The Elms Historical Time Line

1796: Birth of Charlotte Arnett in England

1803: Birth of Alfred Nesbitt Brown in Colchester, England.

1820: Rev Samuel Marsden sees the Tauranga harbour from the summit of Mount Hikurangi, near Waihi.

1826: First visit to Te Papa by Henry Williams on the mission schooner Herald. Anchored below Mount Maunganui. Maori asked for missionaries to come to live in the district.
Second visit. Maori supplied 200 baskets of potatoes, 22 pigs and some flax to the missionaries. Maori keen to obtain muskets and powder.

1827: Third visit by missionaries. Herald anchored off the Te Papa peninsula.

1828: Fourth visit. Maori had obtained guns and ammunition from the Haweis, and no food was offered to the missionaries. Williams discovered that the once populous Te Papa pa (Otamataha) had been sacked by a war party from Ngati Maru (Thames) led by Te Rohu.

1828: Brown ordained priest.

1829: Marriage of Alfred and Charlotte.
Arrival of the Browns at the Bay of Islands in Edinburgh Castle.
Brown, the third ordained priest to arrive in New Zealand, was put in charge of the school for missionary children in the Bay of Islands

1831: Birth of Alfred Marsh Brown.
Henry Williams sailed in Karere for the Bay of Plenty with Thomas Chapman, in search of a site for a mission station in Rotorua.

1832: Henry Williams and W.T.Fairburn accompanied a Nga Puhi war party headed for Tauranga in the vain hope of preventing an attack on the Otumoetai pa.

1833: Williams again active in trying to prevent open warfare among Bay of Plenty tribes.
Brown and Henry Williams visit Te Waharoa at Matamata.
Yate opened Puriri station.
James Preece at Puriri.

1834: Site for Te Papa Station chosen by William Williams and Alfred Brown. They arranged for two raupo houses to be constructed.
J.A.Wilson at Puriri, Thames.

1835: Brown opens mission station at Matamata with J.A.Wilson.
Thomas Chapman opens mission station at Te Koutu, Rotorua
Mission work begins at Te Papa by Messrs Wade and King. They found one of the raupo houses had been taken to Maungatapu pa for the trader Peter Dillon.
Sarah Wade opened a school for Maori women and girls.
House for Maori men at Te Papa burned down at Christmas. The Wades’ house escaped damage.

1836: J.A.Wilson and family transferred from Matamata to Te Papa in January.
Te Waharoa (Ngati Haua) attacks Te Arawa at Maketu.
Brown came to Te Papa to help broker peace.
Te Waharoa protects the missionaries.
Fight at Te Tumu.
Mrs Wilson and her children seek safety at the Puriri mission station near Thames. The Wades also leave. Chapman arrives from Rotorua, where an attack was expected.
Death of Tarore.
Matamata station closed.

1837: Birth of Marianne Celia Brown.
Te Papa station closed because of unrest between Tauranga tribes assisted by Te Waharoa of Ngati Haua and Rotorua tribes.
Te Papa station reopened by Rev James Stack and family in late 1837.
Accession of Queen Victoria.

1838: Alfred Brown, Charlotte, Marsh and Celia arrive on the mission schooner Columbine from the Bay of Islands in January. Lay reader John A. Wilson and family arrive at the same time.
Chapman opens mission station on Mokoia Island, Rotorua.
Brown purchases 30 acres of land at the northern end of the Te Papa peninsula from local chiefs in September.
Death of Ann Wilson in November. First missionary burial in the Mission Cemetery.

1839: 1300 acres of the Te Papa peninsula is purchased by Brown on behalf of the Church Missionary Society.
Library completed. Probably the first purpose built library in New Zealand.
(Dorcas) Sophia Baker (b 1824) daughter of Rev Charles Baker sent to Te Papa station at the suggestion of the other missionaries, because of difficulties with her step-mother. Stayed until 1855.

1840: Treaty of Waitangi brought to Te Papa mission station for missionaries to gather signatures.
Rotorua station moved to Te Ngae.
Wilson sent to Opotiki.

1841: Visit by Dr Ernst Dieffenbach, scientist, who stayed with the Stack family.
Hancock, a carpenter, arrives with his family and stays until 1844.

1842: Acting governor Willoughby Shortland, Bishop Selwyn and Chief Justice Martin stayed at Te Papa during a period of unrest, along with the commanding officers of the troops stationed at Hopukiore (Mount Drury).
Stack sent to Poverty Bay. to establish a mission station there.

1843: First permanent chapel completed.
Brown appointed Archdeacon of Tauranga.
Seymour Mills Spencer joins the Chapmans at Rotorua.

1844: Marsh sent to St John’s College, then at Te Waimate in the Bay of Islands.
Spencer established station at Tarawera.

1845: Christopher Davies stationed at Te Papa to help Brown with school for one year.
Death of Marsh Brown of erysipelas, aged 14.

1846: Publication of Brief memorials of an only son, written by Alfred for Marsh’s sister Celia,
Marsh Scholarship established, to “educate and qualify young persons for presentation as candidates for Holy Orders” preference being given to the children of missionaries.

1847: Mission house completed in October.
Brown declines Bishopric.
Preece at Ahikereru (Te Whaiti).
Spencer stationed at Te Wairoa.

1850: Dispute with local Maori over boundaries of land purchased

1851: Fanny and Eliza Maunsell and Mary Rymill come to live at Te Papa after the death of Susan Maunsell, wife of missionary Rev Robert Maunsell. Mary (b. early 1820s) had come to New Zealand to be a companion and helper for Susan.

1852: Christopher Davies stationed at Opotiki.
Deed to land issued by Old Land Claims Commission

1853: Brown declines Bishopric.
Preece at White Pine Bush, Whakatane.

