In 1806, Reverend Samuel Marsden, who lived in New South Wales, began lobbying the London-based Society for Missions for a missionary settlement in New Zealand. The Society agreed in 1809 and advocated that a school also be opened. This led to the first mission station being established at Oihi (now known as Hohi) in the Bay of Islands in December 1814, and the school building opening on 12 August 1816.  Lessons beforehand were held at schoolteacher Thomas Kendall's house.

Kendall learnt te reo Māori and was involved with the compiling of the first book of grammar lessons which was published in 1815.  "A korao [korero] no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book : being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives"  is recognised as being the first book published in te reo Māori.  It is listed in Phil Parkinson and Penny Griffith’s Books in Māori, 1815-1900: an annotated bibliography = Nga tanga reo Māori: nga kohikohinga me ona whakamarama published by the Alexander Turnbull Library in 2004 and digitised in 2015.  In 2014, Kendall's book was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.  See information provided on the Memory of the World nomination form.  

Backstory:

Let's find out how New Zealand's first missionary settlement and mission school were built through the lobbying of Reverend Samuel Marsden; the appointment of schoolteacher Thomas Kendall; the teaching of local Māori and settler children; and the creation of the first Māori lesson book for students in 1815 which became the first book published in te reo Māori. 

Reverend Samuel Marsden (Chaplain of NSW) 

Reverend Marsden befriended Māori sailors & visitors

First NZ mission station to have a school 

Thomas Kendall appointed as schoolteacher, 1813

Kendall joined Marsden in NSW, Oct 1813 

Kendall learning te reo Māori 

Kendall had begun learning te reo Māori with Tuai (Tohi) who had been staying at Samuel Marsden's farm since 1813.  In a letter to Reverend Basil Woodd  (11 March 1814), Kendall wrote: " A young man, a Native of New Zealand, whose name is Tohi has been with me about a month. He can speak English a little, and we can now begin to understand each other tolerably well. I am trying to learn the language, and Tohi who knows what I want, makes himself to be as clearly understood as possible. He says he will return with me in the Active and dwell with me."

Mission site chosen at Oihi, Bay of Islands, Sept 1814

First religious sermon marked opening of mission station, 25 Dec 1814

Building the mission station begins 26 Dec 1814

Reverend Marsden stayed on at the Mission until Feb 1815. The day after the Christmas sermon, he began organising the acquiring of timber for building the mission station.  He also encouraged Thomas Kendall to commence holding school lessons with the children. 

Building delays, May 1815-Jan 1816

Settlers consider relocating to Paihia, May 1815-June 1815

After Chief Ruatara died, the settlers decided to buy land at Paihia which seemed to them a more suitable location for a mission than Marsden's choice at Oihi. As the land was located closer to supplies of timber, the construction of the mission's buildings would be easier and quicker to achieve.  Sawyer Conroy and his wife and child went ahead to Paihia to begin constructing the timber houses in readiness for carpenter William Hall and his family to join them, followed by the others. However, Conroy's house was attacked and plundered by Māori on 24 June 1815, and he and his family returned to the Oihi Mission Station at Rangihoua Pā.

Carpenter Hall & two sawyers to move to Waitangi: Sept 1815 - Jan 1816

Carpenter William Hall and the two sawyers decided to move to Waitangi to occupy land purchased for the CMS in May 1815. Kendall and Hall had purchased 50 acres from Chief Warrakkee (Waraki) on 19 May.  The two sawyers journeyed ahead to build the houses and Hall and his family joined them in September 1815. Kendall and King chose to stay behind at Oihi. Four months later in January 1816, Hall and his wife were attacked by a passing group of Māori strangers and were rescued by their friends who drove the attacking party away. Afterwards, Hall and the sawyers returned to the Oihi Mission Station. 

Meanwhile, school lessons begin in Kendall's house

First book of te reo Māori lessons for students, 1815 

In collaboration with Chief Hongi Hika and his nephews Tuai (Tohi) and Titere (Tetere), Kendall developed the first book of te reo Māori for students during 1815: A korao [kōrero] no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives.   

