Nga Tapuwae College - gone but not forgotten...

Publication celebrating 40 years celebration of Nga Tapuwae College now known as Southern Cross Campus

 Yesterday, I received a book from a dear old friend, Chris, whose mother Rose used to be my piano teacher for some years. I named my second child with Rose-Marie as a middle name after her and my mother (Maria as a derivative - as Mareta was my mum's original name). Mrs Challis, as she was known to me, was such a special woman.

Her husband was one of the last London missionary society ministers who originally came from English, known as Rev. Bob Challis. He worked tirelessly with my father and many other founding members to seed my birth church for Samoans, Cook Islanders and Niueans now known as Mangere PIC (Pacific Islanders Presbyterian church) with its large land and 3 registered pre-schools onsite (of Cooks Islands Maori, Niuean and Samoan bilingual classes).

Chris gifted me with the book that was distributed last year called Nga Tapuwae Ki te taki o Autahi Recollecting the Early Years (Southern Cross Campus, 2015). Chris had had a stint teaching there and her father was mentioned, in the book, as having been the minister to provide opening remarks and the prayer for the opening of the school.

The book was written as a remembrance of 40 year celebration since Nga Tapuwae College, my old high school that first opened in 1975. I was invited but unable to attend the celebrations with my hectic schedule last year. The book was distributed as a memento of the occasion.

I started reading it late last night before sleeping but then couldn't put it down and slept in the wee hours of the morning as it brought back so many memories and also gave me insight into the thinking that went into establishing the first multi-cultural community college (high school) in the country.

Mrs Ann Gluckman, was the first woman principal to ever have been appointed in a New Zealand school at the time. I still have some memories of her and some of the things that we had to do to raise money in those early years. I started there in the 3rd form as a 13 year old, reluctantly, in the 4th year of it's operation as I had wanted to go to the more established, Otahuhu College, at the time but my father didn't see any need with a new high school just down the road within walking distance.

In reading through various founding teacher's reflections, I realised how much many of them helped to shape my early life in NZ education. Many of them were palagi/pakeha/of European descent and some of them were exceptional in their teaching.

I'll always remember the late Mrs Mary Kayes as my first high school English teacher who first introduced me to Witi Ihimaera's early works; Mr Forbes Worn who became a mentor to me in my senior high school years; Mr Lenny, whose dry jokes I used to laugh at as the only member of the class who understood them etc. So many neat memories but the latter years were quite turbulent with different factions that brought about a reorganisation into a multi-level campus of students from Year 1 through to Year 13 combining primary, intermediate/middle school and senior high school into one campus and calling it South Cross campus.

I'm currently on the Board of Trustees there but I can see that much has changed since those heady days yet in some ways so little has changed. I'll never forget Nga Tapuwae College - you are gone but not forgotten...