100 years of Hokowhitu School
On February 5, Hokowhitu School turned 100. From 1922, Hokowhitu residents actively petitioned the Palmerston North Borough Council and the Whanganui Education Board to build a school in their area. The nearby primary schools, College Street and Terrace End, were overcrowded.
George Woodroffe, from the Hokowhitu School Committee, told the mayor James Nash, who was also the local MP, that 376 students had indicated they would attend the proposed school.
The safety of Hokowhitu children crossing the railway line to attend Terrace End was another concern.
RW Davidson, another Hokowhitu committee member, told the Central Normal School Committee that 80 children were affected and, to underscore his point, cited a recent near miss when the “New Plymouth Express had to be ‘pulled up dead’ to save running over some children”.
The borough council responded favourably, offering five acres on what was then called Scandia St.
This land was part of a larger borough reserve which subsequently became Hokowhitu Domain.
It had previously been part of the “Native Reserve” set aside at Hokowhitu for Rangitāne as part of the sale of Te Ahu a Tūranga Block in 1864.
Visible from the school grounds is a thicket of tōtara trees preserved in the Hokowhitu domain as a memorial of its original vegetation.
Before its acquisition for the school, some of the borough reserve was used as a quarry, one of many such gravel pits in Palmerston North. This area was subsequently developed into asphalted playing courts for pupils.
Aided by the advocacy of Nash, government approval for a school accommodating 350 pupils was granted.
ER Hodge, architect to the Whanganui School Board, told the Manawatū Standard on May 10, 1923 that the school would be built of timber on brick foundations at an estimated cost of £6000. “The furniture will be new throughout and every child who comes to this school will have a new desk.”
AManawatū Standard journalist who visited the soon-tobe-opened school on February 1, 1924 enthused over its “many new and interesting features”, noting “abundant ventilation and lighting are afforded by the tall windows”. The original building still stands.
Voluntary labour was central to the school’s development. The all-male school committee organised working bees to level the land before building started.
A “ladies committee”, primarily comprised of wives of the school committee, was formed to assist with fundraising and earned £17 at a stall in Te Marae o Hine/ The Square on November 17, 1923, towards the bazaar held in conjunction with the opening of the school.
The bazaar accompanying the formal opening of the school on February 5, 1924 raised £51 (approximately $6150 in 2024) and included a baby show; two awards for entrants in the best sponge sandwich competition; a trophy for the “most useful article made from Benzene Tin” and another for the “most useful article made from sugar bag”.
“In the presence of a very large attendance”, the Standard of February 6 observed, the school was formally opened by James Nash, who was presented with a gold-mounted fountain pen by Muriel Shailer, the first pupil enrolled.
By the end of the first day, enrolments for the new school stood at 208.
Highlights of early school years included an annual trip to Foxton Beach and school balls.
The school motto, “Tonoa Te Tu”, meant “Play the Game” according to former principal Ian Peach, although this may not be a strictly literal translation.
School facilities developed over the years. In 1931 the school baths opened. They were funded by the proceeds of gala days and built by relief workers employed on public works schemes during the Depression.
The school was temporarily commandeered by the army in December 1941. In 1999, former pupil Alan Burrell recalled pupils practising climbing in and out of shelter trenches constructed for training purposes.
Following the 1999 reunion, he donated a bell to the school, thereby restoring its characteristic belltower to its original appearance. School buildings were extended by the construction of a new wing in 1952, which included a dental clinic, four new classrooms, storage areas, toilet blocks and an office for the Infant Mistress.
The school hall was built in the early 1960s. Another major rebuilding project in 1997 and 1998 saw three new relocatable classrooms added, along with a new administration area and school library.
School jubilees provided opportunities to reflect on Hokowhitu’s achievements.
The 50th jubilee, held between March 22 and 24, 1974 was a lavish affair. Invited guests included mayor Brian Elwood and Les Gandar, MP for Ruahine.
Guests were entertained on Friday evening by the school choir singing “songs from the twenties”. Attendees visited Massey University on Saturday, returning to the school for the cutting of the jubilee cake by foundation Infant Mistress Miss Gills and the school’s most recently enrolled pupil, Jenny Orsborn.
Local caterers Smith and Walding gave every satisfaction at the evening function held inside a specially erected tent, with Gordon Currie and his band entertaining revellers. A church service by former pupil the Rev Ian Gordon on Sunday concluded festivities.
Unfortunately, plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary in 1984 were cancelled owing to insufficient registrations.
Hokowhitu’s 75th jubilee celebrations in 1999, however, proceeded successfully. Before the event, various classes studied each decade of the school’s history, holding a dress-up day for which they wore clothing evoking the era they had studied.
Student recollections published in the commemorative booklet were generally positive but acknowledged that schooldays held varied memories for pupils.
Reflecting a more bicultural era, local singers String of Pearls, comprising Vicky Lee and Cyndi Joe, sang the national anthem in English and te reo at the concluding church service.
A comprehensive programme has been prepared for Hokowhitu’s 2024 centennial commemoration, to be held over April 5 and 6. Like all such occasions, it will evoke memories of a character-forming era in attendees’ lives.