Printing Press Ruins

Here lie the heritage protected stones that are the very physical foundations of New Zealand's bicultural society, still less than 200 years old.

The first Christian church was here, built of raupo reeds by the Reverend Henry Williams in 1823. He also established a Sunday school and day school. His brother William arrived three years later. In 1837, after studying the Maori language, Williams published his translation of the New Testament.

Earlier, in 1834, William Colenso arrived with a hand operated printing press and within a few months had printed New Zealand’s first book in Maori, the Epistle to the Philippians and Ephesians. Within five years he had printed 74,000 books or booklets.

Right now, a private house is on the land where these historic activities took place, with a plaque in front to inform. Historic St Paul's Anglican Church, built in 1926, is two doors down, the fourth church on that site, in commemoration of the activities of the early missionaries.

The Colenso Study describes the site as disgracefully neglected.