Minniesdale Chapel Cemetery Free-Space Page

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Wharehine, Auckland, New Zealand
Surnames/tags: New_Zealand Albertlanders Wharehine

MINNIESDALE BAPTIST CHAPEL CEMETERY

Shegadeen Road, Wharehine, Rodney, Auckland, New Zealand

Minniesdale Chapel in Wharehine overlooks the Oruawharo River, an arm of the Kaipara Harbour, north of Auckland, New Zealand. This little country Chapel is most noted for the number of Albertlanders and their descendants buried there.

The Albertlanders were parties of pioneering settlers, organized by the. The scheme was organized in Birmingham, England in 1861, by the Rev. William Rawson Brame, and the settlers were mostly Nonconformists from the Midlands of England, the first settlers arriving in 1862, and continuing to arrive by the ship load until 1865, some still later.

The Rev. Edwin Stanley Brookes arrived in October 1865, bringing with him from England the pre-cut framework and stained glass windows for a small chapel. Three of the Rev. Brookes sons had arrived with the first settlers in 1862, and were already established in Wharehine; George Hovey Brookes, the Rev Brookes’ second son, donated the land on which the chapel was to be built. George Wilcockson was the contractor engaged to supervise the construction of the chapel with labour provided by the congregation, and built with kauri timber cut and milled by the settlers themselves.

The finished chapel served as a school room and a venue for meetings such as the Annual Meeting for the Ratepayers in 1869. ^[1]

Minniesdale Baptist Chapel was consecrated 29th December 1867, and has been in continuous use ever since, the oldest surviving church of the Albertlanders' settlement. The Auckland Star later reported that for the opening services, 'the Rev. W. Worker preached morning and evening, and Mr. Cutler gave an address in the afternoon. Next day a tea was held, and afterwards there was a meeting, at which speeches were made by Messrs. Dudding, Cutler, Turner and Legge. A well trained choir under Mr. Armitage sang several sacred selections. On the Tuesday there was a cricket match, followed by another tea.' ^[2]

On the 9th March 1868, the first wedding was held in the chapel when Bessie Jerome was married to Henry Marsh by the Rev. William Gittos.

The first burial on the 5th Septmber 1868 in the consecrated ground that surrounds the Chapel, was that of Charles Henry Brookes, drowned in the Oruawharo River.

Baptisms were held in the waters of the Shelly Beach, in Takapau Creek flowing below the Chapel; the first baptised on the 1st November 1868. On the 20th November 1868, the Rev. Edwin Stanley Brookes was officially appointed first Minister of Minniesdale Chapel.

The Gothic Doors were added in 1872, and a harmonium arrived in 1873; harmonium and hymn books donated by friends of the Rev. Brooks in Nottingham. The Chapel organ was purchased in 1897.

1. ↑ Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3794, 16 October 1869, Page 5
2. ↑ Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 222, 19 September 1925, Page 27

see - Minniesdale Chapel a Category 1 Historic Places Trust building