A CROSS ON A HILL\nWHAKATUMUTUMU MISSION\nIf you are travelling on State Highway 3, approaching State Highway 4 from either direction, an eagle eye will spot a cross standing high on the skyline of a hill just south of that highway junction. For those with really sharp vision there can be seen a cairn, surmounted by a smaller cross, on the flat area of ground just below the cross first mentioned. Why are these crosses standing on this spot, at Arapae, some 11 kilometres south of Te Kuiti?\nEarly settlers in the area discovered a lonely grave, with a headstone on which was roughly engraved the word “Mira” on a hill at Arapae – Mira being the Maori rendering of Miller. Who was this person Miller and why a grave, in what must have been an isolated spot some 170 years ago? We need to caste our minds back to 1840 to seek the answer.\nFrederick Miller was born in the Parish of Ballymaguiggan, Northern Ireland. There he was baptised and later married his wife, Susan, who had been born in Yorkshire. It would appear that Frederick Miller and his wife, both at a young age, were posted by the Weslyan Mission Society to New Zealand, arriving in Wellington in 1839. They stayed there until the birth of their first child then sailed to Kawhia where they met their superintendant, Rev John Whiteley. Around 1840 the young catechist, Frederick Miller, his wife Susan and family, wished to establish their own mission, despite being in their early twenties. The Millers chose to go to Arapae, an area south of where Te Kuiti is now established, as an extension to the work of Rev George Buttle based at Te Koupua. This was a major undertaking for the young family and, instead of an arduous overland journey they were paddled by canoe to the Mokau River. There they spent a night at the Mahoe Mission Station, then continued up the Mokau River until they reached the junction with the Mangapehi River. Here stood a high hill, which was soon named Mount Zion by Miller, overlooking both the Mokau and Mangapehi Rivers. Not only was the rivers’ meeting overlooked but also the junction of two major Maori tracks; the main north south track and the one to the Whanganui River, via Ongarue. Miller chose a flat area of about half a hectare just below the summit of Mt Zion for his house and mission chapel site. A raupo chapel was erected, with a stone fire place, measuring 30 feet by 16 feet – this much is known. Of the operation of the Mission Station little is known other than very brief mentions in early travellers’ diaries such as Donald McLean (later Sir Donald), Rev John Whiteley and Rev John Hobbs. Whiteley records in his diary on 21 February 1847 the baptism of two Miller children. His diary also shows previous baptisms of Maori converts at the Mission in October 1844 and November 1845.\nBy August 1848 Frederick Miller’s health was deteriorating, compelling him to travel to Auckland for medical advice. He returned to Whakatumutumu during October 1848 and there he died in December of that year. As instructed his faithful Maori friends buried him on the summit of the peak he had named Mount Zion. “Mira” his Maori given name, was carved into the soft rock and a small fence erected round the grave. Mrs Miller and her children were taken back to Auckland by some of her husband’s Maori followers, where they were looked after by the Rev. Lawry. The only further written references to the Whakatumutumu Mission Station are by Rev John Hobbs and Rev George Buttle. Hobbs passed through the area, travelling from the Hokianga, in December 1848 shortly after Miller’s death. Along with the Rev and Mrs William Kirk he was journeying to Ohinemotu (on the Whanganui River) for the Rev Kirk to establish a mission there. The group stayed for three days at Whakatumutumu preaching to the Maori people and visiting Frederick Miller’s grave. In 1850 Rev Buttle reported that he had returned from an extended visit of his parish – including Whakatumutumu. He wrote:\n“At Whakatumutumu I was very satisfied with what I saw. Their neat little chapel, with the exception of the doors and windows, had been entirely their own effort”. (It had been made of squared rhyolite rock from the cliff face just above it).\nWhakatumutumu Mission Station was never staffed again by a missionary after Miller’s death, though there is evidence (as above) that some of the Maori he taught continued the work of the Mission. Despite this evidence the Station was perhaps forgotten for the next 50 years or so until 1904. At this time Mr Gabriel E Elliott, a missioner, who was seeking signatures from Maori to gain title to some land he was taking up, heard some of the Maori singing old hymns. Elliott asked where they had learnt them. Two Maori stated that they had attended a mission school run by “Mira” and they offered to take him up to Miller’s grave site. After the visit Mr Elliott made con-siderable effort to ascertain the history of the Wakatumutumu Mission, which reveals that two Maori, Te Pupa and Pareone were responsible for the continuation of Miller’s work on that spot.\nAs a result of Elliot’s research, the then owner of the property Mr E T Buckley, assisted by members of Miller’s descendants, erected a cross on the summit of Mount Zion, over Rev. Miller’s grave. Today, below this hill top cross, on the small plateau, stands a cairn and an affixed plaque, surmounted by a cross from the demolished Te Kuiti Methodist Church. This cairn marks the site of the Whakatumutumu chapel on which an attached plaque records the following:-THIS CAIRN MARKS THE CHAPEL SITE OF THE\nWESLYAN MISSION ESTABLISHED HERE AT WAKATUMUTUMU\nBY THE REV. FREDERICK MILLER SENT OUT\nBY THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN 1840.\nHERE AT THIS LONELY PLACE, THIS GODLY MAN WITH\nHIS BRAVE WIFE LED A FEROCIOUS PRIMITIVE RACE\nFROM HEATHEN DARKNESS TO THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIAN\nCIVILISATION, DIED AT HIS POST ON DUTY IN 1848 AGED 32 YEARS\nTHE CROSS ON THE HILLSIDE MARKS HIS TOMB\n‘SERVANT OF GOD, WELL DONE’\nTHIS CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL\nWAS DEDICATED ON MAY 23RD 1959\nToday the cross on Mount Zion is visible to all who look for it as they pass by, but the Cairn and Cross on the small plateau below really demands a stop to see it clearly from the highways’ junction. To those who have more time, if travelling south, turn down State Highway 4, take the first turn to the right, seek out the public entrance and climb the hill to the cross. The view from the cross or chapel site is worth the effort and gives the opportunity to reflect on this site which once was so remote from fellow European contact