Heritage Education focus for Matakana Island building

The Heritage of Education is the theme of this year’s International Day for Monuments and Sites on April 18 – a day that highlights and celebrates different aspects of heritage, organised by ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites).

And according to Fiona Low – the Lower Northern Manager of the NZ Historic Places Trust – one small Bay of Plenty community in particular has a lot to celebrate.

“The Matakana Island community is rightly proud of Te Kotukutuku School House – one of the few surviving pre-1900 Native school houses in New Zealand. Before the school was built, there had been no school or other formal education facility on the island,” she says.

“From 1897, the school house served more than 50 years as the main educational facility for Maori children on Matakana Island, ranging from new entrant level through to what was then Form Two.”

The school house – recently registered as a Category 1 historic place – was a product of the Native School System which ran from 1867 through to 1969. The key philosophy behind the system was a heavy focus on European colonisation and the use of education as a means of ‘civilisation’.

These values were expressed with crystal clarity in the Native Schools’ Code, which outlined how Native schools would work. Only married European couples were to be employed in Native schools, for example – the man as headmaster and the wife as sewing mistress.

The Code also stipulated that:

“It is not necessary that teachers should, at the time of their appointment, be acquainted with the Maori tongue. In all cases English is to be used by the teacher when he is instructing the senior classes.

“In the junior classes the Maori language may be used for the purpose of making the children acquainted with the meanings of English Words and sentences. The aim of the teacher however, should be to dispense with the use of Maori as soon as possible.”

“Despite some of the principles behind the Native School Code which may seem extraordinary today, the Te Kotukutuku School House is fondly remembered by many elders within the community who, as children, were educated in its rooms and taught the language, customs and values of European culture,” says Fiona.

“Just as importantly, the school house reflects the aspirations of community elders who petitioned the Minister of Education for a Native school in 1896. The school that was built shortly after on land donated by local Maori is a direct reflection of the importance the community placed on education – an ethos that continues to this day.”

No longer operating as a school house, the building itself is in fair condition. The community still values it highly, however, and has expressed a desire to see the school house used as a building where archives and historical information relating to the school house, the community and Matakana Island can be preserved and displayed.

According to Jenny May, the Chair of ICOMOS New Zealand, the International Day for Monuments and Sites seeks to encourage local communities and individuals around the world to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives, identities and communities.

“Education in New Zealand was practised in a wide range of places – including small, isolated communities like Matakana Island. Buildings and sites associated with early education initiatives – like the Te Kotukutuku School House – are a significant part of our cultural heritage,” she says.

“The International Day for Monuments and Sites provides a good opportunity for us to reflect on the very important part education has played in the evolution of our cultural and built heritage.”

ENDS

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