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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre

The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre, Auckland, commonly called St. Sepulchre's, is the successor of a temporary building bearing that name, that was erected in the year 1865, on land adjoining the Auckland cemetery. This land was purchased in the early days of the Colony by Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, and by him set apart as the site of the future church. The builders of the church were five well-known Auckland citizens, now dead—namely, Messrs George Patrick Pierce, John Roberton, John Anderson Gilfillan, John Kelly, and Captain Salmon. The Bishop placed the Rev. B. T. Dudley (who had up till then been serving under Bishop Patteson in the Melanesian Mission) in charge of the church, and it has continued under his charge until the present day. As the population of the district increased, and with it the congregation, the temporary building was twice enlarged, and at one time Bishop John Selwyn held some successful mission services in it. A building fund, carefully nursed for many years, enabled the church committee at length to purchase what was deemed a better site in Khyber Pass; and in 1882 the present commodious wooden edifice was consecrated by Bishop Cowie, on St. Peter's Day (the 29th of June), the anniversary of his own consecration. The following year the Bishop appointed Mr. Dudley to the Archdeaconry of Auckland, in succession to the Venerable Archdeacon Maunsell, LL.D. Since the beginning of the work, five other churches have been erected within the bounds of the original district; and the congregation of the mother church often fills the building in the evenings. Two years ago, a large and commodious schoolhouse and parish hall was erected on the church site; a parsonage having been provided some years previously. Several of the present clergy of the diocese have served their apprenticeship as curates at St. Sepulchre's, which now, it may be added, possesses the finest church organ in Auckland, duly paid for.