THE PIONEERS

Southland Times, Issue 20664, 20 April 1929, Page 13

THE PIONEERS

Tili; OKI) SCHOOL

(By

Rambler.)

The first settlers in New Zealand had a proper regard for a certain amount of education for they were not long in establishing schools throughout the country. Their descendants have inherited that regard and the result to-day is that education in New Zealand receives the support of very section of the community. The first schools were private institutions and there are many still living who owe their education to some obscure person who taught the rudiments of the three R’s for a small consideration. When the state schools began the settlers still supported education by assisting to the best of their ability and in many parts of New Zealand each little community built, its own school and a teacher was supplied by the education board. The seed of learning was first planted in the Waikawa district by Mrs G. Brooks, who taught a small school trt 'The Spit.’ Mr Brooks was at that time working on a sawmill which was situated at the eastern end of the Waikawa beach and his wife first taught the children of the community in a room of her house. I have already described the double barrier of sand dunes at that end of the beach and Mrs Brooks lived in a house situated on the landward side of the outer line of sand dunes. To the' present generation this seems a very peculiar place to build a house but conditions may have been different when the house was built. A gap was sluiced through the sandhills to the beach by Mr J. Gourlay just above the house, and while this allowed the settlers to pass on to the beach without difficulty it. probably caused the sand to move in a different manner, for in the course of years it completely buried the house.

Schooldays had not long been established before the residents of the district joined together and built a schoolhoivse. -This building was erected near the house occupied by Mrs Brooks on what was then the banks of Cook’s Creek and what, is now a sandy waste. 1 do not remember what the school was like in appearance my only recollection of it being that of having stood in the porch of the building waiting for my older brothers to finish their day's work. Mrs Brooks was succeeded by two mistresses, Miss White and Miss Street, and one master, a man named McFadden or McFadgen. Mr McGibbon, a medical student, was relieving in the school for four months at one period. The pupils from the Waikawa township were conveyed to the. school down the river by an old man named Joe Clark, who had originally been a beachcomber along that coast. At that time the land between the two sand spits was washed out by Cook’s Creek and the tide flowed up from the river to the front of the school. During high spring tides the boatman could bring his boat to within a few chains of the school but the releasing of the creek to the sea about a mile away allowed the creek bed to silt up with blown sand near the sight of the old school and it now takes a very high tide to reach that far. I may be wrong but I am inclined to think that the ocean currents along that coast changed about twenty years ago and I base this supposition on the fact that seashells and certain classes of seaweed were much more numerous on the beach when the old school stood there and on the fact that the pupils of the school could frequently' slide on the ice on Cook’s creek during the winters. There has never been verymuch ice in that vicinity for many years and the fact that the deposits of seaweed have altered may mean that a warmer current was diverted in that direction. The ice on the creek must have been fairly solid for the pupils of the school used to climb up on the sand dunes and then rush down and slide across. Several of the pupils walked to school along the beach but during school hours they were not allowed to go on to the beach and this caused a great deal of dissatisfaction among the boys. The strap was regarded as too mild an instrument of punishment in those days and supple-jacks were gathered from the bush across the creek and were kept in constant use by one teacher at least. Fortunately for the youth of Southland this teacher was dismissed from the service many years ago. On one occasion the pupils from the township quarrelled with the local pupils and a bitter war raged for a time. Formal declaration of war was given and received and the two factions followed out their history lessoii by going into separate camps and preparing for battle. A peculiar green weed or rather vegetation grew in abundance in the slack water of the creek and this was gathered and rolled into balls. Clods were cut from the banks of the stream and stored in readiness for the encounter and the time of combat was mutuallyagreed upon. Officers were appointed and plans of campaign mapped out and here, as in many old time wars, the genius of one decided the day. The time of battle at last arrived and the contending armies drew up facing one another and the battle of ‘The Spit’ began. The troops had placed their stores of ammunition at a considerable distance from one another probably to prevent sudden raids but during the actual engagement this proved a drawback. The rank and file expended their amunition and were compelled to retreat for fresh supplies and a great part of their time was occupied with retreating and advancing. Honours were fairly even and both sides were well spattered with dirt from the clods and with slime from the vegetable balls but they despaired of a decisive victory. Ammunition began to run out and troops from both armies were deflected from the firing, line to cut fresh ammunition. The position was fast reaching a stalemate when a youth in the local army, who later fought and was severely wounded in a much greater and infinitely more serious war, realized that some system for the rapid transportation of ammunition to the firing line would decide the day. Fortunately for the success of his plan the locals were fighting with their backs to their homes and he succeeded in securing a box from near at hand. He organized the ammunition makers and rushed supplies to the fighters by the ■boxful. The township army was still compelled to retreat whenever they required to replenish their magazines and during one of these retreats the local’troops made a concerted attack, supported by their ammunition box, and succeeded in carrying the ammunition dump of the township army. Deprived of the wherewithal with which to continue the engagement the retreating army was compelled to yield and the day was lost and won and the friendships- of later years were cemented in the discussions of the memorable pecasion. One evening the district was startled by a red glow in the sky and when the residents rushed to the scene of the fire they found the schoolhouse a mass of flames and it was impossible to do anything to save the place of learning. The balance of the population resided in the Waikawa township at that time and school was opened there and has remained there ever since—a period of ...about twenty-srwen years. '■