|
In the lead up to the College's 50th Anniversary, Anne Hunt, our Foundation Co-ordinator, has been writing a series of articles for the local paper. In case you haven't spotted them in The Ensign, or if you live out of town, we'll be sharing them with here on our Foundation Blog. Keep an eye out for upcoming parts in our 'Brief History of St Peter's College'. A New MillenniumAs far back as 1993, St Peter’s College was the first school in Southland to throw out all of its typewriters and move its students into the information age. When $3 million worth of rebuilding and modernisation was completed, the college entered the new millennium in good shape. New specialist facilities for computing, science, technology and music and a new library and careers room, provided excellent resources for students. Consistently high exam results in the ensuing years proved the investment worthwhile and were a tribute to motivated students and a dedicated staff. At the same time the Special Character as a Catholic school remained an important point of difference for the college.
The establishment of an international student programme brought the benefits of increased funding and cultural diversity. Students from as far afield as the USA, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Japan and the Pacific Islands experienced life (and weather) here in Gore. When new principal, Martin Chamberlain took up his post in 2001, he found the college in good heart. Martin had been both a pupil, living in the hostel and a teacher at the school before returning to St Peter’s for a third time to take on the Principal’s role. He was quick to acknowledge the great advantage enjoyed by the students in having the support of such a caring local community in the Gore district – parents, trustees, staff and all of those who gave up their time to volunteer in sports, trips and events. By the time he left in 2008, he was able to observe that “In a town like Gore our children have been able to flourish because there is so much available to them. The plethora of activities they have immersed themselves in has been made available by generous adults who have been keen to enrich young people with as much as they are able to offer.” Truly the village raising the children!
1 Comment
In the lead up to the College's 50th Anniversary, Anne Hunt, our Foundation Co-ordinator, has been writing a series of articles for the local paper. In case you haven't spotted them in The Ensign, or if you live out of town, we'll be sharing them with here on our Foundation Blog. Keep an eye out for upcoming parts in our 'Brief History of St Peter's College'. The Boarding HostelRunning alongside the history of St Peter’s College is the story of its boarding hostel, now called Rosmini House.
Prior to 1970, Catholic families living in the remote parishes and farms of Southland and Central Otago had to make difficult choices when their children left primary education. This often involved sending them away out of the area to Catholic boarding schools in other regions. Travelling times were long and costs were high. With the opening of the hostel at St Peter’s College in Gore, boys at least had the opportunity of boarding much closer to home. According to the college’s Rock Magazine at the time, ‘Thirty four well scrubbed and apprehensive boys assembled on February 3rd as the first St Peter’s boarders. They quickly showed themselves a lively group and, if the evidence of scrubbing soon vanished, so did the apprehension.” So began a long history of hostel life at the school. Ex-boarders will remember Fathers Bland, Hughes and Willett and Brother Tedesco being in charge. Popular after school activities in the Hostel included billiards, table tennis, model making, basket weaving, chess and draughts. The older boys lived in a house across the road from the college named ‘St Paul’s Without’. The name derived from St Paul’s church, outside the walls of Rome. Initially girls had to board in private homes in Gore or at Gore High School Hostel, but with the closure of Teschemakers at Oamaru in 1977 and St Catherine’s College in Invercargill in 1982, the demand for girls’ boarding grew so the priests’ house was converted to a hostel for 24 girl boarders. Getting enough kitchen staff for the hostel was always difficult, but Pauline Hickey answered the call and worked there over a period of 20 years. She placed great emphasis on home cooking and remembers some of the ‘littlies’ being homesick, but getting them involved in helping out with jobs, usually cheered them up. The modern kitchen was her pride and joy, its steam oven consistently produced eggs boiled to perfection. One ex-boarder recalled that the boarding experience taught him how to get along and be tolerant with different types of people – a skill that has proved useful in his career and life in general. Nowadays the wheel has come full circle as Rosmini House has opened its doors to boarding pupils from Gore High School, following the closure of the hostel there. In the lead up to the College's 50th Anniversary, Anne Hunt, our Foundation Co-ordinator, has been writing a series of articles for the local paper. In case you haven't spotted them in The Ensign, or if you live out of town, we'll be sharing them with here on our Foundation Blog. Keep an eye out for upcoming parts in our 'Brief History of St Peter's College'. The Early YearsDespite an ongoing shortage of funds after its opening in 1969, St Peter’s College continued to flourish. Many of the Rosminian teachers came from Europe and brought a world view to Gore, which could be quite parochial back then. The nuns from the Sisters of Mercy brought their own traditions and introduced the annual Eisteddfod and cultural pursuits flourished.