The 1815 edition was the first book published in te reo Māori. It is listed in Phil Parkinson and Penny Griffith’s Books in Māori, 1815-1900: an annotated bibliography = Nga tanga reo Māori: nga kohikohinga me ona whakamarama published by the Alexander Turnbull Library in 2004 and digitised in 2015. The bibliography gives the following description:  

An elementary primer comprising alphabetical and numbers (p. [1]-3), syllables in 12 numbered exercises (p. 4-7), word lists and sentences (exercises [13]-52, p. 7-39), alphabetical dictionary (p.40-51), parts of speech (p. 52-53) and a few fragments of syntax (p.54). Text from exercise [13] to end is in parallel Māori and English.   

In 2014, Kendall's book was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.  See information provided on the Memory of the World nomination form. 

Of the 200 copies printed of the 1815 edition, the only known surviving copy is held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. The Hocken Library has the limited edition facsimile copy of which 100 copies were printed in 1957, and a copy transcribed by hand by John Kenderdine, an Auckland chemist and book collector.    

Planning for first school building to accommodate 40 students, Oct 1815 

Extracts from Kendall's letter to Rev Pratt (19 October 1815): 

"I have in my last letter to Mr Woodd written home for assistance. A person of talent to assist in writing down the language, a Blacksmith and another Schoolmaster would be of great service at New Zealand....

I must now communicate my thoughts on the subject of raising a School here. I have before stated my opinion that I can have plenty of scholars as soon as convenient Apartments are prepared for their accommodation. This will be accomplished as I hope in a short time... 

It is my intention to take about forty children under my care. These must be clothed and fed. Such brown Cloth & Stuff as is used in charity Schools in England would suit very well. The clothing which can be procured from the Natives will greatly assist. With a little alteration it will do for working days.  I trust I shall also be enabled to procure plenty of Pork and Potatoes for a few Axes which will serve the School the whole year. I shall apply to Mr Marsden for rice or a little wheat if he should think it advisable to let them have any bread... The Committee could easily bear the Expence of the School and might support it out of the Separate School fund, if that way should be most agreeable.

Mr Hall has built a house for himself a few miles distant from me. Mr King will have one built next near me. I hope I shall then be enabled to get forward with my house and School room. Mr Marsden has sent a Carpenter who will remain here until Mr Kings house and my own are completed."

Plans for a printery and library, Jan 1816

Kendall requests supplies for the students

School building opens on 12 August 1816

The school building, which was c. 10m x 6m in size, was constructed of kahikatea timber. A fireplace with a brick chimney was used for heating and cooking.  The Māori students slept in one part of the room which also had a cordoned-off platform for the teachers and Pakehā students.

Source:  'New Zealand’s first mission school opens', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/new-zealands-first-school-opens, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 8-Jul-2020 

Teaching staff - Superintendent (Thomas Kendall) & Assistant teacher (William Carlisle)

In a letter to Rev Woodd (16 Oct 1816), Kendall described himself as being the Superintendent.  He was assisted in teaching the students by William Carlisle who had arrived from NSW. 

William Carlisle had emigrated to NSW in 1803 as a free settler aged 20 years and was allocated 100 acres to farm by Governor King.  About 9 years later he became a coach builder; and then he applied to become a missionary. In 1816 he  journeyed to the Bay of Islands as the assistant to Kendall. After several months in NZ, he wrote a letter to the Church Missionary Society in November 1816 in which he stated that he wished "to be received as a schoolmaster and settler under the Society". 

Carlisle returned to Sydney in December 1816 to collect his wife and his brother-in-law, Charles Gordon, and family to live in NZ. Gordon was to be employed teaching agriculture. The Sydney Gazette of December 7, 1816 reported that a vast number of natives had joined the missionary settlement. Carlisle informed the newspaper that the school was attended daily by nearly 60 children "many of whom begin to read and spell and are all very attentive to some Gospel passages which have been printed in their own language". Carlisle also shared a drawing of the Bay of Islands settlement "which boasted several houses erected for the accommodation of the missionaries."   Carlisle and his family sailed to NZ in Marsden's ship 'Active' in April 1817.

