Te Waimate Mission

Exemplar of European influences

Aotearoa New Zealand's first European farm, Te Waimate Mission was established as a model village in 1830.

View on map
Facilities
Large white colonial mission house with yellow flowers in foreground.

The significance of Te Waimate Mission

Founded by the Church Missionary Society at the request of Reverend Samuel Marsden and by invitation of Ngāpuhi chiefs at Okuratope Pā, Te Waimate served as a midpoint between Te Pēwhairangi the Bay of Islands in the east and the Hokianga Harbour in the west. While rural, the mission played host to local and international visitors travelling between the coasts. One of these was Victorian scientist and evolutionist Charles Darwin who spent Christmas here in 1835.

The town was fronted by three Georgian-style mission houses, one of which survives today, with a swathe of workers homes and industrial buildings providing the many elements of a settlement striving to be self-sufficient. Through the length of town were the mission houses but also a flour mill, printery, carpenters' shop, brickworks, blacksmith, school and church.

The purpose of the mission was to teach British farming practices and promote the ideals of Western civilisation to Māori, while they worked to produce goods for sale to European ships and at the Stone Store in nearby Kerikeri. But these attempts to impose European culture on Māori in this controlled fashion (through teaching those who also did the labour) failed to attract many Māori and the station gradually fell into disrepair. 

Its position as an early bicultural settlement was one of the reasons that Te Waimate hosted the second signing of Te Tiriti of Waitangi on 9 and 10 February 1840.

Te Waimate Mission is proudly cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

What you'll experience at Te Waimate

Getting there

Te Waimate Mission is a 20-minute drive from Kerikeri via one of New Zealand’s first roads. 

Tour the building

Be guided by one of the engaging hosts or explore at your own pace with a self-guided tour through New Zealand’s second oldest building. Uncover the stories of an emerging bicultural nation in the decade leading to the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the events such as the Northern Wars that followed 1840.  

Enjoy the grounds

Te Waimate is a spacious and peaceful site and a place where you can experience a slice of New Zealand’s rural history – you can even meet some heritage Pitt Island sheep!

Lawn games are available to play, and picnics are encouraged. The mission is surrounded by beautiful gardens, particularly striking in the summer months.

Te Waimate hosts regular events. Check their Facebook page to see what's on. 

St John The Baptist Anglican Church

Right next door is the old church and cemetery; moving reminders of all those who fell in the tumultuous Northern Wars. The current church building was dedicated on 19 April 1871 at the same time the Mission District was formed into a parish – the Parish of Waimate North.

More information

Te Waimate Mission Ralph Brown (79)

Visitor information

344 Te Ahu Ahu Road, Waimate North

Visit Heritage website
Waimate Web Resolution 56

School visits

Te Waimate's visitor hosts can provide guided tours tailored to the needs of your school group. Contact Te Waimate to book. 

Arrange a school visit
Ōkārito Wade Mcclelland (50)

Travel tips

Planning your next adventure? Check out our holiday guides – there is something for every explorer.

Travel tips

Other Tohu Whenua in Te Tai Tokerau Northland

Ralph Brown Waitangi Treaty Grounds (31)

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Waitangi Treaty Grounds marks our start as a bicultural nation, where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed by rangatira Māori and the British Crown on 6 February 1840. It is our country's most important historic site.
Rangihoua Ralph Brown (53)

Rangihoua Heritage Park

Rangihoua Heritage Park is the site of Aotearoa New Zealand's first planned European settlement, a place where Māori and Europeans learned to live together.
TS516342 Lcape Brett Daniel Mauden

Rākaumangamanga Cape Brett

A place of outstanding beauty, Rākaumangamanga Cape Brett has long been a welcoming point of arrival, from early waka to the first seaplanes.
Kororipo Heritage Park Ralph Brown (49)

Kororipo Heritage Park

Kororipo Heritage Park is where Māori and Europeans lived side by side and where some of the most important early meetings between the two cultures took place.
Ralph Brown Clendon House (102)

Clendon House

A colonial home built in the 1860s, Clendon House tells the story of Captain James Reddy Clendon and his wife Jane Takotowi Clendon, both remarkable people for very different reasons.
Pompallier Mission And Printery Ralph Brown (27)

Pompallier Mission and Printery

Aotearoa New Zealand's only surviving pioneer printery and tannery, Pompallier Mission is a time capsule that demonstrates the impact of Bishop Pompallier and his missionaries in introducing Catholicism by producing written works in te reo Māori.
Māngungu Mission Stills Ralph Brown (10)

Māngungu Mission

Established as a Wesleyan mission station, Māngungu was the scene of the largest signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Ruapekapeka Pā Ralph Brown (18)

Ruapekapeka Pā

Reacting to the British breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it was at Ruapekapeka Pā that Māori chiefs and their outnumbered warriors made their final stand of the Northern Wars.

Follow us and share your #TohuWhenua