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Journals and Papers of Reverend Charles Baker
2018
Through his writings Charles Baker describes and records a rapidly changing world through moments of cross-cultural interaction and exchange between Māori and the growing European population, beginning in the late 1820s.
Baker’s first journal opens on 2 January 1827 as he is about to embark on his journey to New Zealand as a missionary with the Anglican Church Missionary Society. He writes:
“I certainly expect many trials and difficulties in the Missionary field, therefore I feel that it is needful to beseech God to give me an increase of faith, so that I may stand steadfast.”
After a short stay in Australia, Baker arrived in Paihia, Bay of Islands, in 1828. His journals chronicle the next 39 years of his life and work in Aotearoa, charting a time of immense cultural and societal change.
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