Wellington celebrates its 175th birthday today, although the actual day is three days away.  It was on the 22nd of January 1840 that the Aurora arrived at Petone and the settlement, named after the Duke of Wellington, victor of Waterloo, was founded.

So, with Wellington’s 175th looming it seems only right that last week I finally visited Christ Church in Taita, the oldest church in the Wellington region.

Christ Church, Taita

The church is in the heart of industrial Taiat but it’s a surprisingly peaceful spot.  Once you’re in the churchyard, with trees framing the church and roses flowering in the graveyard,  it’s easy to leave the 21st century and go back 150 years to imagine what this church must have meant to the fledgling pioneer community.

Christ Church was built in 1853 and held its first service on 1 January 1854, just 14 years after the first settlers arrived.  It served the local community well until in the late 1940s it was proposed the church be moved to Stokes Valley to better meet the needs of the community.  The move was opposed by locals and the church remained where it was.

This photograph from an old book on Taita gives its date as 1845 which is incorrect

A stroll around the graveyard is always one of my favourite parts of church visiting.  Many old Wellington names feature, many still familiar names in Wellington today.  The nine people who drowned in the 1858 Hutt River floods were buried here and so was Manihera Te Toru Matangi, the Manihera Matangi Ngatiawa chief, who was a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi and died in 1884.

It’s always the less notable graves I find the most interesting – the family plots, children who died at a few months, the odd hardy soul who lived past 80.  It was a hard life for the first settlers and those who came after them.

Graveyard of Christ Church, Taita

The church is still consecrated and available for hire for weddings, baptisms and funerals.  It’s great to see a piece of Wellington’s history so beautifully preserved and still being used.  Happy Birthday Wellington.

Christ Church, Taita