School continues to require funding support during 1816

Kendall wrote to Reverend Woodd (16 Oct 1816) requesting financial support for the school, including food rations and clothing for the children:

"By the Divine care and goodness I and my family have been preserved in peace and safety nearly two years at New Zealand, and altho’ my time has hitherto been very much occupied in mechanical pursuits yet I bless God I have with the assistance of Mr Carlisle been enabled to attend to my main object “the Instruction of the children... When I left London, it was expected I should reside at New South Wales for a term of three years before I embarked again for this place. I had therefore no particular instructions from Mr Pratt how I was to support a School here, neither has Mr Marsden expressed himself fully, to me upon this subject. At present, now I have every thing ready, as I have mentioned above, my hands are completely tied up...You can assist me greatly by putting Mr Pratt and the Committee in mind of the real necessity of attending to my observations. I think the School at least can be provided for without hurting the feelings of Mr Marsden to whom great credit is due, but who alas! Is so overwhelmed with cares that I cannot really expect he can afford me steady support. I believe also Mr Marsden is greatly imposed upon by the people of port Jackson in many articles he sends out to us, as he is in the Iron sent out..."

Lessons taught by Kendall & Carlisle since school opened (Aug 1816-July 1817)

A summary of classroom activities was given by Kendall in a letter to Rev Mann on 14 July 1817:

" I commenced teaching School in August 1816. My little wild pupils were all noise and play during the first four months. We could scarcely hear them read for their incessant shouting, singing and dancing. The first month they attempted to repeat their lessons in the School house very well, but we soon had to follow them to a short distance into the bushes. I had no command over them, having at that time neither provisions nor rewards to give them. Since I received these, my authority and influence have been greatly augmented amongst them. I can now command their attention. They will learn to read and write, work at their raiment, make fences and fetch water and firewood very chearfully [sic]. They rise at daylight according to the custom of the natives in general, and repeat their lessons to me. After breakfast several of the boys write a copy. The girls are employed in making their raiment the whole of the Day. After Dinner the Native children repeat their lessons to my colleague Mr Carlisle. The Boys learn to write on every day of the week except Sundays. The children of the settlers are also instructed by myself and Mr Carlisle. The Settlers join in Public Worship twice on every Lords Day, the Prayers of the Church of England are read alternately by myself & Messrs Hall and King. We also meet on the Wednesday evening for the purpose of reading the Holy Scriptures and Prayer. Many Natives attend on the Sunday. The Service is performed in the School House." 

Kendall compiled a bilingual spelling book & Preparatory Catechism during 1818

Ongoing issues with supplies & student numbers drop during 1818

 In a letter to Rev Pratt (14 Dec 1818), Kendall outlines the lack of support received from Marsden and the ongoing issue of insufficient food being sent by CMS leading to an increase in private trading for supplies:

"In all Mr Marsden’s Letters to me, he has promised to assist me in every possible way, and I do not doubt his willingness to do it, yet it so happens, and it is a subject of too great importance to conceal it, That no settled plan has hitherto been adopted for the support of the School. The consequence has been that almost all the succours have fallen into the hands of an individual settler. Private trade has completely over balanced the Society’s trade, and the latter is so much reduced in value that the settlers in general can scarce procure a good Hog, or provide for the wants of their families: much less can they procure a sufficient supply as to enable them to carry on their respective callings, and the School of course has been almost reduced to nothing, merely for want of a handful of potatoes to give each Scholar to eat. Some order of a positive nature must be given by the Society and Mr Marsden too, or else I am certain the Settlement will be in a  short time deserted by many." 

Rev Marsden visited Oihi Mission, Aug-Nov 1819

Reverend Samuel Marsden returned to the Oihi Mission, arriving on 12 August 1819 in the American brig General Gates.  He was accompanied by the following people and their families who had left England on 15 December 1818 and arrived in NSW on 26 June 1819 to meet up with himself: Reverend John Gare Butler (ordained a CMS missionary by the Bishop of Gloucester in 1818); lay missionary James Kemp (a smith & Catechist), William Puckey (a boatbuilder and carpenter), and Francis Hall (Schoolmaster).

