Missionaries, Wives and Roses
When the Reverend Samuel Marsden, under the mantle of the Chief Ruatara, sent his missionaries to the far north of New Zealand, they were unprepared for the hardships that followed. This book is a double celebration, of New Zealander Ken Nobbs: missionary, nurseryman, rose breeder and writer, and of the early missionary wives who are honoured in his roses.
Nobbs, in writing about his roses stated, “I am offering a number of new rambler roses which are summer flowering followed by a display of hips which add colour in the late summer to late autumn and provide a useful source of food to our bird population. Instead of identifying them by numbers I have distinguished them by names, taking the opportunity to honour the memory of pioneer women who might otherwise be forgotten.”
It could be argued that women shouldered a greater burden in the name of the Lord than their husbands as they coped with home, childbearing, and educating their children and others, nursing as well as ministering when they could. That they did all that in a strange land with strange language, climate, flora and fauna and the people of the first nation is a wondrous achievement.
Small wonder that Nobbs wanted to honour them.
The missionary wives coped with outbreaks of disease, which carried off many of their children; wars between tribes as well as warfare between missionaries. They were often alone, missionary ‘widows’, as their husbands travelled widely attending to their work. Duty to the wives was paramount and the phrase ‘firmed the will and straightened the back’ has been frequently used to describe their response to their many travails.
New Zealand has been served well by these women’s stoicism, determination, and faith.