NORTHLAND

The newly acquired Wesleyan prayer and hymn book which was printed at the Māngungu Mission in its heyday.

Printer's link – historic prayer book hits the right notes

A piece of Aotearoa New Zealand's early Te Reo publishing heritage was snapped up at auction recently.

WORDS: John O'Hare

There was a keen sense of celebration when a prayer and hymn book dating back to 1845 was recently acquired by our Collections Advisor, Belinda Maingay, for the collection at Māngungu Mission – the Wesleyan Mission house at Horeke in the Hokianga. The rare artefact dates to the heyday of the Wesleyan Mission and cost $300 plus an auction house fee. Entitled Ko te Pukapuka on nga Inoinga o te Hahi Ingarani, me nga Himene Weteriana, the Wesleyan prayer and hymn book is written entirely in Te Reo Māori. Even more special is the fact that it was printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press at Māngungu, which is today a Tohu Whenua cared for by our organisation. The fact that the Wesleyan Mission was able to churn out books like the hymnal can largely be credited to the Rev William Woon.

Born in Cornwall, Woon was apprenticed into the printing trade. He showed promise as a preacher, and in 1830 was accepted for the Methodist ministry and appointed to the Friendly Islands (Tonga) mission, arriving in the Bay of Islands on the Lloyds in 1831.

Initially his work was in connection with translating and printing the scriptures in Tongan, although in 1833 he resigned and went to Māngungu where he set up a recently arrived printing press. A printer by training, Woon was in a good position to give practical training to Māngungu missionary John Hobbs. The condition of the prayer book – a second edition – is very tidy considering its age and has clearly been well used over the years with some passages underlined, and words added in pencil. It has also been given a hard cover at some stage. The prayer and hymn book came from the estate of a private collector, Christopher Parr, who passed away recently. His collection included a sizeable number of early New Zealand books and documents. We hope to be able to display the book at Māngungu Mission once an appropriate case is installed. n