James Liston, the assistant bishop of Auckland, was found not guilty of sedition after it was alleged he had made anti-British remarks in a St Patrick’s Day address.
In the first half of 1959 Billy Graham and his associate evangelists Leighton Ford, Grady Wilson and Joseph Blinco held crusades in New Zealand and Australia which attracted large audiences.
English-born New Zealander Penny Jamieson was the first woman in the world to be ordained a diocesan bishop of the Anglican Church. While vicar of St Philip’s in Karori, Penny was nominated by a group of women for the position of Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin. She was consecrated in 1990, and some criticised the sudden promotion, foreshadowing opposition from the church’s conservative element that would cloud her 14 years in the role.
Of Taranaki and Te Āti Awa descent, Te Ua was born in Waiaua, South Taranaki, in the early 1820s. In 1862 he established a new religion, Hauhau, based on the principle of pai mārire – goodness and peace. But most settlers viewed Hauhau as a fundamentally anti-European religion, synonymous with ‘violence, fanaticism and barbarism’.
Dr Penny Jamieson, who had been ordained as a priest in 1985, became the Anglican bishop of Dunedin − the first woman in the world to hold such a position. She retired in 2004.
Octavius Hadfield was born around 1814. He joined the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1837. The next year, at Paihia, Bay of Islands, he became the first priest to be ordained in New Zealand.
Hadfield studied the Maori language while working at Waimate North, and in 1839 became the CMS missionary on the Kapiti coast. By late 1841 he was ministering to about 7,000 Maori on both sides of Cook Strait, and in charge of 18 mission schools. Often resolving disputes among Maori, he became widely respected. Te Rauparaha supported him, but was never converted to Christianity.
Te Whiti (?–1907), born during the turmoil of the 'musket wars', was of the Taranaki tribe Te Āti Awa. It is said he was identified as a teacher and prophet early in life, and much care was taken to ensure his safety. His stature in the Māori traditional world was enhanced by his deep knowledge of Christian doctrine. Te Whiti was said to have taken part in the Taranaki wars of the 1860s, but by the mid-1860s he had decided to pursue peaceful resistance to European incursion and the loss of land.
A British patrol was ambushed by Pai Mārire warriors near Ōakura. Those killed were decapitated and their heads paraded by Pai Mārire disciples to enlist recruits.
In Christchurch, 30 Irishmen attacked an Orange procession with pick-handles, while in Timaru 150 men from Thomas O'Driscoll's Hibernian Hotel surrounded Orangemen and prevented their procession taking place.
