On this day in 1835

A missionary raupo house at Te Papa Mission Station, Tauranga, March 1839.
Ref: PUBL-0098-01-05-15. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand

In August 1835, the first C.M.S. mission at Tauranga was occupied by W.R. Wade, the site on the peninsula at Te Papa having been selected by Alfred Nesbitt Brown and William Williams a year earlier. Between May 1836 and January 1838 the station was cared for by a number of missionaries who were without their families, assisted by Matiu Paratakone Tahu. Rev. Brown and his family only arrived to live at Te Papa permanently in January 1838.

A sketch of the entrance of Tauronga [Tauranga], by Capt Thomas Wing, June 1835.
Ref: MapColl-832.16aj/1835/Acc.423. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

In the same month, Captain Thomas Wing produced the earliest known sketch of Tauranga Harbour.

A hydrographic chart sketching the entrance of the Tauranga Harbour, depicting the path of the British Navy ship 'Fanny', around Mount Maunganui and Waikouwai, with full sounding information. Identifies fortified pa site named 'Tumaitai Pa', the accompanying diagram identifies six whare or houses and two storage huts.

Sources

The Elms History Timeline, on The Elms Misson Station web site

Bellamy, A C (ed.) (1982) Tauranga 1882-1982, Tauranga: Tauranga City Council [Courtesy of Stephanie Smith].

Matheson, A. (2012) Tahu, Matiu Parakatone, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 30-Oct-2012.

Stokes, E. (1980) A History of Tauranga County, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press.

Taylor, Richard (Rev) (1940) Making New Zealand; Pictorial surveys of a century, Wellington, Department of Internal Affairs, Ref: PUBL-0098-01-05-15.