News Archive 2003

The many people who love the peaceful simplicity of Jerusalem's "old convent" will be delighted to know that the building is to be maintained unchanged into the future.

It is on Maori land and is used by the Sisters of Compassion, some of whom have continued to live at the Whanganui River settlement since the closure of their convent and boarding school in 1969.

Sister Sue Cosgrove is one of the three sisters established at the tiny settlement. She said the convent building - formally known as Hato Hohepa (Saint Joseph's) - and nearby St Joseph's Church both needed maintenance. A conservation report was being done by Wellington architect Chris Cochrane. It would be finished at the end of this month.

The 1892 church had a Historic Places Trust listing and needed repiling. The convent was the same age and was basically sound but needed a sprinkler system. There would also be other more minor repairs.

The cost of maintenance was likely to be substantial. Sr Sue was not daunted by this, and said the work would be done step by step, and paid for by fundraising. Local people, who were mostly Ngati Hau, would be consulted along the way.

The convent school started in 1883, in another building. After the 1892 building was finished it housed up to 10 sisters and 20 boarders, with about 50 children attending the school.

When the school closed in 1969 the former convent building was used by the Catholic order for retreats. Then in the mid-1970s friends of the sisters asked to stay in it at Christmas time. They did, and the building has had an increasing flow of visitors ever since.

Sr Sue said the order had never decided to use it as "a resting place for travellers and pilgrims", but that was what it had become. People were now booking in, or else just turning up hoping for a bed, and no one had been turned away so far.

These days the sisters charge visitors $10 a night and it's advisable to book ahead. Visitors include road works, artists and school groups and casual travellers. The place was now booked solid until Christmas, and it was listed in two international guide books for travellers.

People were expected to bring their own food, which they could cook there.

"If you turn up without food, which they occasionally do, we are more than happy to share what we've got with them, " Sr Sue said.

Hiruharama is on the historic Whanganui River Road, 64 kms from Wanganui. Although parts of the road are unsealed and it can be tortuous, it attracts tourists. Some are passing through, some stop specifically to see the grave of James K Baxter - the poet who established a community there in 1969 and died in 1972.

Some visitors were attracted by stories of the convent and school. From 1883 to 1889 it was the home of Suzanne Aubert, who founded the Sisters of Compassion, the only Catholic order started in New Zealand.

There had been extra interest in this since the 1996 publication of Jessie Munro's award winning biography The Story of Suzanne Aubert.

The convent itself had an ambience which kept people coming back.

"It's holy ground. All those sisters who lived there - their prayer, goodwill, faith, trust and hope is established in the place. It all just rings it. People go away feeling better for having been here," Sr Sue said.

Hard work and prayer are still part of the place. The average age of the three sisters who live there - Sue Cosgrove, Anna-Maria Shortall and Laboure Butler - is 70. They look after the buildings, grow vegetables, make jam and keep the convent clean.

They take church services every Sunday, and have prayers at 7.30am and 5.30pm daily. These days they share a sunny modern house behind the church and convent.

They spend a lot of time hosting visitors too. Some want to stay the night, or several nights, others only want a tour of the buildings.

Sr Sue said the convent consisted of dormitories, a gathering room, a small cosy room with a log burner, two kitchens and an old wash-house with an agitator machine.

Visitors have said staying there was like stepping back in time.

"We've got no intention of altering it. We're intending to conserve it, but not change it," Sr Sue said.