A bishop’s crozier, carved to celebrate a centenary of bicultural partnership, was returned to Maori at a church service in Auckland on Sunday evening.  

The 100-year-old crozier, formerly kept in a strongroom in the Auckland Diocesan Offices, will now be carried as a symbol of the bicultural journey between Maori and Pakeha will feature in upcoming bicentennial celebrations of the Christian gospel in New Zealand. 

The crozier was originally given to the then Anglican Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Walter Averill, in 1914.

It marked 100 years since Samuel Marsden and other Anglican missionaries, alongside Maori chief Ruatara, arrived in New Zealand to establish the first permanent European settlement with Maori at Oihi in the Bay of Islands. 

The gift of the crozier – by the four Northern Maori tribes – was reported in the Church Gazette of 1914.

It was discovered by accident this year by Bishop Ross Bay.

On Sunday night Bishop Ross and Bishop Jim White gave it back to Maori at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Khyber Pass. It was accepted by Bishop Kito Pikaahu, of Te Tai Tokerau.

Bishop Kito intends to carry it round his hui amorangi and will take it to Oihi on Christmas Day.

During Sunday's service Bishop Kito invited descendants of those who gave the crozier 100 years ago to come forward and hold it. 

He named the crozier Te Take ki Oihi, which identifies Oihi as the beginning of a bicultural journey. 

“The shape of this crozier tells of the wellspring of life and it symbolises the continuity of a strong relationship between the Diocese of Auckland and the Diocese of Te Tai Tokerau,” Bishop Kito added.

He noted that it was made from four woods, showing the tribes’ various identities but also their unity in one crozier. 

To mark the bicentenary the Diocese of Auckland also made a koha of $50,000 to the hui amorangi.

Very little is known about the crozier, including who carved it.

The diocese asks anyone who knows its history to come forward. One photo shows it being held by Bishop Eric Gowing, Bishop of Auckland from 1960-78.