Napier Street–Freemans Bay School the First 125 Years

Napier Street–Freemans Bay School The First 125 Years Published in 2013 on the occasion of the 125th Jubilee of Freemans Bay School Freemans Bay School is Welcome from BOT chair A green oasis for play and learning Informed by a strong Maori perspective 125th jubilee is an opportunity to reflect for a few Behind them was a long, deep Where a United Nations of students moments on the past. When Napier Street School gully, so the school occupied Become confident, caring and respectful learners opened in 1888, Freemans Bay was a very different place. only the upper part now occupied SandwichedA between the central city and the far western suburb by the “old” classroom block and Who are at the centre of a 21st century learning environment of Ponsonby (whose few residents at the time were, therefore, Engaged in a broad curriculum using the latest teaching methods the netball courts. Auckland’s original Westies), Freemans Bay was already densely In the 125 years of the school’s Involving all of our community to enhance learning. populated with Auckland’s working class. existence its student population has Peter Bateman The bay itself extended inland as far as the beach below Drake reflected huge demographic changes. In the late 1940s Maori all St, and was bounded by cliffs in the west along what is now over the country began to move into the cities, and in Auckland Beaumont St, and in the east by a long-ago-quarried headland many of them settled in Freemans Bay. Sara Jenkins north of Nelson St. The bay had been used for centuries by lo- In the late 1950s the migration of Pacific people into Auckland cal Maori, who knew it by various names including Waiatarau began, and increased significantly in the 1960s and 70s. Again, (‘place of reflecting waters’). Reclamation of the bay took 40 many settled in Freemans Bay and their children attended Na- years, culminating with the opening of Victoria Park in 1905. pier St School, often arriving without a word of English. Many of the school’s students came from the cheek-by-jowl In the 1970s the worldwide trend towards inner-city gentrifi- cottages in the area bounded by Nelson St, Wellesley St, Union cation began, gathering pace in the 80s and 90s until these days St and Wellington St. Most of those dwellings are long gone, Freemans Bay is one of the most expensive parts of Auckland demolished by the Auckland City Council’s “urban reclamation” –a fact which would have astonished parents at the school only programme in the 1950s and 60s, and the few that remained a couple of generations ago. Immigration rule changes in the were removed for the motorway in the mid-1970s. Until the 1990s have added another layer to the story, enabling people motorway went through, Napier St was a major street linking from countries the world over to move to New Zealand, most of Franklin Rd and Union St, parallel to and just as important as them to Auckland, where many of them live – at least initially – Wellington St. in the new multi-storey apartment buildings in the CBD. For its first 90 years the school opened out onto Napier St – The result is that Freemans Bay School enjoys one of the most hence the name. Houses lined what is now the school boundary diverse student populations of any school in the country, which on Wellington St. Only Rupa’s store remains. Houses also lined we celebrate as a strength. The school is also enriched by the – Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19240724-48-1 Hepburn St where the big adventure playground now stands. presence of Whanau Ata, in which the curriculum is taught in Auckland Weekly News, 1924 Welcome from BOT chair (continued) ... Sara Jenkins School history by quarter century Te Reo Maori– and according to tikanga Maori.– Whanau– Ata itself 1888 to 1913: celebrates 25 years this year as a bilingual and now a full The foundation years immersion unit, or rumaki reo. My best wishes go to everyone involved in celebrating this he school’s original in 1912 and the following year vibrant and friendly school’s first 125 eventful years, and my wooden building was a three-roomed brick infant thanks to Sandra and to all our talented and dedicated staff for a two-storey octagonal building was opened. More helping to make serving on the Board of Trustees as much a designT which featured a tower adjacent land was purchased pleasure as it is a privilege. office in which the headmaster between 1920 and 1925. Peter Bateman sat with a window looking In that pre-motorway era Chairman, Board of Trustees into each of six classrooms. Napier St and Wellington St The design was intended to both ran from Franklin Rd to revolutionise school architec- Union St. Houses lined what is ture but was soon found to now the Wellington St front- have serious drawbacks and age of the school, and houses Sara Jenkins was not repeated elsewhere in also lined Hepburn St on both Auckland. sides in the block between School circa 1900 The building was situated on Wellington and Napier. The a slope. The six upper rooms school buildings were situated Auckland War Memorial Museum were used as classrooms, each behind the houses on Wel- one of which gave onto an lington St, with the grounds exterior veranda, and also onto facing north onto Napier St Sara Jenkins a central interior space used and the main entrance. as an assembly hall. The four Between the houses on the basement rooms were found city side of Hepburn St and to be unsuitable for teaching the school lay a gully, which and were used for storage. came to be used as a dump- Further land was acquired ing ground for all manner Freemans Bay 1905 looking up to the Hobson St ridge Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1-W1245 of rubbish. The school took six rooms. It went on to last children up to Standard Six for 50 years. The old hexagonal 1938 to 1963: (now called Year 8) and would wooden building was sold for Demolition and disruption do so until 1976. Cooking removal in 1927. Auckland’s post-war expansion than 300 acres of existing classes were held at Richmond The Freemans Bay area at saw new, more spacious sub- housing would be cleared Road School, and end of year this time was densely populat- urbs open up. The school roll to create an industrial zone concerts were held at the ed and was among the poorest fell so that by the mid-1950s it around Nelson St and new Hibernian Hall at the top of and most tight-knit communi- was down to 300 medium-density multi-storey Wellington St. ties in New Zealand. Socialist Post-war, Maori began to communities elsewhere. ideals and movements flour- move from rural areas to inner- Demolition of more than ished here. The school’s roll city Auckland, and nowhere 1000 houses carried on during 1913 to 1938: grew to more than 600. was cheaper to rent or buy than the 1950s and up until the mid- Working-class Freemans Bay. 60s, and the school roll shrank School photo 1928 The chairman of the school accordingly. In the end, less Napier Street School circa 1960. Wellington St runs along the top. unity committee in this period was than a third of the area planned Bob Elsender, who served in for demolition was actually In 1913 a competition among that role for more than 20 years, levelled. students was held to decide a from 1939 to well into the However entire blocks were school motto. The winner was Do Well 1960s. One of his key projects left as vacant land for years, student W. Rainbow’s sugges- was to gradually fill in the including two blocks adjacent tion, Do Well and Doubt Not, gully, and in 1961 the mayor of to the school: one block to the which remained the school’s “ and Auckland, Dove-Myer Robinson, west bounded by Wellington motto until nearby Beresford opened the new playing field St, Franklin Rd, Napier St and Street School was closed and situated on top of the gully. Hepburn St; the other to the Napier Street School was re- Doubt Not In 1950 the Auckland City south bounded by Wellington named Freemans Bay School, Council, concerned at the poor St, Howe St, Beresford St more than 60 years later. state of housing in Freemans and Hepburn St. The council A new two-storey brick build- ” Bay, declared an urban reclama- eventually built social housing ing opened in 1926 containing School motto School photo 1936 tion programme in which more developments on these sites. School netball team 1954 1963 to 1988: closed off for construction of the motorway to the harbour The Polynesian era bridge. The houses along This period saw the large- Hepburn St and Wellington scale arrival of immigrants St were also demolished in from the Pacific Islands the 1970s (the only one left is which, when added to the Rupa’s), and land was taken existing Maori population, from the north-east corner made up a student commu- of the school as motorway nity which by 1973 was 97% construction proceeded on the Polynesian. city side. Amid this chaos the In 1968 the council aban- students were taught in pre- doned the urban reclamation fabs until a new senior block plan, meaning owners of the was opened in 1978 (the 1926 surviving old houses now building had been demolished had some certainty that they the previous year).

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