish Rossiter from Waikanae is in the process of writing a book about this fascinating man in her family’s history, and is spending the next few months travelling the north island with her husband Martin, to all the mission stations Thomas lived at. After only 6 months in Patea Thomas was sent to the Taupo region to establish the first Mission Station in that area. Thomas he went on to marry Hannah Chiffinch Taylor after he left Patea. Trish has their marriage certificate dated 1851. They were married by William Woon at Heretoa. Their final posting was to a Mission Boarding School in Hokianga. Thomas’s health had been deteriorating for some time and he died of ‘heart disease’ in 1866 at the age of 45, leaving a young wife and 7 children.
It was quite something to stand in the spot where Thomas stood 171 years ago, overlooking the Patea River, & a much changed scene on the landscape, and imagine how it was back then for this brave, adventurous man, who knew our town as a much different place.
Military Garrison 1865
Ian Church writes a concise account of early European settlement in the Patea area is his 1977 book ‘Little Ships of Patea’; “E J Wakefield of the New Zealand Company, came overland to Patea at the end of March 1840. He described the harbour as a narrow passage, forty yards wide, with a channel that expanded both inside and outside. The Maori’s informed him that they always had to swim across the mouth, even at low tide. Wakefield estimated there were 200 people at Patea (Airiau) and 200 at each of the nearby Whenuakura Pa’s (Tihoi and Te Oho). The New Zealand Company claimed to have purchased Patea at a sale in the Malborough Sounds, but this was disallowed by the Governor’s Land Commissioner.
Late in 1840 Robert Stokes led a survey party from Wellington to Taranaki and wrote: ‘The entrance to the Patea is…sufficiently deep to admit vessels of fifty tons’. Charles Heaphy, draughtsman to the party, recorded that the river had been visited by small trading vessels. The new settlements of Wellington, Wanganui, Nelson and New Plymouth created markets for pork and potatoes which provided the incentive for owners of small craft to enter the west coast rivers. Two rival trading boats from Wanganui were wreaked trying to enter the Patea River early in 1841.
Rev John Skevington became the missionary to South Taranaki in May 1842 (at Heretoa, Waimate Plains) He walked through the area in October 1842 with Bishop Selwyn. In 1844 William Hough, a Wesleyan catechist, was stationed at Patea until ill health forced his withdrawal in 1847”…The Wesleyan mission Station at Waimate closed in October 1853. 1853 was also the year the Government appointed a ferryman on the Patea River, a Maori man was paid £10 a year plus 5s per person and per horse for ferrying them across. The next year Rev Richard Taylor wanted to re-establish a mission at Patea, but in May of 1854 a massive hui of the west coast tribes was held at Manawapou Pa to discuss and oppose the sale of Taranaki land to European settlers. The Maori Land League was formed, and it was agreed on oath to sell no more land. The Patea River was closed to shipping, relations between Maori and Pakeha deteriorated, and by 1860 the Land Wars had begun in North Taranaki with the first shots being fired on 17 March 1860 at Te Kohia Pa at Waitara.
General Cameron was dispatched from Whanganui in January 1865 with 2000 troops. He left unwillingly, War weary after the Crimean and Waikato campaigns, and indignant at what he had to do. His sympathies were with the Maori, he saw that he and his troops were being used as political tools in a gigantic land grab and resented it. He met fierce resistance at Waitotara. On the night of 15 February 1865 he marched his troops along the coast to the Patea River mouth, and remained on the left bank for about a week, constructing a redoubt for 200 men (its ditches are still visible on the site of Wai o Turi Marae) It was known as ‘Dawson’s Redoubt’ and is probably from Captain Richard Dawson, 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment, presumably in command at the redoubt for part or all of its existence. The main body then crossed the River to the right bank, where a good position was selected on the high ground immediately above the river, (this was used until 1868.) Here an entrenchment line, with a redoubt in the centre was formed, as well as huts for 600 men. Patea became a principal base for the South Taranaki Campaign. Troops were supplied from New Plymouth and Whanganui by small Paddle Steamers, which could ‘walk in’ over the Bar.