Also on board were Tuai and Titere who had been at Marsden's Parramata seminary since end of 1815 till March 1817, when Marsden sent them to England. During their stay in England, they met Francis Hall who became their travelling companion - attending church, visiting schools and homes, working on farms, and sightseeing. Hall also instructed them in reading and writing, as well as in the scriptures.  Tuai and Titere sent 19 letters home about their adventures in England by dictating their letters to Hall who wrote their words on slate so that they could copy the words onto paper with quill and ink. Copies of these letters, which represent the first written Māori expression in English, are held by the Alexander Turnbull  Library and Hocken Library.  The Church Missionary Society arranged for James Barry to paint formal oil portraits of both Tuai and Tītere before they left England which are now in the Alexander Turnbull Library which also holds their silhouette portraits.   

School closed by Marsden in Nov 1819

Marsden found that at the Oihi Mission Station "everyone was more or less seeking his own gain; the school and agriculture had been neglected by Messrs Kendall, Carlisle and Gordon and John King refused to make or mend shoes." Marsden dismissed Kendall, Carlisle and Gordon and suspended King.    

Another mission station to be opened - Kerikeri 

Postscript: What happened to Thomas Kendall?

When Reverend Marsden returned to Sydney in November 1819 after dismissing Thomas Kendall as schoolteacher, he was accompanied by the Carlisle and Gordon families. Kendall and King stayed near the Oihi Mission Station. Kendall and his wife Jane built a home at Matauwhi on the south side of the Bay.   

1820: Kendall visited England to publish spelling book

Kendall 's spelling book, which had been sent to Marsden in March 1818, had been shared by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) with Professor Samuel Lee, oriental linguist at Cambridge University. When doubts were raised by Lee about the content, Kendall decided to travel to England to meet with Lee.   

Marsden had arrived in NZ for his third visit on 17 Feb 1820 which coincided with Kendall's imminent departure to visit Lee. Although Marsden advised Kendall not to travel to England, Kendall chose to proceed without the authorisation of the CMS.  

August 1822: Kendall dismissed from CMS 

Kendall arrived back from England to the Bay of Islands in July 1821.  He was dismissed from his post by the CMS in August 1822 for refusing an order to stop trading muskets to Hongi Hika. Kendall had sent a letter to Marsden on 27 Sept 1821 defending the gun trade in which he had begun dealing in arms. The letter signed by all the missionaries stated that Kendall could not dictate what was sold to Māori: "The natives regard fish hooks equivalent to copper, axes and hoes to silver and muskets and powder to our gold. Nor can we dictate to them which of these they must receive in payment for their property and services. They dictate to us! It is evident that ambition and self interest are amongst the principal causes of our security amongst them." After being dismissed, Kendall and his family returned to stay at their home at Matauwhi. 

9 August 1823: Kendall to be banished from NZ

Towards the latter part of 1821,  rumours had begun circulating of Kendall's affair with a 17 year old servant in his household who was a former student - Tungaroa, daughter of Rakau, the old tohunga of Rangihoua. Kendall and Tungaroa left Oihi to live at Kaihiki, a village on the Te Puna inlet, near to the mission station, but their relationship ended in April 1822.  There were also rumours that Kendall's wife Jane had an affair with their servant and ex-convict Richard Stockwell who was thought to have fathered one of her children. Both Kendall and Jane resumed living together at the home they had built at Matauwhi on the south side of the Bay near the Mission Station.

On learning of Kendall's adultery, Marsden came to Oihi in August 1823 to have him leave NZ.  Kendall agreed to depart with his family, but when their ship Brampton was wrecked on a shoal in the Bay, he saw this as a sign from God that he still had tasks to carry out in NZ. Kendall, his wife Jane and their family returned to their home at Matauwhi. In a letter of 25 July 1824 to the Church Missionary Society, Kendall confessed his past "errors". 

1822-1824: Kendall on Māori cosmology

Between 1822 and 1824, Kendall wrote a series of letters where he described his understandings of Māori cosmological thought gained from conversation with Tungaroa and others. He also sent to the CMS three shipments of carvings, which he described as being images depicting three 'states' of existence.  The first state was 'Union' or perfection, a timeless existence of undistinguished, formless embryonic matter before creation or conception. The second was  a state 'Equal and Dual', the state of creation and, therefore, life in this world. The third state was 'Triune', or the end, and a state of rest, without motion—existence beyond death. Kendall also included a sketch of Nukutawhiti at the entrance to a carved storehouse, which is the earliest known illustration of such a structural feature. He suggests that Nukutawhiti was not only the canoe ancestor of Ngāpuhi but also part of a wider cosmological system and that the carving depicted the first 'state' of existence.  One of the three shipments of carvings was lost at sea, and the whereabouts of the carvings from the other two shipments is unknown.

