Touchstone  September 2003 
 

By Yvonne Wilkie
Director of Archives

The influx of gold miners into Gabriel's Gully, outside Lawrence, from June 1861 placed demands on the Presbyterian Church from the outset.  The first Sunday morning in July 1861 John Gillies from Milton led a service for the new arrivals. It was followed up by an afternoon service led by H.L. Gilbert.  The new minister at Tokomairio, Alexander Todd, preached on the third Sunday “to a great crowd from a dray placed on a spur sloping down into the gully…” Gabriel Read donated £50 to have a church erected and £10 had been collected at Todd's first service.

On the 21 July 1861 the Deacons' Court of the Tokomairio (Milton) Presbyterian Church established a committee to administer oversight for ‘Christian Ordinances'.  John Gillies secured a large canvas tent for a church and a smaller one for the visiting ministers.  So began a continuing ministry into the goldfields of Central Otago over the next three or four decades.

Because of the rapid growth of Otago's population, the raising of new towns, the mobility of the gold mining population, lack of trained ministers and funds the denominational development in the mining districts gave way to Union Churches. These churches quickly established themselves throughout the new goldfields.   Ministers and lay preachers from all denominations willingly trudged unfamiliar terrain and extreme weather to provide worship, baptism and marriage ordinances.  The miner's, landowners and scattered settlers provided the necessary finance to have a church erected.

These churches served their purpose well as a place of worship, a school and community hall.  Some are still standing and their use is as diverse today as the people were who initially erected and met within the walls. Generally built of corrugated iron, the often unlined buildings caused discomfort in all seasons.  “An oven in summer and a refrigerator in winter” noted one early settler in the 1930s.  The Rev John Pringle, a Student Preacher who was
undertaking supply at Hamiltons Union Church about 1903-04, noted that  "on one memorable occasion I was nearly grilled in the fiery furnace".  It would have been interesting to know the theme of the Sermon that day!

Hamiltons Union Church has a history of 50 years.  Built in 1865 overlooking the Maniototo Plain it was a simple wooden-framed building, with an exterior of corrugated iron and a lining of tongue and groove.  Rev. DM Stuart records the tale of a night of strong south west gales leaving many wondering how their accommodation would withstand it.  On surveying the scene next morning he notes that “while the Presbyterian Zion had survived the gale, the Catholic chapel had become a wreck”.

A notable list of ministers occupied the pulpit over its 50 years including  Bishop Selwyn in March 1866.  A regular preacher was Henry Flamank, a Methodist appointed a Home Missionary for the Oamaru area in 1863.  He settled at Hyde in 1870 and voluntarily undertook the responsibility of providing worship.  He travelled 70 to 90 kilometres on horseback each weekend.

At the beginning of 1900 the Hamiltons Union Church had a membership of 27, mainly Anglicans and Presbyterians and they continued to meet until 1917.  In 1922 the last entry connected with Union church is found in the Waipiata Presbyterian Deacons' Court Minute Book.  The Committee resolved that the property be sold by public auction and that the proceeds be divided between the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches.  The Presbyterian Church received the pulpit bible and the Library was to be used by both denominations Sunday Schools.  The Bell went to the Waipiata Primary School.  The sale of the land and organ raised £50.  The building was shifted to a local farming property and the land on which it stood became part of the Waipiata Sanatorium later a Boys Reformatory School.  Today the site is a Christian Retreat Centre. Both the Presbyterian and Anglican Church built a denominational Church at Waipiata and provided separate ministries.

Church Union as we understand it today was not the understanding of the early worshippers it was a spirit of co-operation which continues to be part of Christian activity in Central Otago today.