Skip to main content
Marsden Cross.

Rangihoua Heritage Park

Located in Kerikeri area in the Northland region

Introduction

New Zealand's first Christmas: Explore the first planned European settlement where Māori and Europeans learned to live side by side.

The Marsden Cross memorial, erected in 1907, marks where New Zealand's very first Christmas Day was celebrated in 1814. The service was lead by Christian missionary Samuel Marsden and witnessed by Māori who lived in the adjacent pā.

The day marked the start of New Zealand's first European settlement, a situation that was only made possible because of the protection of powerful Chief Ruatara who had an understanding with, and respect for, Samuel Marsden.