Eureka Classis
On June 7, 1911, seven ministers and sixteen congregations organized to form the Eureka Classis. The name of the Classis came from the Greek word ‘eureka’ which means ‘I found it’ and not on the town Eureka, South Dakota, where the second meeting of the Classis would be held. The name was designed to mean that they had found a solution to their doctrinal problems with the rest of the denomination.
Wanaka
European settlement began in the Upper Clutha River Valley in the 1850s, with the establishment of sheep stations by runholders. The first station was at Albert Town, the only place where settlers could ford the Clutha River. The present site of Wanaka was first surveyed in 1863, and settlement increased in Pembroke (the old name for Wanaka) during the 1870s because of timber milling in the Matukituki Valley and the use of Lake Wanaka for transport.