St Luke’s Church - and pub - put Havelock North on map: Michael Fowler

St Luke’s Church, Havelock North, when it opened in 1874. In the foreground is Te Mata Rd. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection

It has been said that to get a location on a map in the early days of New Zealand’s colonisation there had to be a public bar and a church.

Havelock North, in the same year it was founded in October 1860, had its first hotel built on section 68 where St Columba’s Church stands today. Another followed in 1862, on the corner of Te Aute and Havelock roads.

Church life was initially conducted in settler’s homes – such as services in John Chambers’ Te Mata homestead – and it wasn’t until 1871 that the first church building for the Presbyterians was built on Middle Rd, about where Gilmours Pharmacy is today.

Thomas Tanner, a devout Anglican, was a trustee of the Hawke’s Bay Church of England Endowment Fund, and agreed to buy land from the four owners of sections 16 to 19 on Te Mata Rd to build an Anglican church.

George Bee, a builder, arrived in Havelock in 1864, with his family of 16 – almost half the existing population.

Tanner engaged Bee to build the first Anglican church in Havelock North, which was named St Luke’s.

The architect was Thomas Cooper, who designed All Saints Church in Taradale.

Bishop of Waiapu, William Williams, assisted by Mr William Marshall, consecrated St Luke’s on 20 September 1874. And what every minister of religion, I suspect, would dearly love – a member of the press from the Hawke’s Bay Herald attended and reported the church was “literally crammed” and that in the evening Mr Marshall “preached in a very excellent and impressive manner”.

William Marshall did not live in Havelock, and his intermittent attendances at St Luke’s were put down to his ill health.

The first resident vicar of St Luke’s in Havelock was Reverend Harry Woodford St Hill, who took over from William Marshall in 1878. He had married Thomas Tanner’s sister, Mary Anne Tanner.

Reverend St Hill built a private residence which he called “Hillsbrook”, which is where the Presbyterian Social Service Association is today on Te Mata Rd.

St Luke’s was added to in 1881 when a chancel (area near the altar for choir and clergy) and vestry (changing area for clergy) was built.

A problem developed in August 1881 when it was noted that “strangers and visitors” attending St Luke’s occupied the church’s rent pews of parishioners. To provide funds for the church, some parishioners paid to occupy certain pews for Sunday’s church service.

Reverend St Hill was too busy before the service to see to this, so it was arranged “for a boy to see strangers to their proper accommodations”.

Thomas Tanner was a generous benefactor to St Luke’s and in 1882 donated funds for a Sunday School building, which was shifted in 1996 to become the op shop on the Te Mata Rd frontage.

Church bazaars or fairs have long been a tradition to raise funds for the parish. A curious reporter from Hawke’s Bay Herald attended one at St Luke’s in 1891 and was surprised to see fortune telling in a stall by Miss Taylor, a gypsy girl. He thought this was at odds with Christianity, but said: “I suppose fortune telling is not wicked upon all and every occasion or the Reverend would not have accepted Miss Taylor’s services.”

Havelock North’s Woodford House is associated with the Anglican Church, and when the headmistress, Miss Hodge, requested in 1910 an aisle be added to the north side of St Luke’s to accommodate her schoolgirls, this was agreed to and finished in 1912. But Miss Hodge had to agree to pay about $2 in today’s money per pupil for it – whether they attended church or not. A south side aisle had been added in 1906.

St Luke’s parishioner and architect William Rush had designed a village hall which opened in 1910 on the church’s land. Although not part of the church’s property, it was handed to St Luke’s in 1916 with a substantial debt still owing on its construction. (This was demolished to make way for the 12 unit St Luke’s Close retirement village opened in 1998.)

Rush designed additions to St Luke’s church in 1913, which extended the church and provided for a large bell tower.

The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake cracked the tower, and William Rush when he viewed it was “particularly sad”.

Famed New Zealand architect William Gummer was summoned on his opinion as to whether it could be saved. He said it could be, but the church decided to pull it down in case parishioners were too scared to attend church.

In 1933, St Luke’s – minus its tower, received a visitor who felt compelled to write the Hawke’s Bay Tribune and say about St Luke’s: “Havelock is the most charming village I have ever seen. I think if any place teaches one about God, it is Havelock North.”

Sixty years later the parishioners decided it would be good to replace the tower removed after the earthquake.

Much discussion was held in this regard as to finances, and prominent New Zealand architect Sir Miles Warren was engaged in 1993 to design it. A substantial anonymous donation meant it could be built in 1996.

St Luke’s Church – whether one attends as a parishioner or casual attendee for weddings, baptisms or funerals – has played a prominent part in the life of Havelock North for over 150 years, and has outlasted many a public bar in the location.

Michael Fowler is a Hawke’s Bay author and historian mfhistory@gmail.com

Michael Fowler’s Stories of Historic Hawke’s Bay is available from Wardini books, Havelock and Napier.