Sommervell, A. M., fl 1850s :Waerenga-a-Hika Mission Station, C[hurch] M[issionary] S[ociety] [ca 1858]

Mission station, school, church, garden and small farm established by Rev William Williams in 1857. Shows a small house right foreground, a fenced in area with sheep (or possibly goats) beyond and the church (and schoolroom?) beyond that. A path leads up to a central fenced area with a green crop growing in rows and the main house with a flagpole in its front garden to the left. Washing is hanging on a line behind the house and there are bare hills to the left and a bushed area to the right in the background. In the left foreground is a single mature cabbage tree. Maori children (or possibly naive drawings of adults) are scattered around the image.

Artist's name may be spelled Sommerville or Somerville. Note on reverse of painting spells it Sommervell. As there are no other spelling errors in the text on the reverse, and as this is one possibly spelling of the name, this has been taken to be the correct version. Una Platts in her book 'Nineteenth century New Zealand artists; a guide and handbook' spells it Sommerville and the Library previously had the name recorded as Somerville - both from 2nd-hand information.

The landscape is not entirely accurate, possibly because the amateur artist had not mastered perspective. The hills are not exactly as they should be, although the bush in the valley behind the station is well-drawn. The date of the watermark, however confirms that this must be Bishop William's second station, not his first.

Rev William William established this station in 1857 and left it in 1865, when threatened by a group of Hau Hau fraternising with the local Turanga Maori. The main house on the left, single-storied and with a hipped roof, may be the same house as that occupied by William Williams at Turangi and shown in a salt print in Mantell's sketchbook at C-103-019. The house was dismantled and shifted to the new site over the period 1855 to 1857. By 1865, the house looked quite different and is shown in photographs and the Library's watercolour by Joseph Rhodes as being two-storied.

Other Titles - The native mission near Gisborne Waerengaahika

Inscriptions: Backing board verso - "East Coast. Waeranga-a-Hika Mission Station C.M.S. Formed in 1856 by Rev. W. Williams who established first mission station at Kaupapa in 1839. Painted by A.M.Sommervell c.1858. Mission built on land given by Aitangamahaki tribe. Watermark J. Whatman Turkey Mill 1857" [in pencil, presumably written in the 20th century by an earlier owner]; Backing board recto - bottom left - The native mission near Gisborne [in pencil, very faintly written. Probably an earlier inscription than the firmer pencil inscription on the verso]

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Pencil & watercolour 195 x 248 mm

Provenance: From the collection of Dr Neville Hogg; purchased by him in 1976 from International Art Centre, Parnell. Earlier provenance unknown.