For more details, see:

• Judith Binney, The heritage of      Isaiah: Thomas Kendall and Maori religion. New Zealand Journal of History,      1, No 2 (1967), pp. 124 - 127
• Judith Binney, The lost drawing of Nukutawhiti,  New Zealand Journal of      History, 14, No 1 (1980): 3–24 

Feb 1825: Kendall and his family depart NZ

Kendall left New Zealand with his wife and family in February 1825 for Chile where Kendall became the clergyman attached to the British consulate at Valparaiso. Later in 1827, he and his family returned to New South Wales and were given a land grant of 1,280 acres at Narrawallee Creek in Ulladulla which they farmed. Kendall drowned in early August 1832 when his boat the Brisbane with its cargo of cedar and cheese being taken to the Sydney markets was wrecked in a storm. 

What happened to the Oihi Mission STation?

Oihi Mission Station closed in 1832 when Te Puna Mission Station opened

By 1831, Oihi was one of four Anglican mission stations. The other three had been established in the Bay of Islands and Hokianga area. After the missionary settlement opened at Kerikeri with Rev John Butler in November 1819, Marsden stationed James Shepherd with Ngāpuhi chief Te Morenga of Tai-a-mai near Waimate North (1820), and Reverend Henry Williams at Paihia (August 1823). Marsden also gave assistance to the Wesleyan Methodist mission which had opened at Kaeo, near Whangaroa, in 1823. 

The Oihi Mission Station was closed in 1832, as the decision had been made to replace it by opening the Te Puna Mission Station, which lay 1km to the west. The land near Te Puna was considered to be less hilly and less barren than at Oihi, with flat land more suited for agricultural purposes. Crops were able to be grown to supply the other mission stations. 

John King and James Shepherd moved their families from Oihi to Te Puna.  King, with the assistance of Shepherd and later John Wilson, taught and held weekly church services.  King's wife, Hannah, and their daughters held school lessons and taught domestic skills to Māori women and children.  By June 1834, there were 200 Māori were involved with the mission and by 1842 over 100 Māori had been baptized at the mission.

Source: 

• Archeopedia New Zealand: The Te Puna Mission Station
• G. S. Parsonson. 'Marsden, Samuel', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990, updated May, 2013. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1m16/marsden-samuel  

Archaeological investigations of Oihi (Hohi) Mission Station, 2012-2013

Rangihoua Heritage Park opened, 21 Dec 2014

On 21 December 2014, the Rangihoua Heritage Park was opened (see website which has an interactive tour with an audio guide).  Architect Pip Cheshire of Auckland designed an interpretative centre and a larger building called the Gathering Place, built on a ridge near the road overlooking the bay.  

FIND OUT MORE

Angela Ballara, 'Ruatara', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. URL: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1r19/ruatara  

Angela Ballara, 'Te Pahi', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. URL: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t53/te-pahi  

Early New Zealand Books:  Elder, J. (Ed.) "The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 1932". http://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=1060&page=1&action=null  

Early New Zealand Books: 1808 - 1863: The Missionary Register. URL: http://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/epubs

Judith Binney, 'Kendall, Thomas', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1k9/kendall-thomas  

Marsden Online Archive: https://marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/

Peter J. Lineham, 'Missions and missionaries - First missionaries', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.  URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/missions-and-missionaries/page-2 

The Trail of Waitangi - on early New Zealand History. Extracts from 'The History of the Church Missionary Society', by Eugene Stock, published 1899. Chapter 1: 1808 - 1814. URL: http://www.waitangi.com/ww/chap01.html 

University of Auckland: Video (5 Aug 2014): Anne Salmond: Winter Lectures 2014, 3 - World travellers: Thomas Kendall, Te Rākau and Hongi Hika (66 mins)

This DigitalNZ story was updated in November 2023