An original handwritten log from the opening of Makarika School in 1925. The school's centenary celebrations and reunion have been postponed from the Waitangi holiday period to August.
An original handwritten log from the opening of Makarika School in 1925. The school's centenary celebrations and reunion have been postponed from the Waitangi holiday period to August.
Makarika School’s reunion and centenary celebrations planned for the Waitangi weekend holiday period have been postponed to August.
The weather event caused significant damage to State Highway 35 – the main access road from Gisborne to Makarika, inland southwest of Ruatōria.
“The centenary will now be held on August 7,8, 9,” centenary organisers said. “This will coincide with the exact time of the opening of the school 101 years ago.
“The centenary was initially postponed from Labour Weekend 2025 because the valley marae, Rongohaere, didn’t reopen until January 1, 2026.”
Among those attending the reunion will be Makarika old students Pine Campbell and Jeremy Williams.
Campbell, now in his late 80s, was at the school from 1943 to 1951.
“In the days gone by ... the mid-1940s to early 1950s ... before the present bridge was built over the Makarika Stream, access into the valley in winter was difficult and at times not possible, except by a swing bridge,” he told the Gisborne Herald.
“Despite its remoteness and changing times, the valley and school have a history that we are proud of. So this momentous occasion that we are looking forward to, I can’t wait. Haere mai tātou.”
Campbell went on to become a long-term teacher at Fairfield High School in Hamilton and is an Anglican priest.
Campbell said his favourite memories of the school was reciting poetry.
One poem he recalls “in particular” was Abou Ben Adhem written by English poet Leigh Hunt.
“I was so fond of it that I even asked my mother to help me learn it off by heart and then I would say it to her until I was able to remember it.”
The poem was about a Middle Eastern sheikh, who was visited by an angel and blessed by God.
Campbell said he had helped with fundraising in Hamilton for the reunion through PowerPoint presentations at Fairfield College and at Anglican Action social justice service.
Makarika School pupils pictured in 1959. Photo / Supplied
Reunion committee member Jeremy Williams lived in the area and attended Makarika School from 1959 to 1964 before continuing his schooling at Havelock North and Christ’s College.
He enjoyed playing “barefoot rugby” back in the day.
Williams’ family farmed at Matahiia Station, with his great-grandfather Ken moving there in 1896. Ken later became a politician and eventually the Minister of Works, Williams said.
The farming tradition was passed down the generations, including Williams, who took up farming in 1980, having graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Business studies, and bought into the family farm.
