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Story: Tokelauans

Sacred Heart Church, Petone

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Sacred Heart Church, Petone

Petone, in the Hutt Valley, was another major centre of Tokelauan settlement, and many migrants attended local churches there. In 1985 a mass was held in the Sacred Heart Church to celebrate the publication of the first Tokelauan–English Sunday missal (texts for the Sunday service). It was the first time the congregation had heard the Catholic mass in their own language.

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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Melanie Lovell-Smith

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Tokelauans – Culture and custom, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/731/sacred-heart-church-petone (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 March 2015.