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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. This is the fifth and final article. Half a Century on...In 1969, Father Lance Hurdidge, an English priest from Huddersfield, became the first of eight principals of St Peter’s College. His staff were all priests and brothers of the Rosminian order and nuns from the Sisters of Mercy. Today, fifty years on, the staff reflects a changing world – all lay teachers and the school’s first female principal, Kate Nicholson.
As with all her predecessors she brings a different emphasis to St Peter’s. Fathers Hurdidge, Willett and Hill set the agenda for the school’s Catholic Character. While adhering to this special ethos, principals also placed an emphasis on sports, culture and academic success in the pursuit of providing a holistic education. Reflecting on his tenure from 2009 –2013, John Hogue observed that the challenge is to model the Gospel values in action; to practise the college motto ’Charity Fulfils the Law’. As the school approaches its 50th anniversary in January 2019, Kate Nicholson reflects on St Peter’s College today... “Our role as a Catholic College continues to have a dual purpose. Catholic schools throughout New Zealand are highly regarded in terms of academic achievement, but our purpose continues to be more than that. We have the responsibility of ensuring that our students experience a faith-filled education through our school culture, our living of the gospel values, and the emphasis we put on positive relationships that reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ. In my opinion, our young people are seeing themselves and their place in the world very differently to even ten years ago and much of this is due to the often-negative pressures, expectations and role modelling created by social media – something that wasn’t an issue for my generation growing up. This means that our role is changing, and we are very aware of the need to bring an alternate view to the table for our young people so they can grow up with a balanced view of life interwoven with the Catholic faith. St Peter’s College has always been forward thinking and the Rosminian priests and brothers of the 1970s established a progressive educational philosophy that we keep in mind in our future planning. We are currently very conscious of the need to change from a knowledge education to an ‘application of knowledge’ education and include deliberate teaching of 21st century learning skills. Of course, Catholic education already has a strong emphasis on people, relationships and what is known as the ‘soft skills’; in a way, we continue to shine the light on these same skills and work to ensure that our graduates can create positive personal and professional relationships in whatever community they become part of.”
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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! 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.  Work begins on construction of the college. A view from near where the chapel now stands towards Kakapo Street (West). We all know a wealth of knowledge can be gleaned from those who have come before us and in the last Blog ‘The Parish Priest Reminisces’ was mentioned. With our 50th Anniversary less than six months away it is timely to also reflect on the generosity, vision and a huge amount of patience from those who started the ball rolling. If you have ever wondered how we were lucky enough to have such beautiful and extensive grounds, read on, it wasn’t luck, it was persistence, prayers and patience. The Parish Priest Reminisces – Author Monsigneur Finlay, Vol. 1 The Rock 1969 pg. 17 St Peter’s College was not the first Catholic School for the promotion of higher culture that was opened in Gore. The last Century some 80 years ago, saw the opening of a school in East Gore by the Sisters of Mercy. In those times it was customary to have two schools, a ‘superior’ school, at which there were higher fees, and an ordinary parish school that was, more or less free. In this superior school, French was taught, and everyone knows that no person can have any claim to culture who does not know this most expressive, most accurate, and most melodious of all languages. So, the sisters taught French. They continued to teach the scholars of this town right up to forms 1 and 11 and have continued teaching all our boys and girls over the past 80 years. A tribute must be paid to those sisters who carried the burden for so long. It is gratifying that the Sisters of Mercy who pioneered the higher culture in the first years of Catholic education are again plying a full part in its rebirth at St. Peter’s. We must also pay a tribute to the boys themselves who were never really a great problem and who were generally a very great help to the Sisters. Now and again people expressed concern that the sisters had to teach big boys, and some also said that boys need a man teacher. These ideas were often expressed, and so thoughts of a boys’ school arose. At first it was said that we could have a Brothers’ school, mainly Primary perhaps, with one or two rooms for secondary pupils. This was to be a day school for Gore boys or the Parish and perhaps for those in the neighbouring parishes who wanted to come. This was fine talk but what a task lay ahead! We had no land, no buildings and no money. The first thing was a site for the school. The parish owned only the five acres on which the present St. Mary’s school stands. In August 1950, an advertisement appeared in the local paper: “FOR SALE IN WEST GORE: A PROPERTY OF 3 ¾ ACRES’’. In former times, it was customary for Catholics to enquire where there was a question of buying property, and a layman was instructed to make the purchase in their own name, and not divulge that it was for the Catholic Church. This was done because there was a fear that prejudice was so strong that the owners would refuse to sell their land for the promotion of Romish doctrines. However, I believed in the direct approach and so I answered the advertisement, giving the presbytery as the address. Next day I received a visit from the late Mr McGill who spoke as follows: “I received your letter concerning the property. It belongs to the McGill Estate and I am handling it. We had another reply, but I preferred to deal with you, and after all, we are friends. We are both bowlers of the Gore Bowling Club.” Mr McGill was as good as his word. When we inspected the property, it turned out to be in West Gore opening on to the present Kakapo Street, and in the middle of open land, with 15 acres to the north and 7 to the south. It was the 3 ¾ acres that are now in front of the School buildings. It wasn’t much but it was a start and we agreed to buy at 500 pounds. Mr McGill produced a Bill of Sale and, as a good Scot, said: “If we fill this in ourselves, we’ll save the 1 pound that the lawyers would charge us” and so we filled it in, and on August 7th, 1950, we were the owners of the property.
