Takahiwai School: Special Exhibition

Several small schools have been established in Bream Bay over the last 150 years. At the heart of tiny farming communities, these schools supported the education, mischief and socialising of the area’s young people despite assimilation agendas and limited resources. In Kiwi North’s new exhibition ‘Takahiwai School’, artefacts from historic Northland schools help bring to life the experiences of past pupils from Takahiwai School.

Replicas of original documents from Archives New Zealand, supported by artefacts from Whangarei Museum’s Collection, highlight the families involved in bringing a school to the small kainga (village) and how they adapted to nationwide changes in the Native and Public School systems. Past school pupils share their personal memories of getting to school through cow pats, daily malted milk, discipline with the strap, raising calves for Calf Club Day and other adventures common to children growing up in the rural New Zealand at the time. Oral histories and personal recollections testify to the importance of the School and its teachers to Takahiwai’s youth over the early to late twentieth century.

Kiwi North thanks Takahiwai’s Friends of the Berm and Dr Niki Francis for bringing this exhibition to Whangarei Museum and especially everyone who contributed their memories of attending Takahiwai School.