Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Lesley, Murray and Laurie Mabey riding to school on Great Barrier Island in the 1950s

Early this year we asked people to send us their stories about that great New Zealand institution: the country school. We received a steady trickle of letters and, interestingly, they were all from older people in their 70s, 80s and 90s, remembering schools in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Perhaps that time was the heyday of country schools? Certainly there were many more of them back then.

Those stories are now up on the Te Ara website, attached to the entry on Country Schooling, and give fascinating insights into rural education. Most accounts are written from the point of view of the pupil, but we have one from a teacher, Helen Hirst, who began her career at the tiny Manahune School in North Canterbury in 1947. Many of our contributors also sent us their precious photos for us to scan, and there are some evocative ones. My personal favourite is the photo of Waiharakeke School near Kāwhia Harbour. Eileen Shaw, who went there in the 1940s, carefully labelled the main features, including the pony paddock, the playing field, the school gardens, and even the boys’ and girls’ toilets!

One of the stand-out experiences seems to have been the journey to school – by bus, horse or pony, or on foot. Many of our writers remember an arduous and sometimes rather scary trip – for instance Leslie Rockell’s epic horseback trek to school on Great Barrier Island. And reading about the mischief that Margaret Joll got up to with her brother and sister on their way to catch the school bus in the 1950s makes you realise how much more freedom kids had then – a contrast with modern childhood.

Several of our writers recalled the apples and milk that were handed out to all school children during these years as part of a government initiative to improve child health after the depression of the 1930s. Events unique to country schools, such as calf club day, also feature in several stories. As a gardener, I was particularly interested to read about the school garden projects – Celia Geary talks of the soup children made from vegetables they grew, while Mary Murphy remembers her prize-winning gladiolus. Gardening at school is back in fashion nowadays. But the cane – one of the few painful memories in these stories – seems unlikely to make a come-back, no doubt to the relief of children everywhere.

Wellington Botanic Garden – this may or may not resemble Nancy's garden

‘Every man should have a hobby,’ the saying goes – and so should every woman in my opinion. High on my list of preferred pastimes is gardening. I spend much of my time indoors working at a computer, so it makes a nice change to put on my gumboots and stride out in the fresh air. In this choice I am not alone – gardening is one of the most popular leisure activities in New Zealand. In 2000 a whopping 60% of New Zealanders got out in the garden, and many are interested in garden design.

Unfortunately, as a resident of Wellington, I picked the wrong place to pursue my hobby. I was raised in Waikato, famous for its colourful exotic trees and lush roses. There, the main problem that gardeners face is rampant growth – plants get too big, too soon. But the possibilities for creative gardening are endless, and Hamilton Gardens showcase some of them.

Here in Wellington, the obstacles are daunting. For a start there is the clay soil – great as a building material, but not so great as a growing medium. During wet weather it turns to cold, sticky mud; in times of drought it sets solid. Then there is the notorious wind, which often rises to gale force. It tears through my garden, ripping at leaves and branches, and literally blowing seedlings out of the ground. In winter it can get so cold at times that to venture outside is to risk hypothermia – making gardening in Wellington an extreme sport comparable with mountaineering, diving or aerial recreation.

All this can be a bit discouraging, but it forces you to adapt. Some people play it safe and go for the ‘low maintenance’ garden style – tufts of mondo grass in a dreary sea of gravel. Others preach the hardy native plant gospel. While I think there is nothing more glorious than pristine New Zealand bush, too many native plants clustered together in a garden can look rather monotonous. To my mind, real gardening is about artifice – carefully mixing different and sometimes surprising elements to create a harmonious effect.

I’m currently experimenting with blending natives and exotics. The highly sculptural and very hardy New Zealand flax is one of our most distinctive and beautiful native plants. Recently I transplanted a small, self-seeded flax from my rose garden into a grey, bucket-shaped container, and dotted thrift around the edge. No, not the sort of thrift described here, but the low-growing plant also known as armeria. Its dusky pink flowerheads are an excellent foil to the reddish strap-like leaves of the flax. Emboldened by this success, I have just planted a larger grey container with a dramatic black flax (‘Black Adder’) surrounded by dianthus. This lovely little plant has blue-grey, spiky foliage and in spring it will be smothered in feathery white fragrant flowers. At least that’s the theory – wish me luck!