Orepuki School

Record Group

Identifier: A0346

Staff Only

Overview

Processing Note This collection has been partially arranged and described. A small amount of unprocessed material remains in Accession ICA01.004. Contact Archives staff for details.

Dates

Majority of material found within 1875 - 1954

Orepuki School

In Garfield in 1872, under the Otago Education Board, the first Orepuki School (Garfield – Orepuki School) was established. It had an initial roll of 30 students which grew even in its first year. The school did not receive visits from the Inspector due to its difficult and remote location.

Building wise the school’s main structure was quickly insufficient and was rebuilt twice. As common for the time, it also served as a public hall for church services and dances. The Western Star reports, in detail, of numerous events held in this venue.

The hunger for gold eventually destroyed Garfield and caused another relocation of the school. Two miners followed a very rich gold vein right up School Gully to the school reserve. They moved the school, which was the last remaining building in Garfield, and mined the land. The rest of the town had already moved to a third site which became permanent due to its proximity to a coalmining operation and the railway route which connected to the mine in 1885.

The intended name for the town was Hirstville, after Henry Hirst, the man who pushed for the railway extension. The locals, however, disregarded this and continued to use Aropaki (crumbling cliffs) which later, was softened to Orepuki hence the school’s name.

Mr Henry Young was the schools most memorable teacher being both Head Teacher, at the time of the schools biggest and final shift, as well as, Headmaster from 1882-1923. He was known for his academic ability and his willingness to do anything he could for the school. He almost succumbed to the influenza epidemic of 1918 but thankfully recovered.

In the 20 years following the opening of the railway Orepuki prospered. It was home to sawmilling, farming and a shale oil boom on top of the aforementioned gold and coal mining. The population climbed to 3000 people. The Assistant Teacher at this time was M. A. Lee who was a newcomer to the district. He recalled the poor state of the school being both overcrowded and poorly ventilated.

Just after the turn of the century the town began to suffer due to the introduction of a large plant and the closure of the shale works. The gold was long dry and coal mining had been taken over by the Nightcaps mines. Very quickly the majority of the population had left town. Orepuki survived solely as a farming village. The school stayed open and for a long time was the farthest way contributing school to Aparima College. The school was eventually closed in 2003.

General Background Information:

The very west of Western Southland was the last part of the area to be settled. It was not until 1866 when the Commissioner of Crown Lands went to Orepuki from Riverton that a township was designated. It was meant to be a port town situated on the beach at Monkey Island, however, the town did not stay there long. Naturally it followed the miners about a mile inland and became known as Garfield. Garfield too was not permanent. It did however last for around twenty years and contain a post shop, two pubs, two shops, a butcher, baker, a police camp, and a library.

Reference:"Pieces of Chalk: History of Riverton District Schools", Written by George Perkins. Ch.10, Pp.82-86.

See Additional Description for more information on this reference.