Tūātapere Schools, District History - photographs from rebuilding Waiau College

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Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Tūātapere Schools - District History, photographs and associated text records from rebuilding Waiau College; images show the progress of demolishing parts of the old school and rebuilding the new Waiau College site at Tūātapere, during 1979-1980. IMAGES (all captions are quoted): L-R pictures shown above have been labelled as being - First Page (part1): Photo 1 – The woodwork, home economics and art block rises beyond the debris. Photo 2 – The varnishing room is a welcome addition to the Woodwork facilities, shown by Mr Dodds and pupils. Photo 3 – The old rooms are demolished by the Principal, staff and Committee of Management. Photo 4 – Covering the baths means a longer swimming season (see more next page). Photo 5 – Pupils were frequently re-routed to avoid interfering with the work as it progressed. Photo 6 – Mr Roberts uses his mountaineering experience and became the staff’s chief roof demolition expert. Messrs Bennett and Harris also did much of this work. The pictures shown above have been labelled as being - First Page (part2): Photo 7 – S.M.A.C. Maths in the Library (does anyone know what this stands for?!) Photo 8 – the pupils enjoy the new Woodwork room. Photo 9 – As the library was built, it enjoyed the choice of names, “Kentucky Fried” or “Stalag 13”. Numbered top left to lower left, then centre top to lower centre, the pictures shown above have been labelled as being - Second Page (part1): Photo 1 – the story of the Waiau College buildings 1980. The old was demolished largely by the staff and committee of Management, to make way for the new. The income from the sale of demolition material has helped keep our fees low and the College financially sound. Photo 2 & 3 – A major project for 1979-80 was the covering of the local baths. The project was organised by the Tūātapere Lions Club but many members of the community took part. Photo 4 – The new Home Economics room is a vast improvement on the old facilities. Photo 5 – From Ōrawia Road, through the shrubbery, the library does not appear so raw and new. Photo 6 - The old dental clinic, more recently the tuck shop, was sold for use as a sleepout. Photos 7 & 8 - The chimneys of the boiler and incinerator at first looked like a scene from a mini Cape Kennedy, but when closed in the unit looked like a modern office block in the distance. Pictures shown above have been labelled as being - Second Page (part1): Photo 9 - As the old block came down, the two demolition giants, Mr B Te Kani and Mr M Wells stand out against the skyline. Photos 10 & 11 - The $19k needed was fundraised by subscriptions and donations, from the Ladies Catering Committee, the School, the Baths Committee, as well as the local Lions Club. NOTE: we know it was polite to call teachers and adults by Mr, Mrs & Miss back in these times, but we would now love to know the first names of Mr's in these photos please, so we can properly index them for use in future. BUILDING PROGRESS: In 1980, the Waiau College School Magazine carried the below editorial: (quoted) "There is a great deal of rebuilding in progress at Waiau College - on a new plan. We are already enjoying the new facilities of our library, technical block and administration block. The re-shaping and re-planting of the grounds is going on before our eyes. Usually we are unaware of change. Then, suddenly, there it is - new grass, new paint, new concrete! Winter and building sites with their attendant mud, dust and noise have disappeared...." (more was said, but it is not pertinent to this history). by: K McLean, Deputy Principal. Further on in the same magazine, we find another story, with more indepth information about the above, entitled, 'Building Programme': (quoted here) "After nearly three years as a Form 1-7 High School our building programme finally began in September 1979. The project, at present called Stage I, involves the erection of a new library, administration block, woodwork, home economics and art rooms and a new boiler house. All of these are to be connected by covered ways, very necessary in Southland's winter. Stage 1 is due for completion by 24 October 1980, and so far the completion date appears attainable. It is only natural that a project of this magnitude should cause some inconvenience, and we have had our share of mud, noise and classroom movement. Experienced elsewhere, however, tells us that we are indeed fortunate and the workmen here, both the permanent gang working for Fletcher Development and Construction Ltd, and those of the sub-contractors, have been pleasant to deal with and most considerate of the needs of the school. We hope that Stage II will follow soon on the heels of Stage 1 but all of us look forward to the day when the only work in progress at Waiau College is school work." WAIAU SECONDARY SCHOOLING HISTORY - Before becoming a District High School in 1945, the Tūātapere school was primary only. Early classes were held in certain town buildings from 1910. Due to growth in the community and with the Proficiency Examination for entry into high school being abolished in 1937, along with the school leaving age increasing, this created a need for more secondary schooling. Local and district pupils had to travel into Invercargill for their secondary education. Waiau District High School was established in 1945. At first there were just two box classrooms, transported from other closed schools. But over time, buildings from closed down primary schools in the district were put on site to accommodate the schools growth. At this time it catered to primary and secondary students. In 1953, more buildings were constructed for the new school, with offices, staff toilets, new heating, and a medical room. The official opening for these new additions was on the 7 October 1953. In 1977 Tūātapere schooling was split up, Forms I-VII stayed in the District High School, and primary levels headed to the new buildings near by. The high school only was named Waiau College. But in 2002, Waiau College and Tuatapere Primary School were merged back together again, to create the Tuatapere Community College. This new name was only to last ten years. In 2012 the school was once again renamed, this time to Waiau Area School, and it continues as a co-educational composite school, under this name in 2019. The widely used acronym for this current school, is WAS. Note from Community Archive: We also have lists of many school records from the Tūātapere District at our Heritage Hub, so no need to travel to view them unless you want to. At some later point we may be able to put the school class lists up in the archive online, so if someone can volunteer to do this, please let us know! Thanks. Special note is made of the usefulness of the book, 'Up The Waiau, the story of four schools.' by Gordon McLeod, which we used for some of this historical entry, alongwith Des Williams Tūātapere Centennial Review, titled 'The Hole in the Bush'. Thanks specifically to Margaret Thomas our CWA Patron, for donating us nearly every copy of the School Magazines covering many decades, these above photos come from that collection. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Tūātapere School during the years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.