A long journey for journal
The New Zealand School Journal has survived ups and downs for 110 years. Tina White heads down memory lane.
Say the words ‘‘School Journal’’ to anyone who’s been a New Zealand primary school kid, and the reaction is usually immediate. Eyes light up. Thoughts tumble out.
‘‘Y’know, I hadn’t thought about that for years ...’’ ‘‘I’ve still got a few of mine.’’ ‘‘I loved reading them.’’ The New Zealand School Journal has been running for 110 years. Each journal is published in separate parts for different age groups: 7-8 years, 8-9 years, 9-11 years and 11-14 years.
Our most famous writers and artists have contributed stories and illustrations to it, among them Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley, Elsie Locke, James K Baxter, Patricia Grace, Janet Frame, Rita Angus and Dick Frizzell.
Initially for older pupils, the School Journal was created in 1907 – the year New Zealand became a dominion.
Almost immediately it was attacked by newspaper critics, including The Auckland Star, which described it as ‘‘an inexplicable mystery and a bitter disappointment’’, questioning why a specially appointed editor was paid £400 a year to compile it.
Part of the problem seemed to be ‘‘antiquated’’ poems and ‘‘the deliberate alteration of one of the best known of all classical fables into the local travesty of The Pukeko and The Dog’’.
The first year of publication featured 132 prose pieces, mostly history, geography and civics, but also a series of ‘‘Maoriland fairy tales’’.
In 1909, then Education Minister George Fowlds denied a rumour that the School Journal was about to be discontinued. He countered: ‘‘It is an essential part of the educational system because of the large amount of varied reading matter it provides at small cost.’’
It rolled on through World War I and beyond.
In 1939, Clarence Beeby became the director of Education, in charge of setting up the School Publications Branch within the Education Department to publish the journal. He encouraged more local flavour.
Post-World War II, several journal issues featured art and writing by child contributors. In 1948, three issues of the School Journal unveiled Life In The Pa, with more than 150 drawings by Russell Clark and E Mervyn Taylor.
In August 1949, HH Hawkins, president of the Headmasters’ Association, complained of ‘‘the ordinary laziness of children to speak correctly’’.
Slang – such as ‘‘the flicks’’, ‘‘footy’’ and ‘‘I bagz we do this’’ – featured in the highly controversial but breakthrough 1949 story series Our Street, by Brian Sutton-Smith. His stories were about ‘‘a gang of boys (who) find themselves in various situations that are familiar and real to many New Zealand children’’. The series was soon terminated. Years later, in 2006, Sutton-Smith wrote: ‘‘I am forever grateful to the School Journal for having the guts to do what they did and publish my innocently drawn Our Street kids.’’ (From A Nest Of Singing Birds, Gregory O’Brien, 2007.)
From the 1960s on, Kiwi-based content grew more real and informative.
More vibrant colour arrived, and the rise of new technology.
In 2013, the shock closure of stateowned Learning Media – then publisher of the journal – sparked fears the muchloved magazine was finished.
It wasn’t. The School Journal is now published by the Education Ministry’s Lift Education arm, along with the Junior Journal, in print and digital form.
In 2014, the editors started workshops for new Maori and Pasifika contributors, with young writers working with Joy Cowley, Witi Ihimaera and Lani Young. Children’s author and illustrator Gavin Bishop and Samoan illustrator Gus Sinaumea Hunter also mentored Maori and Pasifika illustrators.
Today, most former School Journal readers – regardless of their era or schooling – still have memories of special things they read on its pages.