Onuku Church, Onuku Akaroa

A moving image of the small church surrounded by light and clouds on a slight rise in the bay on Akaora Harbour. The only remaining Maori Church on Banks Peninsula, now listed as a Historic Place Category 1.
 
The church at the Kaik, the Maori settlement at Onuku, was opened in 1878. The layering of the foundation stone and later the opening ceremony were conducted in Maori. Reverend Te Kooti Rato from Rapaki announced the hymns which were sung by the congregation of Europeans and Maori who attended from as far away as the North Island and the Chatham Islands.
 
In 1940, the centennial year of the Akaroa settlement, the church was restored. The porch was decorated with traditional carved panels and donations of a carved alter and baptismal font gave a distinctive character to the building. The poupou standing to one side of the front of the church is Tumuki, a gift from Te Wai Pounamu Old Girls Association in 1978, it was carved by Pere Tainui.
 
Services were held until 1963 and now the Onuku Church is used mainly for baptism, wedding and funeral services.
 
In my extras: 
Onuku Maori Settlement, a place of historical significance as it was the first of three South Island locations where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
 
Two images of  wharenui, Karaweko (meeting house) on the Onuku marae. It was the first carved house to be built on Banks Peninsula for over 100 years. The carvings depict the whakapapa and history and took four years to complete, the wood is West Coast totara.
 
A coloured version of Onuku Church.
 
Today is 5 years since the devastating Christchurch earthquake, we remembered quietly on the shores of Akaroa Harbour.