Around this time Mark & Harriet Locker and William & Margaret Sergeant arrived in Patea and set up as Storekeepers to the Military at the beach. The Lockers had come from England via the Victorian goldfields with their two children William and Harry. William Sergeant had been a Grenadier Guard in the 65th Regiment before he arrived in Patea with his wife and six children; William, Adam, Sarah, Annie, Stewart and Douglas. The two families ran lucrative businesses supplying the troops in the garrison village. Mark Locker owned the cutter ‘Edith’ & his principal activity was supplying liquor to the troops between Patea & Whanganui. This enterprise only lasted till 1870 when the township of Carlyle was relocated to the top of Bedford Street. Mark slide into alcoholic decline in later years, & died in 1891 at age 62 from cirrhosis of the liver. Harriet lived to the ripe old age of 93. They are buried in the Patea Cemetery. (Info from Ron Locker's 'The History of the Locker Family' 1994) General Chute took over command from Cameron and marched into Patea on 6 Feb 1866 with a mixed Imperial and Colonial force. In May 1867, after comparative quiet in the district, friction occurred between military settlers and Titokowaru's people, whose headquarters were to the north of Patea. By June 1868 active fighting had commenced. Following a repulse at Te Ngutu o te manu, Colonel Thomas McDonnell withdrew his whole force to Patea and resigned. Colonel Whitmore succeeded McDonnell and assumed command at Patea. On 19 November 1868 all women and children in Patea were evacuated to Whanganui on the ‘Sturt’, they weren’t to return until 13 March 1869. Mark Locker is listed on the ‘wounded list’ at Te Ngutu o te Manu, and William also stayed behind to fight as a Military Settler. Margaret Sergeant died in childbirth on 31 March 1869, two weeks after she returned from Whanganui with other women and children. She is buried on top of the hill at the Patea Cemetery.
Rev John Skevington had established a Wesleyan Methodist Mission Station at Heretoa on the Waimate Plains near Manaia in 1842, and Patea was included in the vast territory he covered in his ministry. In April 1844 William Hough was appointed to be the first European Missionary stationed at Patea. Arthur Fryer writes in ‘Missionary Wives’ that the Mission Station was situated on the Whenuakura side of the Patea River in the flat area below the cliffs, known at Raumano. But it is thought that they may have lived on the clifftop above at Haere Hau Pa. William lived on this exposed point in a raupo hut with his wife Ann and 6 young children for four years, until their two youngest sons died of whooping cough. They are buried at Heretoa, Manaia.
In January 1848 the unmarried, 27 year old, Thomas Skinner arrived in Patea to replace William & Ann Hough. Very few Europeans were in the area in these early days. Thomas was apparently one of the Mission’s most fluent speakers of the Maori language and was very comfortable with the culture. By this stage the Patea Mission Station had relocated to higher ground on the other side of the river, on what is now the site of Brian Headley’s house at 32 Norfolk Street. Rev T.G. Hammond’s book “In the Beginning” written in 1915, helped us locate the site of the 2nd Mission Station: ‘He resided in the vicinity of the present town of Patea just where Mr Willis’s house now stands, probably to take advantage of a spring of water near Mr J.A. McKenna’s present residence.” Mr James McKenna’s home in 1915 was where Derryn Gunn lives today, at 25 Norfolk St. And there was a spring flowing from a bank at Brian Headley’s house when he bought it 40 years ago. The spring has since dried up due to drainage being diverted on the streets nearby. Livingston Baker’s research papers state that the Mission Station overlooked Mr McCardles workshop (Gunn’s Panelbeater’s), which Brian’s front lawn indeed does.
Great Great Granddaughter of Thomas Farenden Skinner; Trish Rossiter from Waikanae is in the process of writing a book about this fascinating man in her family’s history, and is spending the next few months travelling the north island with her husband Martin, to all the mission stations Thomas lived at. After only 6 months in Patea Thomas was sent to the Taupo region to establish the first Mission Station in that area. Thomas he went on to marry Hannah Chiffinch Taylor after he left Patea. Trish has their marriage certificate dated 1851. They were married by William Woon at Heretoa. Their final posting was to a Mission Boarding School in Hokianga. Thomas’s health had been deteriorating for some time and he died of ‘heart disease’ in 1866 at the age of 45, leaving a young wife and 7 children.
It was quite something to stand in the spot where Thomas stood 171 years ago, overlooking the Patea River, & a much changed scene on the landscape, and imagine how it was back then for this brave, adventurous man, who knew our town as a much different place.
Military Garrison 1865
Ian Church writes a concise account of early European settlement in the Patea area is his 1977 book ‘Little Ships of Patea’; “E J Wakefield of the New Zealand Company, came overland to Patea at the end of March 1840. He described the harbour as a narrow passage, forty yards wide, with a channel that expanded both inside and outside. The Maori’s informed him that they always had to swim across the mouth, even at low tide. Wakefield estimated there were 200 people at Patea (Airiau) and 200 at each of the nearby Whenuakura Pa’s (Tihoi and Te Oho). The New Zealand Company claimed to have purchased Patea at a sale in the Malborough Sounds, but this was disallowed by the Governor’s Land Commissioner.