1854: Tamihana moves to the Tauranga area, staying until 1856, possibly at the mission station.
Maori edition of Brief memorials published, translated by H.Tacy Kemp.

1855: Death of Charlotte Brown in Auckland.
Death of Anne Chapman in Maketu.
Sophia Baker leaves Te Papa to marry T H Smith.
Missionary Carl Sylvanius Volkner arrives at Te Papa to assist Brown by running a boys’ and girls’ school.

1856: Second English edition of Brief memorials published in London.
Thomas Chapman married Mary Jane Moxon.
Christopher Davies left Opotiki.
Preece sent to Thames.

1857: John Kinder’s first visit to Te Papa.

1858: Brown tries to resolve conflict between local iwi (Ohuki land dispute)
Visit by Eliza Jones (later Eliza Stack), and John Kinder.

1859: Celia Brown marries Rev John Kinder and moves to Auckland.
Scientist Ernst Dieffenbach visits Chapman at Maketu and in the absence of Archdeacon Brown stays with the Volkners at Te Papa.
Volkner leaves Te Papa.

1860: A.N. Brown marries Christina Crombie Grant Johnston in Wellington
Erection of the Mission Institute to the west of where the Old Post Office now stands in Willow Street, and houses for Rev C.B.Baker and E.B.Clarke, who were to teach young Maori technical and agricultural skills.
Chapman leaves Maketu.
Alice Maxwell born in Australia.

1861: Spencer priested.
Ihaia Te Ahu, who had been brought up by Thomas Chapman, was stationed at Maketu from 1861 to 1882.

1863: Mary Rymill leaves Te Papa. Brown offers to give her 25 pounds per year while he is able to do so.
Revs Clarke and Baker leave Te Papa
Mission station evacuated.

1864: The Waikato Land Wars reach Tauranga. The battles of Gate Pa (29 April) and Te Ranga (21 June) take place between Tauranga tribes and their allies and imperial troops. Mission Institute taken over first as a commissary, then after the battles, as a hospital.
Casualties from the encounters, both Maori and European, are buried in the Mission Cemetery by Archdeacon Brown.

1865: Land around Tauranga confiscated by the Crown and allocated to military settlers.
Alice’s first visit to Te Papa.
Volkner murdered at Opotiki by Kereopa. Rev Thomas Grace escapes unharmed.

1867: Government compels CMS to relinquish 4/5ths of purchased land on the Te Papa peninsula for settlement by soldiers from 1st Waikato militia. The remaining land was leased to settlers and gradually sold.

1870: Death of Preece.
Spencer moved to Maketu station.
Rev Thomas Grace and family move to Tauranga. Grace intends to set up a training institute.

1873: Brown and Christina purchase 17 acres from the Church Missionary Society including the Mission House. This is renamed ‘The Elms’ for an avenue of trees on the property. Brown continues his work as a missionary to local Maori for another ten years.

1875: Alice’s second visit to The Elms.
George Maunsell stationed at Auckland, Hauraki and Tauranga.
Grace visits England

1876: Death of Thomas Chapman while on a visit to Mokoia from Auckland.

1877: Fire destroys servants quarters.

1879: Rev. Thomas Grace dies in Tauranga.

1880: Agnes Grace sells Tauranga properties.

1881: Alice lives at The Elms for 14 months.

1882: Tauranga gazetted a borough.
Ihaia Te Ahu stationed at Ohinemutu until 1889 (or 1892).

1883: Brown retires.
Spencer retires.
Rev William Goodyear stationed at Maketu.

1884: Death of Archdeacon Brown. He is buried in the Mission Cemetery.

1887: Death of Christina Brown. Her niece, Alice Maxwell, moves from Wellington with her mother, Euphemia, and her sister Edith, to take up residence at The Elms.

1898: Death of S.M.Spencer.

1901: Death of Queen Victoria.

1913: First subdivision of The Elms estate takes place. The lean-tos at either end of the house were extended to allow for the construction of a small kitchen and a bathroom.

1914: World War I begins

1918: World War I ends

1919: Death of Euphemia Maxwell.
Beginning of planting of New Zealand trees and shrubs at The Elms.

1920: Alice and Edith begin to open the property to visitors.

1928: Death of Celia Kinder in Auckland at the age of 91.

1929: Alice has the bell repaired, so that it could be rung to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of Alfred and Charlotte in New Zealand

1930: Death of Edith Maxwell. She is buried in the Mission Cemetery.

1949: Death of Alice Maxwell. Her nephew, Mr D.H. (Duff) Maxwell and his wife Gertrude take over The Elms and continue to make the property available to the public.

1953: Last historic elm cut down.

1956: Repairs made to the library and mission house

1962: The Elms Historic Family Home Preservation Trust Inc is registered for the purpose of helping the Maxwells look after the estate.

1964: A new chapel is built on the original site by Duff Maxwell with help from The Elms Trust and opened by Rev R.E.Marsden great-great grandson of Rev Samuel Marsden

1968: Interior of mission house redecorated and scrim removed from dining room

1970: Manuscript collection arranged and microfilmed.

1978: Repairs to foundations of mission house.

1984: Publication of “Brown and The Elms” by C.W.Vennell.

1988: Visit by Rev S. Marsden.

1991: Duff moves out of The Elms to live in a rest home.

1996: Restoration of the library.

1997: Death of Duff Maxwell who is buried in the Mission Cemetery
First Festival of Creative Garden Art.
Roots of oak tree damaged by work on bank on northern side of property.

1998: Transfer of ownership to the Elms Foundation.

2002: Major project on conservation of textiles collection culminates in an exhibition in Baycourt.