Unwavering belief, commitment, love and memory are the very things an earthquake-damaged stone church near the Marlborough coastline was built on a century ago.
St Oswald’s Memorial Church, situated on State Highway 1 between Kaikōura and Blenheim, was severely damaged in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.
As part of an extensive restoration effort, the church is now covered in plastic sheeting, and its owners are working hard to restore the roadside monument to its former glory.
Leicester Murray, the grandchild of Charles and Jessie Murray — who built the church in 1927 in memory of their 19-year-old son, Hector, who died in Geneva — spoke to Seven Sharp about the restoration project.
“We’re so looking forward to taking the wrapping off and [the church] being how it was — it will look a million dollars,” he said.
Murray, his wife Laura, and their only child, Wilson, began restoring the church in 2018 after engineers declared it would not need to be demolished.
Murray said Wilson was passionate about the restoration project. Tragically, 21-year-old Wilson died in a car accident two years ago.
“We know he believed in the restoration of St Oswald’s,” Murray said. “There are many times we feel he’s just on our shoulders going, ‘Come on, you two, you can do this. Just get on with it, don’t overcomplicate it.'”
St Oswald’s will now honour Wilson, whose ashes will be interred in the church walls, alongside Hector’s, whose remains were recently exhumed in Switzerland and cremated.
“The building represents so much about parents’ love for a son, for a child,” said Murray.
Added Laura: “I often think of Charles and Jessie [Murray’s grandparents] and their child, and we’re in their shoes. I think about what they did for their son and if we can do that for our son.”
The church was gifted to the Anglican Diocese in the 1930s, but with the earthquake repairs deemed beyond Anglican coffers, it was offered back to the current generations of the Murray family.
Laura described her hopes for the church once it’s fully restored: She’d like others to enjoy its beauty.
“I want the key in the door, and I want people to come in and be at peace, as was the case for the last 100 years — the key has been in the door.
“It is an icon on State Highway 1, and forever may it be.”
Memorialisation will forever be a part of the church’s purpose, and so will celebration.
“There will be weddings in that church, christenings in that church, and there will be Christmas celebrations in that church,” said Laura.
And the key will be in the door, “for anyone to walk in and just be”.
