Riverside Community is a village at Lower Moutere, near

Motueka Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of as of The surrounding district has a numb ...

, New Zealand, founded by Christian pacifists in 1941.

History

Riverside is one of the oldest

Intentional Communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, which may be politica ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and has its beginnings in 1941 when a group of Christian Pacifists agreed to adopt a way of life based on co-operation. They wanted to demonstrate that this was a practical alternative to the competitive ways of normal society which are a major contributor to wars. One of the organisers was the pacifist leader Archibald Barrington. J. E. Cookson, "Pacifism and Conscientious Objection in New Zealand" in ''Challenge to Mars : essays on pacifism from 1918 to 1945'', edited by Peter Brock and Thomas P. Socknat. University of Toronto Press, 1999.. (p. 292) One of the group contributed 30 acres of farmland and orchard, in the Lower Moutere Valley, and some of them moved there to live. Several of the founding members were

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

s to the compulsory military scheme during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. These men spent the war years on a prison farm in the

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while their wives and children moved to the small farm in Lower Moutere. After the war, the Religious Charitable Riverside Community Trust (RCT) was founded and, over time, new land was purchased and the hilly scrub land cleared and cultivated.

Community life and living

Today Riverside consists of 208 hectares of land, mainly used as a dairy farm. It has a growing number of secondary businesses including a Cafe, a Community Centre, Orchards, Organic Gardens and a shop. Income is shared and distributed depending on family size rather than occupation. Riverside assets are owned by the Trust and there is no private ownership of houses or cars. The community's general fund helps to meet basic needs such as health care, dental care, electricity and phone while other needs are subsidised like education and travel costs. Community families live in self-contained homes and children attend local schools or choose to home educate. The farm produces beef, dairy products, eggs and vegetables to supply either members and local neighbours. There is a shared lunch every Wednesday open to everyone. Permanent members are about 20 adult members and 10 children, but a limited number of tenants, visitors and volunteer workers can sometimes swell the numbers to 80. There are several festivals and commemorations held each year: Spring Festival, Harvest festival, Winter Solstic, Easter, Christmas, Riverside Founders Day, Matariki, International Conscientious Objectors day and commemorate Parihaka Peace Day.

Peace focus

All members are responsible for the management of the community and assets and decisions are made by consensus by a weekly meeting. The community is committed to environmental and sustainability issues as well as to social justice both locally and internationally. Every year, funds are allocated to support other organisations with programmes aimed at the eradication of poverty and suffering. The main contribution to peace making is the way of life promoted and members' adherence to the founders basic principles; “If a group of individuals pool their resources, cooperate and live simply, they can create a resource and surplus income to be used for the greater good of society”.

Notable people

* Archibald Charles Barrington * Hubert Reginald Holdaway

References

Bibliography

* Barrington, Rosemary Eleanor. (1976). ''Riverside: a community in the country''. Wellington N.Z. Reed Education. * Parr, Arnold Richard. (1994). ''The development of collective ownership and control by an intentional community : an analysis of the organisation of Riverside Community in New Zealand''. Christchurch N.Z. Sociology Dept., University of Canterbury Press. * Rain, Lynn (1991). ''Community, the story of Riverside, 1941-1991''. Lower Moutere, New Zealand. Riverside Community Press.

External links

* {{coord, 41, 09, 52, S, 172, 59, 45, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city Christian communities Populated places in the Tasman District