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Former Horopito School

Ann McEwan

Arecent closure of the Desert Road called for a drive to Waiouru to be round the ‘back way’ via National Park. What a terrific drive it is too, through interesting scenery that is redolent in history fundamental to our nation’s story.

Not surprisingly, a large number of historic buildings and structures caught my eye and necessitated quick stops to take a photograph between rain showers.

Horopito is in the Ruapehu district and I’m sure there are many Times readers who have driven through this small settlement in the past and will do so again over the summer.

Horopito was the setting of the legendary New Zealand film Smash Palace and, in October 1948, was where the bodies of those killed in the Lockheed Electra air crash on Mt Ruapehu were taken after they had been recovered.

The town’s early 20th century history is related to both sawmilling and the completion of the North Island Main Trunk Line in August 1908.

By that time the village, which always strikes me as a very English word for which I can find no better substitute, already boasted a school. In November 1907 it had been announced that the school would open in the local hall as soon as the teacher arrived.

By April 1910 a problem had arisen with the school because the hall had been sold and, amongst accusations of ‘disgraceful departmental neglect of Main Trunk schools’, the Whanganui Education

The establishment of a gasworks in Hamilton in 1895 was of such importance that it required a 12-page Act of Parliament, The Hamilton Gasworks Act 1895, to authorise it.

Initially the gasworks was a private enterprise established by Henry Atkinson (refer Dead Tell Tales published June 8 2018).

The gasworks operated from 1895 to 1970, and for the first 40 of those 75 years they were managed by Lewis Blackman. Having reticulated gas transformed Hamiltonians’ lives.

Lewis Blackman was born in London, the second of James and Elizabeth Blackman’s nine children.

In 1880, when Lewis was 21, the whole family immigrated to New Zealand.

Soon after, Lewis and two of his brothers found work with Atkinson’s Auckland Gas Company.

In 1891 Blackman married Martha Goatley; they were to have four sons, born in consecutive years from 1893, however the first-born died soon after birth. The family moved to Hamilton for Lewis to establish the Hamilton gasworks.

By April 1895 the workshop was already up, and the retort-house, storehouse for coal, furnaces and gasometer were under construction (Auckland Star April 9, 1895). The gasworks opened in September 1895.

In the mid-1890s, Hamilton’s population was fairly static at about 1200-1240 but there was housing development around its environs. From an initial 119 gas consumers in September 1895, by 1906, when the population had grown to 2150, the company was supplying gas to over 300 homes and businesses.

Initially the gas was used for lighting only.

The Act gave the Borough Council the

Department was being urged to erect a purpose-built venue.

The hall was to be converted into a billiard saloon and the proprietor said that ‘he would permit the children to use part of the building, and would undertake not to allow billiards to be played during school hours, on one condition only – that the erection of the new school was proceeded with immediately’ (Manawatu Standard April 28, 1910, P5).

Nevertheless, the school was temporarily closed in May 1910 after being evicted from the billiard saloon. With 30 children on the roll, and another 20 right to purchase the gasworks after 10 years. In 1907 the council agreed to buy the gasworks, but would not pay Atkinson any goodwill.

Atkinson took the council to court and won. Hamilton Borough Council took over the works in 1910 and retained Blackman as manager.

The gasworks proved successful, with an increasing number of residents and commercial users signing up to be provided with gas. Blackman reported to Borough Council meetings.

In 1929 he reported that ‘‘the amount of gas manufactured during the year showed an increase of 1.1% .

The use of gas was still diminishing but the quantity required for heating etc was increasing at a greater rate.

Services laid during the year numbered 121, and appliances installed included 75 cookers, 24 grillers, 31 water heaters, 17 wash coppers, 129 gas rings, 43 lights, 30 gas expected with the imminent opening of two new sawmills, the urgency of the situation was apparently not felt by the education board. Happily, an appeal to Premier Joseph Ward got things moving and George Fowlds, the Minister of Education, immediately authorised a grant for building Horopito School.

Proving that ministerial intervention really does make a difference, the new school was completed by early August 1910.

It appears that additions were made about a year later and a concert in December 1912 helped to raise funds to fires and radiators’’.

By then Hamilton’s population had grown to over 14,000 and included Frankton and Claudelands. Blackman resigned in 1934, giving a few months’ notice.

According to the Waikato Times on September 13 1934, Mayor J. R. Fow ‘‘feelingly referred to the long and faithful service given by Mr Blackman.

‘‘The council had a doubtful asset in the gasworks, but a very tangible asset in the gasworks engineer . . . one cannot speak too enthusiastically of him.

‘‘There has never been any unpleasantness through the long years he has been our servant’’.

When Blackman left his position in April 1935, aged 75, the Mayor again acknowledged his many years of efficient and loyal service. Blackman’s staff presented him with a gold watch.

The gasworks were on the north side of Clarence St at the bottom of the hill. improve the school grounds. In April 1914 the Minister of Education approved funding for a schoolteacher’s house, at a cost of £450. Four years later the school committee was given permission to sell the milling rights to timber on the school grounds.

In 1928 R. A. Wright, then Minister of Education, approved a grant for remodelling and extending Horopito School; this work was carried out in the following year. What was now a threeroom school was destroyed by fire on the evening of September 3, 1934. At the time the school roll was between 50 and 60

Blackman lived adjacent to the gasworks, but the house was part of the employment package, so when he retired, he had to move.

The 1947 directory places him on the corner of Anglesea St and Clarence St – so he didn’t move very far, just a few houses.

Over the years the gasworks were enlarged, however coal gas was highly toxic, so once natural gas was piped to Hamilton, the gasworks were closed and the buildings demolished.

An interesting note is that one of Lewis’s grandsons, Colin Blackman, was involved in the demolition process.

Lewis Blackman died in 1947 aged 87 years.

He was buried in Hamilton East Cemetery, with Martha who had predeceased him three years’ earlier.

Thanks to Hamilton Libraries Heritage team for their help. pupils and nothing could be salvaged from the building. Before the month was out the education board had granted £10 for the replacement of stationery. By March 1935 the chairman of the board was able to report that a new school building had been opened, a year earlier than the date on the front of the building.

E. R. Hodge, the board’s architect, had held the role since 1914 and when he tried to resign due to ill health in early 1946 the board initially refused to accept his resignation.

Happily for Hodge (1885-1974) he was allowed to retire in March 1946 and was replaced by two men given the scale of the job with responsibility for Whanganui, Palmerston North and myriad rural schools. Ernest Hodge sought election as a member of the education board in 1947 and continued to advise on education architectural matters in the district through the late 1940s.

The Horopito School served the local community until its closure in 1963 and, much more recently, the community rallied to save the school and maintain it and the neighbouring domain. Today it’s a reminder of a historic rural settlement that still has a school building at its heart.

History

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2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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