ARRIVAL OF THE JOHN TAYLOR
Dominion 16th November 1963
(Probably written by Cecil & Celia Manson)

It was a blustery, grey November day 110 years ago when colonists of the growing township of Wellington stood on the beach awaiting the 788-ton sailing ship the John Taylor. Among those scanning the faces of the new arrivals were 69 Scots who had sent to the Free Church of Scotland for a minister. And there he was, the
Reverend John Moir, a well-built, keen-eyed man with the sideboads and short beard fashionable in that day.
Carefully he and his delicate wife counted off their children, Jessie, Jane, Elizabeth, David, James and Robert, and prepared them to meet the welcoming party waiting to present the minister with a silk gown and a purse of
sovereigns.

The excitement of the occasion did not make him forget to leave instructions for the unloading of the precious cargo he had bvrought with him. it was a fine bell, purchased for £25, which he hoped would occupy the belfry of the church he intended to see built. Also in his possession was a skin-bound Bible sent to him by David
Livingstone, to whom he had been pastor and useful friend, having influenced the London Missionary Society to send Livingstone to Africa. A few days later, on November 17, the congregation of St. John's Presbyterian Church, Willis St, held its first service.'