Late in 1840 Robert Stokes led a survey party from Wellington to Taranaki and wrote: ‘The entrance to the Patea is…sufficiently deep to admit vessels of fifty tons’. Charles Heaphy, draughtsman to the party, recorded that the river had been visited by small trading vessels. The new settlements of Wellington, Wanganui, Nelson and New Plymouth created markets for pork and potatoes which provided the incentive for owners of small craft to enter the west coast rivers. Two rival trading boats from Wanganui were wreaked trying to enter the Patea River early in 1841.
Rev John Skevington became the missionary to South Taranaki in May 1842 (at Heretoa, Waimate Plains) He walked through the area in October 1842 with Bishop Selwyn. In 1844 William Hough, a Wesleyan catechist, was stationed at Patea until ill health forced his withdrawal in 1847”…The Wesleyan mission Station at Waimate closed in October 1853. 1853 was also the year the Government appointed a ferryman on the Patea River, a Maori man was paid £10 a year plus 5s per person and per horse for ferrying them across. The next year Rev Richard Taylor wanted to re-establish a mission at Patea, but in May of 1854 a massive hui of the west coast tribes was held at Manawapou Pa to discuss and oppose the sale of Taranaki land to European settlers. The Maori Land League was formed, and it was agreed on oath to sell no more land. The Patea River was closed to shipping, relations between Maori and Pakeha deteriorated, and by 1860 the Land Wars had begun in North Taranaki with the first shots being fired on 17 March 1860 at Te Kohia Pa at Waitara.
General Cameron was dispatched from Whanganui in January 1865 with 2000 troops. He left unwillingly, War weary after the Crimean and Waikato campaigns, and indignant at what he had to do. His sympathies were with the Maori, he saw that he and his troops were being used as political tools in a gigantic land grab and resented it. He met fierce resistance at Waitotara. On the night of 15 February 1865 he marched his troops along the coast to the Patea River mouth, and remained on the left bank for about a week, constructing a redoubt for 200 men (its ditches are still visible on the site of Wai o Turi Marae) It was known as ‘Dawson’s Redoubt’ and is probably from Captain Richard Dawson, 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment, presumably in command at the redoubt for part or all of its existence. The main body then crossed the River to the right bank, where a good position was selected on the high ground immediately above the river, (this was used until 1868.) Here an entrenchment line, with a redoubt in the centre was formed, as well as huts for 600 men. Patea became a principal base for the South Taranaki Campaign. Troops were supplied from New Plymouth and Whanganui by small Paddle Steamers, which could ‘walk in’ over the Bar.
Around this time Mark & Harriet Locker and William & Margaret Sergeant arrived in Patea and set up as Storekeepers to the Military at the beach. The Lockers had come from England via the Victorian goldfields with their two children William and Harry. William Sergeant had been a Grenadier Guard in the 65th Regiment before he arrived in Patea with his wife and six children; William, Adam, Sarah, Annie, Stewart and Douglas. The two families ran lucrative businesses supplying the troops in the garrison village. Mark Locker owned the cutter ‘Edith’ & his principal activity was supplying liquor to the troops between Patea & Whanganui. This enterprise only lasted till 1870 when the township of Carlyle was relocated to the top of Bedford Street. Mark slide into alcoholic decline in later years, & died in 1891 at age 62 from cirrhosis of the liver. Harriet lived to the ripe old age of 93. They are buried in the Patea Cemetery. (Info from Ron Locker's 'The History of the Locker Family' 1994) General Chute took over command from Cameron and marched into Patea on 6 Feb 1866 with a mixed Imperial and Colonial force. In May 1867, after comparative quiet in the district, friction occurred between military settlers and Titokowaru's people, whose headquarters were to the north of Patea. By June 1868 active fighting had commenced. Following a repulse at Te Ngutu o te manu, Colonel Thomas McDonnell withdrew his whole force to Patea and resigned. Colonel Whitmore succeeded McDonnell and assumed command at Patea. On 19 November 1868 all women and children in Patea were evacuated to Whanganui on the ‘Sturt’, they weren’t to return until 13 March 1869. Mark Locker is listed on the ‘wounded list’ at Te Ngutu o te Manu, and William also stayed behind to fight as a Military Settler. Margaret Sergeant died in childbirth on 31 March 1869, two weeks after she returned from Whanganui with other women and children. She is buried on top of the hill at the Patea Cemetery.
