Gordon school’s unique history

Two years of military history at high school appear to have cured me of any great interest in the theme ever since. The origins of World War II, confusingly studied in the 6th form ahead of the origins of World War I in the following year, were too devoid of people for my liking; at least the foundation of constitutional monarchy (also in the curriculum) involved real men and women, even if most were royal.

Still, there’s no escape from war, both at home and abroad, in the past and present.

Occasionally a historic Waikato building even brings to the fore an aspect of military history that sheds new light on how we have responded in the past to international events far beyond our ken.

South-east of Te Aroha is the tiny ‘dot on the map’ settlement of Gordon. I had no idea of its existence until Lyn Williams passed on this week’s photograph and what looks like half a school building duly appeared on my computer screen.

The General Gordon Special Settlement was established in 1885, the same year in which General Charles Gordon died. Gordon (1833-85) was a British administrator and army officer who fought in the Crimean War, served in

China and then achieved fame around the British Empire for his part in the Siege of Khartoum (1884-85), the capital of Sudan in northern Africa.

I’ll leave you to disappear down the research rabbit hole if you have a particular interest in British military history; suffice to say General Gordon was memorialised after his death by a number of statues and Charlton Heston played him in a 1966 movie simply called Khartoum.

Meanwhile back in the rural association settlement of Gordon, tenders for the Armadale School building were called in September 1892.

The school opened in the following year and was renamed after the settlement in September 1894.

The late Joan Stanley’s 2009 booklet, Down at the Hall – Celebrating Matamata Country Halls, records that the school building was also used to host community events and church services.

The 45th anniversary of the school was celebrated by a gathering of around 150 people on Saturday July 30, 1938.

At the same time a new school building, erected by the Auckland Education Board, was officially opened.

The former Gordon School summons up the ghost of 19th century British imperial history and the ripples of its impact in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Designed in the open-air style, the stand-alone addition to the existing classroom was built to accommodate 40 pupils. On opening day Frank Montague, who was a foundation pupil at the school, ‘recalled the early days of Gordon, when large families were the fashion and simple things were appreciated’ (Matamata Record August 4 1938, P1).

The new building was not connected to the original schoolhouse, hence the truncated appearance of the former.

The latter was removed, according to Stanley, to Selwyn School near Te Poi in c.1946; later still it became an exhibit at the Firth Tower Museum on the outskirts of Matamata.

Gordon School closed at the end of the school year in 1973 and since the later 1970s the building has been in private ownership.

Now in use as a small community hall, the former Gordon School proves once again that a building can have both a typical and a unique history; at once a standard mid-century open-air classroom and the keeper of a name that summons up the ghost of 19th century British imperial history and the ripples of its impact in Aotearoa New Zealand.