Tauranga City Libraries

The Missionaries - 1949 - 1997

Duff and Gertrude Maxwell 1949-1997

Neither Alice nor Edith married. After discussion with her nephews, Grant and Duff Maxwell, Alice decided that she would leave the property to Duff as life tenant. So, in 1949, Duff and Gertrude moved up from Taranaki to take over guardianship of The Elms. The property which they inherited needed a great deal of work. Money was always scarce, and considerable sacrifices had to be made in order to provide what Duff considered to be appropriate care of the mission station. Duff left The Elms in 1992 and died in September 1997.

In 1962 The Elms Historic Family Home Preservation Trust Inc. was established to provide Duff with support and help in the maintenance of the property. One of the first tasks undertaken in 1964 was the building of a replica chapel to replace the original which had fallen into disrepair in the 1880s.

Under Duff's custodianship, several notable gifts were made to The Elms: a slab and shingle whare built in the King country in 1919 was donated by J.D. and M.Menzies in the late 1960s; a Fencible cottage was donated in 1972 and is now used as an office and meeting room for The Elms Trust committee and tour guides.

Major repair work was carried out on the mission house in 1976 under the supervision of the Ministry of Works. More recently restoration work has been done on the Library, funded by a generous donation from a community trust.

The mission station has passed into public ownership with the
establishment of The Elms Foundation in 1998. Funding for the purchase has come from charitable organisations and businesses in Tauranga and the western Bay of Plenty as well as from the Lotteries Board Heritage Fund. Trustees and a Board of Directors are now responsible for the management of the property.

The mission house and library carry a New Zealand Historic Places Trust Class 1 registration, the other buildings are Class 2, and the whole site is designated a Historic Area.

Further information is available through the Tauranga City Libraries’New Zealand Room.