We looked round and made enquiries and found that the 10 acres to the north of us were owned by a lady in Invercargill. Both sections were owned by ladies. One was 10 acres with a house on it and the other was 5 acres. We prepared for the interview with the owner of the 10 acres by saying a lot of prayers, getting a lot of other people to say prayers and also, now and again, throwing medals over the hedge. After this preparation, we visited Invercargill to meet the owner of the property, a Mrs Coutts. We didn’t think we had very much chance; there was no need for her to sell. Anyway, we went, were well received by the lady who said that she would sell at a price that would bring in, in interest, the same revenue that she now received in rent. This turned out to be 3000 pounds. On consulting with our advisers in Gore, we decided that it was a good price, and we were prepared to buy. The lady’s agent in Gore did not make things easy for us. In fact, it took us one month of negotiations before we were able to finalise the deal. Thus, it was a great relief that we were able to sign on the dotted line and the 10 acres were ours. In the following year, a section in Robertson Street was bought for 200 pounds and the late Mr. Joseph Howard came to the presbytery one day and said, ‘I thought that section was so good, I bought the one alongside it, and I’ll make a donation of it”. These sections today could not be bought for 2000 pounds. It was realised that the property would not be any good till we had completed the block and bought the neighbouring 5 acres which would give us a complete frontage in Coutts Road from Robertson St. to Kakapo Street. This, as I said earlier, was also owned by a woman. We went and asked her, and she said, ‘The price is 3000 pounds” and she explained that she had arrived at that price because it was the amount she could obtain if she sub-divide it. We pointed out to her that it would cost a very great deal to sub-divide. She would have to pay the cost of putting a street through, channelling and curbing and the cost of surveying and sub-division, but she said, “The people next door would pay half.” However, that was not so, because we were the people next door and we never intended to sub-divide. Anyway, she would NOT move, nor would she reduce the amount. We talked this over among the men of the Parish and the men on the Committee. I seemed an exorbitant price. I then went back to make an appeal to her and said “This property is not being bought for speculation, nor for making money, but to build a school for the education of boys in Christian living, to make good citizens and good Christians and that we hadn’t the money; we would have to collect it in sixpences and shillings and that anyone who was a benefaction would be remembered and prayed for, for time immemorial.” My words fell on deaf ears. “The price is 3000 pounds.” So, we put it to the Committee at the time and without any hesitation they said we must have this property to complete the block and it was proposed that we should buy it. In May 1955, we became the owners of this extra five acres. We now had 18 ¾ acres, a complete block, and were ready to start. Five years later, the property on the other side of Kakapo St. plus a house came on the market and we were advised to purchase it for it probably would be sub-divided and could be of great use to the school. So, in 1960, we added this extra five acres, and the following year the Committee men considered that the seven remaining acres on which the school building now stands, should be bought, as they could never be bought later, and it would be impossible to have too much land. One of the men, I remember, who was the most insistent on this and most concerned and worried lest we lose it, was Mr. Jack Crowley, one of our Committee members. As a result, the Committee sent a recommendation to His Lordship, the Bishop, that this property should be purchased. The cost was heavy, 7000 pounds, but it was a wise thing to buy it and so, in 1961, it was purchased. We had had the present property, some 30 acres, enough on which to build a school with ample provision for playing fields and further extensions. Written by Bernie Weller  Nuns at work.  An arial view of the college grounds , looking north along Kakapo Street.  With St Peter’s College ‘kicking off’ in 1969, it stands to reason the first year the school was able to field a full strength First Fifteen rugby side, complete with seventh formers, was 1973. That was my first year at the College. We admired the big boys in the 1st XV, that year captained by Murray “Moose” Munro (who I these days play golf with in Dunedin). David Black, a small but combative hooker, captained the side for the following two seasons. I was lucky enough to be one five fifth formers selected in the 1975 side, superbly coached by John Petre and captained by Black. We had the distinction of being the first St Peter’s 1st XV to beat Gore High School (11- nil). The write-up in the paper of the day, the Mataura Ensign, most probably penned by our team manager Greg Tourelle, said