150th Jubilee Celebrations

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Honours Board Rededication 

On Tuesday 13th September 2022 saw the Rededication for the WW1 and WW2 Honours boards for former students of Te Kura o Ōpāwaho - Opawa School. 30-40 guests consisting of whānau of past pupils on the honours board, Defence Force and RSA reps attended the mihi whakatau.

• ​On 22 July 1872 the Hillsborough School (not called Opawa until 1880) opened on the corner of Garlands Road and Opawa Road with a roll of 30 students ranging in age from 5 - 16. William Suter was the sole charge teacher/headmaster and lived in the headmaster's cottage next door to the school.
• In 1903 a swimming pool was built in Garlands Road alongside the original school site. (Prior to the earthquakes a Scout Den occupied the site) It was dug out by students to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward V11 the previous year. A learners pool was built on our current site in 1955. Senior students and swimming sports were held in the Garlands Road pool until it closed in the 1960's when Waltham Pool was opened.
• Did you know we had a connection to the RMS Titanic. In 1912, the Infant Mistress* from Opawa School, Miss Charlotte Banks, received a letter to inform her of the death of her brother-in-law, William Murdoch. He was the 1st officer on the RMS Titanic, which sank in April 1912. Her younger sister Ada, was married to William Murdoch and they lived in Southampton, England.  Ada returned to Christchurch in about 1917 and lived with her father and Charlotte until she died.
• At Opawa School during the 1930’s, sporting choices were clearly defined. It was basketball (now called netball) in winter, and rounders or tennis in summer for the girls, and rugby in winter and cricket in summer for the boys. Anyone who dared bring a soccer ball to school had it confiscated and it was taken to the basketball courts.
  
• Did you know the Erie Monro Playground (the original Opawa School site on the corner of Garlands Road and Opawa Road) is named after a former pupil? Thomas Hugh Erie (known as Erie) Monro ‘sacrificed his life to save another from drowning’ at Waikuku Beach in January 1932. He was 34 years old. His parents, Captain Hugh and Mrs Monro purchased the land and added swings, see- saw and a sandpit as well as the stone archway in his memory. Erie Monro attended Opawa School at the original site and his parents felt it was ‘fitting that the playground be dedicated to the happiness of children’ as it was the ground where he had played.
• From 1937 – 1967 each child received a ½ pint (284ml) glass bottle of milk every day. Milk was delivered to school and left in crates by the Newbery Street gate for the monitors to deliver on trolleys to classes. A pair of scissors slit a hole in the cardboard top and paper straws were inserted for the
  children to enjoy their daily treat. Sometimes the milk had a thick layer of cream and it was either lukewarm or freezing cold warm in the summer from being left outside until morning tea time.