Church Name: ?
This photo, from Christchurch Diocesan Archives carries the inscription “First Hokitika church”. The first church was opened on December 24, 1865 in Tancred Street and was replaced the following year.
According to Westland’s Golden Century, the Jewish, Methodist and Roman Catholic congregations had all erected buildings in Hokitika before the end of 1865. The Roman Catholic Church opened on 24th December. ” The Roman Catholic parishioners had also pushed on with all haste to provide a church, which was ready for the Christmas services of 1865.”
Philip Ross May in The West Coast Gold Rushes says: “The first resident priest at Hokitika was Father M’Girr; Father Royer made Greymouth his headquarters. With the aid of local building committees two places of worship were quickly erected, the Hokitika Chapel in Tancred Street being opened on 24 December 1865. A more permanent church, to replace the original chapel, was completed early in 1866.”
