SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21254, 7 February 1931, Page 20

SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

BALCLUTHA SCHOOL JUBILEE. STORY OF GRADUAL GROWTH. (From Our Own Correspondent.) BALCLUTHA, February 6. The fact that Baidutha Primary School ik about to celebrate the sixty-fifth anniversary of its foundation, a short three months after the borough had celebrated its diamond jubilee, again serves to demonstrate that in Otago education marched hard on the heels of settlement, and even in advance of the establishment of governing institutions. When in 1865 the first State school was opened Baldutha was quite a small settlement, its few wooden buildings nestling mostly on the southern bank of the Molyneus near what was known as “ The Ferry,” a term descriptive of the landing place of the rude punt that, with a few boats, was the only means of transport across the broad bosom of the river. Back of tha little hamlet was an almost impenetrable flax swamp, dotted with lagoons and muddy backwaters of the river, ( and at •certain seasons teeming with wild fowl, whose harsh cries mingled with the tinkling of the cow bells. More settlers came in after the discovery of gold at Tuapoka in 1861* and in 1864 the settlement boasted 40 children, many of whom attended a private school conducted by a Mr Trenchard. Tho public, animated by dreams of the future greatness of the town, largely based on tho prospects of the then busy little seaport at tho mouth of the riverdreams to be finally dissipated by the disastrous flood of 1878—held a meeting on June 15, 1865, and applied to the Provincial Government for a school. At that time the schooners and steamers were Very plentiful on the river between Port Molyncux and Kaitangata, and a number of the steamers traded regularly With Balclutha, which was on the route taken by the bullock wagons carrying stores to the inland goldfields. The application for a school Was readily granted, and the first public school opened with a roll number of 32, and Mr J* Etall as teacher. .The Education Board of those days fixed the salary of the teacher at £SO, with ah additional £ls per annum to go towards the rent of a building. The first schoolroom was situated near the bank of the. fiver, below the site of the present traffic bridge, and the next was in the rear of what is now known as Gawn’s Buildings. During the flood of 1866 the school was closed, and Mr Hall removed to Waitepeka, where he died. His successor was Mr David Tddd, familiarly called" Dominie Todd;” in fabt “ dominie ” was the favourite appellation for a male teacher in those days, just as “ mother ” was often the designation of a female teacher. Mr Todd started teaching in a building almost opposite the first Presbyterian church irt Balclutha, which was later oh converted into a gasworks, after having been used as a public hall, where dances and socials were held, for some years. Mr Todd was -still in charge when, about, 1870, the school was transferred to the present site, where a commodious building, combining residence and school, was erected on a site on an acre and a-half. In 1872 the inspectors made their first Visit to the school, and repotted, inter alia, that “the master was ah excellent scholar and a thoroughly trained and skilful teacher,” but that “ some of the bigger boys showed a tendency to frivolity and trickiness.”

In April* 1873, Mr Todd was transferred to another school, and Mr Alexander Grigor, who had been teacher at Inchclutha (an even earlier established school than that at Balclutha) was transferred to the latter place, where he was to put in many honourable years of service. At this time there, were over 100 children of school age in the district, and the attendance at the school steadily increased, so that In 1874 a mistress was appointed, add in 1878 the old residence was converted into a class room. The erection of a new residence was delayed by the flood, but in 1880 it was completed, and is still, in use. Two years a later a new three-roomed school Was constructed at a cost of £7OO. In 1882 also the Education Board closed the small school at North Balclutha, which had been opened in 1879, to serve the children on the north aide who were prevented from crossing over by the destruction of the bridge during the ’7B flood.

On September 30, 1888, Mr Grigor, after 15 years’ service in Balclutha, was succeeded by Mr Langley Pope, and in the following year, the attendance having increased to 238, a further addition was made to the school. At the beginning of 1892 the school was raised to the status of a district high school, and in September, 1804, Mr Pdpe was succeeded by Mr C. R. Richardson, in whose tetm technical classes Were established. At the end of 1895 Mr Richardson was appointed one of the Otago Education Board’s inspectors. In March, 1890, Mr William M’Elrea, first assistant at Tqkofhairifo, was appointed headmaster at Balclutha, a position Which he filled, for a period of 17 years, Owing to increasing attendance further additions to the school were necessary in 1902 and 1907, while in 1904 a secondary assistant was appointed. The present Technical School building was erected in 1912. Early in 1913 Mr M’Elrea was appointed to the headmastefship of the Normal School, Dunedin, and was succeeded by Mr W, W; Turner, who left in 1915 for active service, and attaining the rank of major was two yeats later killed on the Somme, Mr J. Nicolsoil, who had heeil relieving Headmaster, was appointed to fill the Vacancy. In 1919 the present infant school building was erected in brick at a cost of £193(1. In April, 1922, Mr Nicholson was appointed headmaster of the Morliihgton School, Dunedin, and three months later was promoted to the inspectorate. Subsequent headmasters at Balclutha were Mr G. A. Turner (now headmaster at Morniugtou), Mr R. R. Hunter (now inspector of schools, Invercargill), Mr Thomas Begg (now headmaster of High Street School, Dunedin), Mr J. P. Hawke ( now inspector of schools, New Plymouth), and Mr William O’Connor (the present headmaster). At the end of 1925 the Secondary department of the school was closed coincident with the opening of the South Otago High School situated at Roscbank, Balclutha. Apart from the headmasters, five of whom became inspectors, the school has been served by many able assistants, one of Whom (Miss M. K. Allan, at present of Green Island) filled the imsitiori of infant mistress for no less a period than S 3 years. Not only iri its staffs of teachers can the school look, back upon hondtmible achievement, but many of the hundreds of children passing through its portals have risen above their follows, albeit in this brief chronology it would be invidious to particularise.