Pompallier House is a nineteenth-century building located in Russell, New Zealand which once served as the headquarters to the French Catholic mission to the Western Pacific. It is named after Jean Baptiste Pompallier, the first vicar apostolic to visit New Zealand, who founded a number of missions in the North Island.
Pompallier House is owned and managed by Heritage New Zealand, who open it to the public. It is New Zealand's oldest Roman Catholic building, oldest rammed earth building, and oldest industrial building.
Pompallier House and gardens.
The Gaveaux printing press in the Pompallier House
Russell, also known by the Māori name Kororāreka, is a town in the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand's far north. It was the first permanent European settlement and seaport in New Zealand.
Russell
Christ Church, built in 1835 and New Zealand's oldest church.
Memorial for Royal Navy personnel killed during fighting in 1845.
The first public notice in New Zealand was printed for Kororarika [sic] by William Colenso's press in Paihia, across the Bay of Islands.