A Pioneer Student And Teacher

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31440, 5 August 1967, Page 4

A Pioneer Student And Teacher

The Misty Isle. By N. A. R. Barrer. Printed by Whitcombe and Tombs. 209 pp. This autobiography by Mrs Barrer was written during the last two years of her life

which terminated in her 86th year. She was justifiably proud of her pioneer forbears. Her father, J. A. R. Greensill, was a second cousin of Lord Roberts of Kandahar. Destined for the army, he was educated at Carshalton Military School and would have gone thence to Woolwich; but ill health led him at the age of 17 to leave his regiment and try his fortune

in New Zealand. With his brother-in-law. Captain W. D. H. Baillie, who was to hold office as second Superintendent of Marlborough, Mr Greensill arrived in Nelson in 1856, and moved shortly afterwards to Marlborough. After farming at Erina and at Arapawa Island, he ran a successful stock and station agency in Picton where he became Mayor. Mrs Barrer was a staunch Anglican, and her account of the Holy Trinity Church, Picton will have a special interest to readers who have been associated, with that place of worship. The reviewer, when visiting that church in 1939, was surprised to find a carved canopy over the vestry dpor. It seemed so out of place. An explanation for its being there is given by Mrs Barrer who says that it was removed from above the pulpit in 1935 to make way for a new organ. The author’s memories of her childhood are sometimes blurred; but she writes with more assurance when dealing with her years at Wellington Giris’ High School (1892-7). By consulting contemporary copies of the “Reporter”—the school magazine which she helped to edit, Mrs Barrer has been able to present a sustained and lively picture of that period of her life. Memories of her student days at the University of Canterbury lead her to provide

some pen portraits of the professors she came to know then—Professors Macmillan Brown, Wall and Dendy, to mention only three. This section of her book will certainly merit perusal by those who are gathering material for the centennial history of the university. After completing the degree of Master of Arts with firstclass honours in botany, Mrs Barrer took up a teaching appointment in 1902 at Hukarere Maori Girls’ School, Napier. In the following year she was appointed Headmistress (“scholastic side only”), of the Queen Victoria School for Maori Giris at Auckland. As Mrs Barrer re tained diaries kept during her short teaching career, her account of the life that went on in these two Maori boarding schools carries the conviction of a narrative faithfully documented. The book ends a little abruptly with its account of the author's marriage which took place on 16th November, 1904. It might have gone on to tell of her experiences as a farmer's wife in the backblocks of the Wairarapa. had not death intervened. Also left untold is the work Mrs Barrer did for various women’s organisations a work for which she was awarded the M.B.E. in 1959. Her book contains a foreword by Sir Walter Nash.