Strong community connections were forged, with sporting events, musical productions and the St Peter’s Fair, where Brother Tedesco was the driving force. Mark La Hood recalled that when Brother “Ted” wanted prizes for the Fair, he would visit La Hood’s chemist shop in Main Street and convince them that lots of items on the shelves were no longer needed and could be donated for his Tombola stall. Brother Ted was also well known for organizing school tours of the North Island and further afield and took an active part in the life of the town too, serving as a Gore Borough Councillor, before his untimely death in 1984. St Peter’s didn’t escape when major flooding affected much of Gore in 1978. The site was surrounded with water and many of the buildings, including the new Home Economics block were inundated. Boarders sought refuge in dry homes of friends in town, taking their sleeping bags with them. The opening of the college’s new chapel, with its striking circular design, marked a milestone in 1979. It was much used by the wider community for weddings and other ceremonies while the Catholic Church of the Blessed Sacrament was being re-built in Ardwick Street. Change came in the 1980s when the college became integrated into the state education system while retaining its “special character”. At the same time, more lay staff replaced the priests and nuns and Kerry Henderson became the first lay principal. College students had long been recognisable in their grey and red uniforms, but change there too, saw them sporting blue blazers with plaid kilts for the girls. 171 pupils had enrolled at opening, but as pupil numbers rose to 576, new facilities were needed to accommodate the growing numbers and the range of subjects taught. In the lead up to the College's 50th Anniversary, Anne Hunt, our Foundation Co-ordinator, has been writing a series of articles for the local paper. In case you haven't spotted them in The Ensign, or if you live out of town, we'll be sharing them with here on our Foundation Blog. Keep an eye out for upcoming parts in our 'Brief History of St Peter's College'. In the BeginningIn the late 1940s it was the parish priest of Gore, Fr. Frank Finlay, who identified the need for a Catholic boys’ secondary school in the town. Older boys had traditionally gone away to boarding schools in Oamaru or Dunedin.
Since the late 19th century, Catholic education in Gore had been provided by the Sisters of Mercy at St Mary’s School. The parish had no land or buildings for a senior boys’ school. When a three-acre block of land came up for sale in West Gore in 1950, Fr. Finlay purchased it and with his fund-raising committee, set about adding further blocks as they became available. This would be the site for their new school. So began many years of dedicated work by local families to raise funds to enable building to begin. Initially there were quarterly appeals and parish workers also called at Catholic homes once a month. There were “half crown” collections outside the church. Many of the school’s founding families remember visits from priests and brothers who toured Southland and Central Otago parishes and farms, tirelessly collecting money. There were years of fund–raising activities, bazaars, concerts, dances the famous ‘Tug-of-War” for football teams – won by the Kubala brothers, who donated their winnings of 50 pounds to the school fund. Farmers gave calves and lambs and there were muddy “Wild Goose Chases” at the Nicholson’s farm at Knapdale. The geese sold well for Easter and Christmas. The land purchased in West Gore was farmed for free by local farmers, producing an income from sheep, grass seed and wheat. In 1961, they had 30 acres of land and building started. The Rosminian order of priests sent members south from Auckland to help with fund raising and to staff the school. By 1968 $410,633 had been raised. Fr. Lance Hurdidge from England was appointed Head Teacher and on arrival is reputed to have said “…but what about the girls?” This lead to the Sisters of Mercy joining the staff and New Zealand’s first co-educational Catholic boarding school, St Peter’s College, opened with 99 boys and 72 girls. |
|
RSS Feed