‘Welcome to Purgatory, Brother Creed’. With these words Otago’s first resident missionary, James Watkins, greeted his replacement at the southern Wesleyan mission at Waikouaiti in April 1844. Undaunted, Charles Creed got straight down to business, preaching fluently in Maori and impressing both Watkin and his Kāi Tahu congregation. A Somerset man, Charles Creed was born in 1812, the son of a farmer. Following in his father’s footsteps on the land, Creed was converted to Methodism as a teenager and in 1836 began his training for the ministry in London.
Two years later, and by then married to Eliza Harris, he was despatched to New Zealand to bolster the Methodist mission in the Hokianga. Once established, however, the Creeds sailed on to Taranaki where they opened a new mission station at Ngamotu. Eliza was the first European woman to live in Taranaki and gave birth there to their only surviving child. Creed was thus experienced in New Zealand conditions, and familiar with Māori and their language, when he was appointed to replace James Watkin in the southernmost Wesleyan mission station.
Creed benefitted from Watkin’s pioneering work but took the mission to new heights as he traversed the southern landscape to visit its scattered communities with greater energy and enthusiasm than his predecessor. Whether by boat along the coast, or on foot, Creed covered vast distances as he preached, conducted weddings and baptised. Along the way he developed a great interest in Kāi Tahu customs and traditions, recording information as he went.
With the arrival of the John Wickliffe and Philip Laing in 1848 the nature of the Otago mission changed. As well as his Māori charges, Creed now had European Methodists to look after. More than that, he also began offering Anglican services in Dunedin for the large number of Anglicans among the first settlers. This brought him into conflict with Captain Cargill who sent him a letter suggesting he stick to his mission at Waikouaiti and leave Dunedin to the Presbyterians. Creed published the correspondence in the town newspaper and carried on regardless. Ill health prompted a shift to Wellington in 1852 and then to Australia where Creed died in 1879.
Reverend and Mrs Charles Creed