BACKGROUND AND ORIGIN OF ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH

APIA, SAMOA

 

 

Pre-chaplaincy attempts to establish a church

• By the mid-19th century there were individuals and families of Anglican background living in Samoa.  There was, however, no church: Anglicans were dependent on visiting naval chaplains and occasional visiting clergy.  A report by Bishop Suter on an official visit in 1886 strongly recommended the establishment of a chaplaincy to provide for the Anglican community.  An early agreement amongst Protestant churches disallowed any mission work being carried out by Anglicans in Samoa, and Samoa was recognised as an LMS area.

 

• In 1849, subscriptions were sought for the building of a tin church, on Samoan land, to meet the needs of the many visiting seamen.   With the help of the LMS (then an interdenominational body) this was built on the seafront and named ‘Apia Seamen’s Church’.  In 1860 it was moved further from the wharf to the present site of the Apia Protestant Church, and renamed the ‘English Church’.  The building of the wooden church began in 1890, said to be on the instigation of the British Consul, Thomas Cusack-Smith, in Samoa 1890–98, who was using a room in the Consulate as a chapel for Church of England services and preparing candidates for Confirmation.  The original terms of trusteeship of the church provided that the building could be used by any visiting Protestant minister, and (according to Father Whonsbon-Aston, a subsequent chaplain) by an Anglican chaplain when one was appointed.

 

• In 1944, on the death of his wife, Winifred, in Samoa, Cusack-Smith set up a building fund, with his foundation donation of one hundred guineas, for the building of an Anglican church, to be dedicated St Winifred’s, as a memorial to his wife.  Whonsbon-Aston writes “A block of land was offered by Mr Johnston at Vaea, on condition that the church should be built within two years. The records in the Church Archives show a list of donations amounting to over 400 pounds.  The church was never built…”  .  Samoan Anglicans waited, with a visit each from Bishops Willis and Twitchell, and annual visits from Bishop Kempthorne from 1923. The LMS had assumed responsibility for the Apia Protestant Church and allowed it to be used by the visiting Bishops, but this permission was withdrawn when  Bishop Kempthorne signified his intention of appointing a permanent Chaplain to Samoa. 

 

 

Early Chaplaincy times

• In 1932 this permanent chaplaincy was established with the appointment of 28-year-old Father W.E. Moren from Britain. Two temporary chaplains had spent some time in Samoa from 1928 and found quite large numbers awaiting baptism and confirmation (28 confirmed in 1929) and the community very eager to get a permanent chaplain. Services were held first in the Seventh Day Adventist hall, but permission was withdrawn on the grounds that Anglicans burnt candles and held the doctrine of transubstantiation.  Anglican worship then moved to the cinema, at two pounds a month rent, but village, restaurant, market and dancehall noise was disruptive, and services held up by occasional dogfights. For a worshipping community in Samoa not to have a church, having regard to the large number of impressive churches belonging to the big mission bodies, was difficult. Other places for worship were investigated, including the Masonic Temple and Leifiifi Infant School, but none was available. Wesleyans refused the loan of an almost unused church on the grounds of Samoan objection.

 

• The Chaplain, Father Moren, and the Chaplaincy Committee (including, over the next seven years,  Messrs Syddall, Wallace, Partridge, McCarthy, Hufnagel Betham, August Betham, Murray, Dean, Braisby, Cobcroft, Chisholm, Moors, Wetzell, Proctor, Allen, Berking, Myer, Dyer, Greenwood, Reid, Wiggle, Tremewan, and  Judges Luxford, McCarthy and Harley) met monthly – in the Casino, Court House, Morris Hedstrom office, and members’ homes. The Minutes record that they hoped to lease or buy a house which could be used as a place of worship and a residence for the Chaplain. They looked at six houses and three land sites.

 

• In November 1933, a house belonging to Mr Syddall, with about two and a half acres of land, at Leifiifi, opposite the government school, was leased for two years for five pounds a month; Syddall was to have use of the vegetable patch in return for providing a nightwatchman; the Chaplaincy could make any structural alterations but if the property was not purchased at the end of the lease it was to be restored to original state; the landlord being responsible for maintenance and upkeep.  The Chaplain could spend 40 pounds on furniture and the official opening was to be the first Sunday 1934.  A cruciform chapel area with seating for 70 was constructed in the centre of the house for use for church services, and quarters for the Chaplain provided in the angle of the verandah and in a small annexe to the house.  In 1934, Syddall raised the rent to six pounds a month.  Betham built a vestry with materials given by Hall and Wetzell; in 1935 an extension was made to the house.

 

• In April 1936 Syddall accepted the Chaplaincy’s offer of 1000 pounds for the freehold.  At the August 1938 meeting tenders which had been submitted for painting the building exterior were discussed:  “It was resolved that the tender for labour at the rate of approximately 9 shillings a day of ‘Black Charlie’ be accepted: approximately 11 days work”. A church hall was constructed during Father Moren’s time as Chaplain.

