Church College of New Zealand

Foundations were laid for CCNZ in the early 1950s. The first visit to a property in the area occurred in 1950. The mission president, Gordon C.Young, drove out to the area, and when first seeing the site as he drove over a nearby hill where he pictured in his mind white buildings on the property and immediately felt this was the place the LDS Church was to build a school. He arranged to acquire the property the same day. He specifically stated many times that he did not ever see the temple on the property in vision because he had only been given the assignment to find property and also that only the LDS Church president could propose sites for a new temple. Church representatives from Utah came and inspected the property, and members of the church from all over New Zealand slowly moved into the area to work as labor missionaries on the project.

Before work commenced on the school, the surrounding property began to be developed, including accommodations for the people who came to work were built, and a social infrastructure was established. Initially, there were only a few people at the site. Much of the surrounding land was peat, and it took some ingenuity to make the land agriculturally productive. The temple foundations were put in place after McKay selected the site at a later date

Many of the existing buildings were used as temporary quarters for those participating in construction and administration. Cottages were built to house the building missionaries when they arrived. Dormitory-type accommodations were provided for the single men. Food was sent in from the church members in other parts of the country, and some of it was grown locally.

A stream ran across the property behind the men's accommodation and behind their eating house. In the winters it always flooded so the men's accommodation and some of the cottages were usually semi-submerged in water at the time. A young child drowned in the stream so for safety concrete piping was brought in for protection, and to seal the stream.

The concrete bricks for the school buildings were manufactured locally by a special crew of building missionaries. There were specialist plumbing, electrical, painting, welding, mechanic and other crews for the construction of the many facilities. Supervisors for these crews were called from the U.S. They came with their families, and helped greatly with the overall communal life of the building missionaries. The building missionaries were exposed to the way the LDS Church did things in the U.S., and this helped facilitate the transition of the LDS Church in New Zealand from its mission status to the stake and ward system.