Background of Anglican worship in the area. It is recorded that church services were held at Turanga Creek on 14/3/1858 at a house on Kennedy’s farm, “Woodlands” and that a chapel-schoolhouse was completed in late 1859.In co-ordination with this, ”Poplar Farm”, the home of the Trice family near the junction of the Maungamaungaroa and Turanga Creeks was also used for services conducted by the vicar of Howick, Rev. Vicesimus Lush, one such service being on 13/12/1859.Moving on 30 years a Mrs. Spencer-Shaw wrote(in 1945)”Maraetai (in1889) was part of the parish of Howick and received a service always on the fifth Sunday of the month at 11 a.m.. The clergyman, Rev.Arthur Stewart Fox proceeded to the Trice’s at between 2 and 3p.m .Frank and George Granger appeared with pears they had picked from under very tall pear trees. Ernest Hensen came with some limes. George Trice appeared with several lumps of quartz from their gold mine at the top of the track up from Waikopua Creek”
Gold was not found in commercial quantities and it was probably about 1890 when the land conveyed by William Broomfield to the Anglican Diocese in 1866 for “religious, educational and charitable purposes” started to be used as a cemetery rather than a school which had been originally envisaged if Waikopua had expanded. The earliest headstone is 1898 of a Richard Whitford, aged 48 and his two year old son, Albert, who had been tragically drowned in a stream nearby. Richard Whitford, an immigrant from Cornwall, UK set up a flax mill in 1875 on the present site of the Whitford quarry and tip. Any mail for him was brought up the Turanga Creek to the wharf and was held in the store there as “Whitford’s mail”. Richard Whitford was later accorded the title of Postmaster. There is controversy as to whether the village name Whitford came from this family or was named after the White Ford in the upper reaches of the creek. Previously the area had been known as Turanga Creek. The Wade family well known locally were reputedly the second immigrant family to settle in the area in the middle of the 18th century with Eve Wade (1819-1899) a prominent member.
Services were held at the Trice home until the death of William Trice in 1906. It is understood that the Brick School was also holding services. The coming of the Whitford Hall in 1909 heralded services and Sunday school being held there.
Moving on a further twenty years, George Granger, uncle to John Granger, who is with us today, donated a very suitable piece of land in 1930 for a church, his wife stating that she would only agree to the sale if no part of the land was ever used as a cemetery. These were Depression years and it took three years to raise $400. A grant from the Diocese of $50 allowed the building of the church to proceed. The picture in the church porch records the total cost as $439.14s.5d. Archdeacon Hector Hawkins, Vicar of Howick and the Vicar-General, Archdeacon G. MacMurray laid the foundation stone on 8/1/1933. This stone was taken from the ruins of St. Thomas’s Tamaki chapel erected by Bishop Selwyn in his early days.
St. Thomas’s church, Whitford took 9 weeks to build, the builder being Baden Wade, using local labour and in March 1933 the building was opened and dedicated by Archbishop A.W. Averill. The church was under the care of All Saints church, Howick until 1991 when Bishop Godfrey Wilson instituted the merger of 4 small churches namely St. John’s East Tamaki, St. Paul’s Flat Bush, St. Hilda’s Beachlands and St. Thomas’s Whitford into the Turanga Mission District with the first Missioner being Rev. Marilyn Welch. Following Marilyn’s appointment as Archdeacon of Manukau in 1997 in addition to her responsibilities for the four small churches, it was resolved after a two year period under Rev Dr. Trevor James to split the Turanga Mission District into two separate units, the East Tamaki Mission District and the Whitford-Beachlands District. This took place in 2000 with the Rev.Dr.Trevor Cheeseman as Whitford-Beachlands Missioner until his retirement in 2003. Rev. Mark Anderson took over the reins between 2003 and 2006 before becoming Chaplain to the Selwyn Heights Retirement Village at Herd Rd, Hillsborough.
In August 2006 Rev. Shiu Goundar was appointed Missioner having recently completed his Master of Theology from St. John’s College after ministry in Fiji previously, following on from a career as a bank manager in that country. In May 2007 St. Mark’s Maraetai previously administered by Clevedon parish joined the other two churches and later that year the unit became known as the Pohutukawa Coast Mission District. In August 2012 Rev. Earle Howe took over the responsibility for St. Thomas’s Whitford as Priest –in –charge of the independent ministry unit and is currently enjoying the challenge having previously been a minister in many other parts of the country, including Taumaranui, Opitiki and also at St. Luke’s Manurewa for many years.
With the demographic developments taking place in South Auckland in general and recent moves to establish a concentration of new properties in a sub-division close to Whitford village the work of the church is ongoing and being the only place of worship in the village presents an ecumenical opportunity, which has been a hallmark since its inception in 1932 and which it retains today.
References:-
- The Auckland Journals of Vicesimus Lush 1850-1863 Edited by Alison Drummond 1971, Pegasus.
- “The history of Howick and Pakuranga, Whitford, Bucklands and Eastern beaches and surrounding districts”
Author: Alan La Roche, published by the Howick and District Historical Society 1991
- ”When All the Saints” celebrating 150 years of All Saints Church, Howick, published by Howick parish 1997
Authors: Rev. Robert Hattaway and Margaret Willis
Waikopua Cemetery The land now dedicated, with the approval of the Minister of Health, as Waikopua Cemetery, is Lot 1, DP 209428 CT137B/693, situated at 32, Waikopua Road, Whitford. Mr. William Bloomfield gave it to the Anglican Church in 1866 for a Burial Ground. With the building of St. Thomas’s Anglican Church in Whitford, access for burials was granted to parishioners of that church. This was extended about 1980 to residents of the Whitford valley and relations of those previously buried there. Access may also be granted to other residents of the Pohutukawa Coast Mission District as defined by the Diocese in 2007. Applications, in writing, from other persons may be considered by the Board at its discretion, but in keeping with the perceived wishes of the original donor, a strong connection with the local district is a normal requirement. See footnote*
The General Trust Board of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland has appointed the members of the Vestry of the St. Thomas’s Anglican church, Whitford as the statutory Managers, in accordance with the Burial and Cremation Act 1964. The Managers meet as Waikopua Cemetery Board. The Managers may authorise one or more of their members to act on their behalf in relation to individual Burials (and Disinterment’s).