 

 

Church construction

• In 1943, when Australian priest Father Charles Whonsbon-Aston arrived as Chaplain, after having served at two parishes in Fiji and as a missionary in New Guinea, members of the Anglican community were keen to build a church of their own on the Leifiifi site.  Whonsbon-Aston considered “a bright, happy, dignified little House of Worship” as a necessity for the Chaplaincy.  However it was war time and money and materials were very scarce. He and the Anglican community immediately drew up a long-term plan. A Building Committee was established. 

 

• On 3 December 1944, the foundation stone for a permanent church was laid by the then Adminstrator, A.C. Turnbull, and a speech given by the Hon Mata’afa Fiame Faumuina I.  This date was chosen as it was the 50th anniversary of the death of Robert Louis Stevenson (the “Falling Asleep of Tusitala”) in his home, Vailima, just up the hill from the Church land.  Whonsbon-Aston appealed to Scottish and other RLS interest groups for financial help on the basis of this link, and the suggestion that the church would be named “St Andrews”.  However this was mid-war and few donations were forthcoming from European sources.  Fundraising was difficult: Whonsbon-Aston was determined that all local donations should be voluntary free-will gifts. In the next two years 1500 pounds were raised.

 

• The Register at the service for the Laying of the Foundation Stone was signed by A.C. Turnbull, D.Grace Turnbull, Mata’afa F.F M. (I)., Fa’amu Mata’afa, A.G. Smythe (MLC), A. Braisby, O.Braisby, Tamasese, Tuimaleali’fano,  Olga Gebauer, Elizabeth Wallace, G. Chisholm, E.A. Chisholm, H.G. Schuster, Mary Yandall (+ one indecipherable)

 

• Over the next 14 years, thanks to the dedication of the Building Committee, the enthusiasm of local Anglicans, and  Whonsbon-Aston’s own great determination, money was raised, pound by pound, and a concrete church designed and slowly but surely constructed, furnished and decorated.  Given the circumstances at the time, with fluctuating copra and cocoa prices and exchange rates, with the war causing the prices of scarce building materials (cement, steel, sand, shingle) to rise, some to five times the pre-war prices, and given the tiny size of the Anglican community, Whonsbon-Aston’s description ‘miracle church’ would seem apt. 

 

• The honorary architect was Mr Schaafhausen, a German Old Catholic who had previously been Director of Public Works.  Interned in NZ during World War II, he and some other older Germans were released in 1944. The builder was Mr A. (Gus) Betham, who as a child had been baptised by Bishop Suter on his 1886 visit. Local monetary donations, though mostly small because of the times, were very significant and regular, and amounts were also received over the years from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the NZ Church of England and NZ Board of Missions, the Australian Board of Missions, the Diocese of Polynesia, individuals and parishes in Australian and New Zealand, from visiting donors, and friends in Europe and elsewhere. Local firms, and branches of Australian firms, the owners or managers of some of which were church members, helped with donations of materials and labour.

 

• In 1949 the house, but not the Chaplain’s accommodation annexe, was moved on coconut rollers poised on a platform of beams laid on oil drums to a point 50 feet away, and raised some 8-9 feet from the ground.  A concrete floor underneath made a cool under-cover space for Scout and other club activities.  An extension platform was added to the hall for a temporary worshipping space. The government modified its strict post-war rules about releasing building materials in return for the Chaplaincy agreeing to the temporary use of the hall for ‘the nucleus of a Samoan College of especially bright Samoan boys and girls’.

 

• In January 1950, the Chaplain moved into a room in the bungalow, with the furniture outside in a tent, protected at night by groups of Scouts, while the bungalow was renovated, eventually to provide pleasant living accommodation. The first stages of the church building began, the foundation and wall pillars were erected.   The foundation stone was re-set by the NZ High Commissioner, the Hon. G.R. Powles, in the presence of Bishop Kempthorne, in a service and ceremony on 2 November 1950.

 

• By 1952 it was possible to occupy the new church, though there was a great deal more to be done.  During this year almost all the windows (all gifts) were installed, the west end completed and the whole front and the outside wall of the south transept were plastered. In August 1952, on the encouragement of the NZ High Commissioner, the formal Building Appeal was re-opened after an eight-year lapse, with quick success. Nearly 1000 pounds were collected within a few months, together with donations of stone and cartage from, amongst others,  Messrs Miedecke, Arp, Reed, Von Reiche, Reid, Kelly and the management of Morris Hedstrom who released their foreman carpenter, Gus Shepperd, and a work-gang for a few days to put iron on the roof. 

 

• In early 1955, Gus Betham gifted a new altar of white concrete.  The work was all done locally.  Whonsbon-Aston notes that “Considerable ingenuity was displayed by Mr Betham in making the ‘boxing’’ for the concrete from biscuit tins and bottle tops”. Later in 1955 a new pulpit was constructed, to the same design and made with the same kind of material as the altar, the gift of Mrs Chisholm.