flanker Ken Devery was the outstanding forward on the field and the young inside back combination of Peter Barlow and John Williams starred (Barlow later went on to play for Wellington and was selected for an All Blacks trial). Tries were scored by winger Des Dillon and Williams. Yours truly added a penalty. The vice-captain was the well preformed second five-eighth Tony Brazier and other standout senior players included Tony “Guinness” Casey, Markham “Jock” McMullen and Basil “Baz” Chamberlain. Basil’s younger brother Paul “Pup” captained the side in 1976 and I was given the honour in 1977. Gore High was a very powerful side at the time (beating Southland Boys in 1977) and the first clash in 1975 was my only success in six attempts, spanning three years, in the 1st XV. They were wonderful days, even though our haircuts left a lot to be desired! Written by Jamie Mackay
 The cover of the 1969, first edition of The Rock (the school yearbook). It is to my own embarrassment that despite becoming Chair of the Foundation, my knowledge of the College’s early years was poor. Fortunately, due to the hard work of Anne Hunt and Maria Hurrell over many years, we have a wealth of archived resources and photos. Even so, it required a nudge from Maria to point me in the right direction. The Rock Archives, which I discovered in the Foundation Page of the School website, os a gem, and to those of you who have already discovered this and are now smugly smiling, you can scroll down to ‘donations’ and put your time and resources to better use, while I continue on extolling the virtues of these early edition reads. In the Editor’s own words, “the first edition of any school magazine is an occasion of pride and even joy” and the humour from the young authors attests to this. From Volume 1. 1969, I have a few favourite articles, the first being P.G. O’Brien’s ‘My First Impressions’ which, except for his disappointment in finding that girls were in his class, well exceeded his expectations. Followed by ‘Heard in Passing’ comments from the 1st term: “I like school, but I like the uniforms better – they’re snazzy.” “The chains are awfully noisy.” “I like the way we have our lessons – you don’t see too much of anyone.” “So far I like St. Peter’s – the teachers are good – of course it is only the first week anything could happen yet.” “The boys’ socks look like balloons, but I suppose the boys think they look smart.” Then “Boarding without Tears – (for the most part)” - author not stated, describing the exploits of the first 34 boarders in that first term. For a short history lesson “The Parish Priest Reminisces” is an interesting insight to Gore’s Catholic schooling past and the dream of one day having a school for boys, considered “fine talk, but what a task lay ahead!” “We had no land, no buildings, no money.” It is extraordinary to look back now at these early volumes and think 50 years have passed and here we are reviewing them again. I hope P.G O’Brien is amused rather than mortified that he has been named, I thought it was quite wonderful from the eyes of a 13-year-old. By Bernie Weller
 ST PETER’S COLLEGE GATHERING (in Dunedin -11-12 October 2014) of Ex Students YEARS 1969, 1970 and 1971 Back Row (L to R): Chris Roughan, Martin Chamberlain , Michael McKenzie, Charlie Keenan, Phillip Hishon, Tony Van der Lem, Tony Wilkins, John Gallaher, John Barlow, Murray Munro, Brian Haldane Middle Row: Lindsay Crooks, Earl Dillon Mary Philips, Moira Anderson ((Harrington), Judy Hoffman, Joanne Cutler (Farry) Laura Robertson(Millen), Margaret Scoullar ( Herbert), Maree Aoake (Jones) Zita Cleugh (McBreen ) Mary Turnbull (Stack) Peter Dixon Front Row: Mark Whelan, Richard Mallon, Peter Lee , Fr Aidan Cunningham, Moya Smith ( Sr Andrew) Fr Michael Hill, Sr Josie Dolan (Sr Stephen), Trevor Roughan, Anne Roughan (Ferris) Billy Mackay Form 3 Reunion 1969, 1970 & 1971: A Thank You to Early Staff (Four years short of our 50th Anniversary) In early October 48 former pupils and their partners gathered in Dunedin to honour some of the early staff of SPC. What started out as a recognition of the work of the only 2 Rosminians left in NZ, thankfully expanded to include some of the early Sisters as well. Students who were in Form 3 of 1969, 1970 and 1971 were the target and this of course included many first day pupils. Father Hill, Father Cunningham, Sister Josie Dolan (Sister Stephen) and Moya Smith (Sister Andrew) were present, but unfortunately an illness at the last minute curtailed Sister Pauline Gallagher’s (Sister David’s) attendance. What a happy gathering of fun loving people it was! Body shapes and pace may be different, but the sense of humour and happy, grateful memories were a plenty. If you were in Form 3 in 1969-1971 and didn’t hear about this, then your email is not on the data base, so please flick an email to annehunt@stpetersgore.school.nz to ensure you’re targeted next time round and for the 50th anniversary. If you'd like photos from this reunion, and yes there are plenty, please email Anne Hunt. |
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