Country Churches of NZ 4. St. Gabriel's, Pawarenga, Northland

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops.
The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.

ST. GABRIEL'S, PAWARENGA

The Roman Catholic church of St Gabriel's, Pawarenga, was built in 1899 on Makora pa, the home of the Te Aupouri tribe. It was constructed by Robert Shannon, a flax miller from Kaitaia, with timber said to have been sawn by the local people, who raised funds for its construction by gum digging.

When I visited it in December 2000 I found it locked and lonely, high on its windy hill overlooking Whangape Harbour. I sat on the even higher hill opposite where, wishing for a third hand to hold my paper steady, I did my watercolour sketch, noting the odd contrast between well-tended graves on the south side and the litter of tombstones among the dead puriri trees on the north.

© DON DONOVAN


donovan@ihug.co.nz
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