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Kiwi of the Week
Today in History
6 June
1823 Wesleyan mission established
Samuel Leigh and William White established Wesleydale, a Wesleyan (Methodist) mission station at Kaeo, near Whangaroa Harbour. Leigh was friendly with Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the two missions worked closely together.
Marsden, then chaplain of New South Wales, had enabled Leigh to visit New Zealand in May and June 1819 in order to recuperate from a breakdown in health. While in the Bay of Islands Leigh mediated in a dispute among CMS members based there. He recommended that their work should be organised as circuits, based on the Wesleyan model. The trip also convinced Leigh to establish a Wesleyan mission to the Maori.
Returning to England in 1820, Leigh acquired goods to be used in barter to help establish a mission in New Zealand. While there, he married Catherine Clowes. The couple sailed for Sydney and from there to the Bay of Islands. Arriving on 22 January 1822, they lived with William and Dinah Hall of the CMS for 16 months.
William White arrived in May 1823, and he and Leigh established the Wesleydale mission at Kaeo. The success of the mission stations at this time was dependent on Maori patronage – something the Wesleyan mission initially lacked. The Kaeo mission was abandoned in 1827 when local Maori sacked it. The Wesleyans relocated to Hokianga in 1828 under the leadership of White.
Image: Wesleydale mission station at Kaeo
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