 

• In 1956 the overdraft was cleared; guarantors were happy that a new one be taken out, which enabled the church ceiling to be constructed and plastering completed in the sanctuary, which was painted a very pale blue. Other gifts and plaques celebrated the lives of the faithful departed: altar rails were installed in memory of the Chaplain’s mother; the High Commissioner’s father was commemorated with a plaque. The bell was a gift from some people who had attended the church in the past; the gates and a short wall were donated by the people of Kerang in the Diocese of Bendigo, as a result of an Australian speaking tour undertaken by the Chaplain on behalf of the Diocese.   Whenever funds ran out it seemed some form of help would be received, for example the donation by an anonymous friend of 100 pounds in 1957 towards the plastering of the walls.

 

• Church members unanimously chose the name “All Saints” for their church, which opened free of debt.  It was consecrated by Bishop Kempthorne on 19 October 1958.  200 people attended the Consecration, with 68 communicants.

 

                                                                                                Maureen Powles, September 2008

 

 

 

 

 Account of the Consecration of All Saints Apia in the Diocesan Church Gazette

 

Consecration of Churches are comparatively rare events, and I suppose that few priests have had the experience that I had of taking part in the consecration of the church in which they will minister, as the first act in arriving in a new country.  Such was my happy experience.  On a perfect Sunday morning the Procession round the Church began.  The Lord Bishop of Polynesia – the Right Reverend Dr L.S. Kempthorne – assisted by the Reverence H.W. Figgess and the writer, the former Chaplain (now) Archdeacon C.W. Whonsbon-Aston as Master of Ceremonies, the choir boys and band of Servers were taking part in the age-long ceremonial of the consecration of All Saints’ Church, Apia, to the greater glory of the Holy and Undivided Trinity.  With a full choir under the direction of Mr A. Gordon leading the singing of a congregation packed inside and outside the Church, the dignified service proceeded. 

 

Like the coronation and other great events, the Consecration is enshrined in the Holy Communion Service – the Lord’s Own Service.  No one will forget the great dramatic moments – the bishop knocking on the great West Door and crying, “Who is the King of Glory?” and the great response from inside, “The Lord of Hosts – HE is the King of Glory.”  Who will forget the moment of tracing the consecration mark of the cross in a circle on the Chancel arch and the stonemason chiselling it out with resounding blows?  Who will forget the sermon of Father Figgess, who told us that this house is built to enshrine the altar – the Table of the Lord – and that we are the people of God?  Who will forget the intense silence as the Father of the Family of God in Samoa – the Lord Bishop – consecrated our gifts of Bread and Wine and the dear Lord came to us in the new House we had offered and set aside for Him?  Who will forget the fellowship of members and leaders of other Christian bodies either with us in person or with us in spirit, having sent their letters of blessing and good wishes? 

 

Indeed and indeed it was a day to be remembered.  there must have been joy in Heaven, and what great joy in the heart of a much beloved priest, Fr. Aston, as he saw the gift of a beautiful church offered and set aside for ever to God Almighty.  For it is Fr. Aston who laboured and directed the “givingness” of all kinds of peoples to this object.  That morning he saw the fruition and climax, and the joy of all was a part of his joy also.

 

After the memorable service came to an end, we joined together in a breakfast meal of ‘hot dogs’ in the Parish Hall adjoining in the lovely tropical gardens of the Church and Chaplaincy.  But that was not the end of that memorable day.  In the afternoon the first baptisms were administered in the newly consecrated Church.  Then in the evening the Lord Bishop confirmed some dozen minors and adults.  Then the Bishop proceeded to institute the Rev. C.W. Whonsbon-Aston as the Vicar of Levuka and to instal him as the Archdeacon of Fiji.  We all felt moved at that moment to know that our friend and pastor for the past 15 years was going to leave us, but had been honoured by the church in this way.  Samoa then having no chaplain, the Bishop instituted the writer as the Chaplain in Western Samoa.  It was with the hearts full of joy and thanksgiving that everyone knelt that night to receive the blessing of the Bishop at the end of one of the greatest days in the life of the Church in Western Samoa, and the life of the Diocese of Polynesia.

 

J.S.Martin

Church Gazette 120, Feb 1959 p4

References      

Annual Reports, Chaplaincy in Western Samoa, Diocese of Polynesia: 1932, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955                                                            

Chaplaincy in Western Samoa, Committee Minutes 1932 – 1939, and Church Registers (various)

Diocese of Polynesia, Church Gazettes

Whonsbon-Aston, C.W. Address by the Chaplain in Western Samoa Inaugurating the Fund for a Church and Chaplaincy House in Ifi Ifi, Apia Western Samoa, 1944

Whonsbon-Aston, C.W. Letters to Bishop L.S. Kempthorne 1943 - 1958

Whonsbon-Aston, C.W. Polynesian Patchwork. Westminister: SPG, 1948

Whonsbon-Aston, C.W. The Moon and Polynesia. Sydney:ABM, 1961