So much change in 100 years

Long memories provided a rich and often amusing backdrop to the 100th anniversary of the opening of Matapihi School, now officially called Te Kura o Matapihi.

Its Maori name is symbolic of the change in philosophies that have reshaped how pupils have been taught since two of the school's oldest surviving pupils, Eileen Gear and Sylvie Burr, were educated in English and walked to school barefoot.

Pupils are now taught in Maori, with English a separate subject from Year 5 to Year 8. It was the opposite for Mrs Gear (nee Barbarich) who spoke te reo at home and then switched to English for what was then called the Matapihi Native School.

Her anecdotes of growing up in Matapihi entertained the 170 people who braved the weather yesterday to gather under a big marquee for lunch, speeches and photographs.

Mrs Gear, 86, had a strict upbringing, saying she was forbidden to go to the cinema with a boy until she was 14. However, when she turned 14, her mother changed the age to 16. "I said, at this rate, I will never get a boyfriend."

It wasn't until she was 17 that a boy was allowed to take her to the movies in Tauranga, via the Matapihi rail bridge, which in those days had no walkway. She had to be home by 11pm.

"I enjoyed those days. In a way I was glad I was strictly brought up."

Mrs Burr (nee Mischefski) said many children did not wear shoes until they were eight or nine and when it was raining they walked to school wearing sugar bags turned inside-out.

She helped milk 25 cows, using a hand-operated cream separator, and then got the strap when she arrived late for school.

Recalling games children played at school in those days, she remembered whipping pine cones with a flax whip and playing marbles. The crowd laughed at the double meaning when Mrs Burr said she still had a few marbles left.

She vividly recalled the day in 1936 when she planted the rimu tree that still stands at the entrance to the school: "That was when I bonded with the school."

Another feature of the day was the unveiling of three pou (carved wooden poles), symbolising the three marae the school's pupils were linked to - Waikari, Whareroa and Hungahungatoroa. The pou were called Tupukino, Rauru ki Tahi and Tapuito.

Yesterday's anniversary was the first of the school's three centennial celebrations this year. August 17 will feature a sports and cultural day for younger ex-pupils, and on October 26 there will be a dinner and dance, coinciding with the release of a centennial book and a digital storytelling record including school students' interviews with former pupils.