Delphin-Victor Moreau

Fr DELPHIN MOREAU, aged 29 (on arrival in New Zealand in Group VII on 18 Feb 1843).

After learning Maori in the Hokianga, in 1845 he went to Opotiki and stayed till the Viard Marist exodus to Wellington was imminent. Then he lived in Rotorua as companion to Reignier till a replacement arrived, He reached Wellington on 11 July 1851 and left two days later for Nelson where he was Garin's assistant for eight years. In 1859 he was back in Wellington from where he travelled as Viard required him to fill needs. This travelling included three visits to Otago. The third visit was in April 1861, after which he was to be posted to Otaki. But he was caught in Dunedin by the gold rush and had to stay for over ten years, organising the Catholics who mushroomed throughout Otago and Southland. It was mid-September 1871 before he got to Otaki which had been visited but had had no resident priests since Comte's departure in 1854. He was disappointed in the Maori response to his presence so in 1878, with growing pressure from European Catholics settling in the Manawatu, he transferred the base to Feilding. When he retired in 1883 he volunteered to live at Jerusalem where a Whanganui River mission to Maori was being revived that year. The effort proved beyond him. After a few months there his health failed and he died at Wanganui on 19 December 1883, aged 79. He is buried in the Heads Road cemetery, Wanganui.

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