Schoolteacher's House (Former), KARIOITAHI (List No. 9844, Category 2)
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New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero – Report for a Historic Place
Schoolteacher’s House (Former), KARIOITAHI (List No. 9844,
Category 2)
Schoolteacher’s House (Former), Karioitahi, looking west
(Martin Jones, HNZPT, 2 March 2020)
Martin Jones
Last amended 10 June 2021
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
1. IDENTIFICATION 4
1.1. Name of Place 4
1.2. Location Information 4
1.3. Legal Description 5
1.4. Extent of List Entry 5
1.5. Eligibility 5
1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition 5
2. SUPPORTING INFORMATION 6
2.1. Historical Information 6
2.2. Physical Information 16
2.3. Chattels 22
2.4. Sources 22
3. SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT 23
3.1. Section 66 (1) Assessment 23
3.2. Section 66 (3) Assessment 24
4. APPENDICES 27
4.1. Appendix 1: Visual Identification Aids 27
4.2. Appendix 2: Visual Aids to Historical Information 31
4.3. Appendix 3: Visual Aids to Physical Information 35
4.4. Appendix 4: Significance Assessment Information 40
Disclaimer
Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero identifies only the heritage values of
the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of
its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary
conditions.
Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of
whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include
‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New
Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological
provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand office
for archaeological advice.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose of this report
The purpose of this report is to provide evidence to support the inclusion of Schoolteacher’s House
(Former), Karioitahi in the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero as a Category 2 historic place.
Summary
Built in 1886, the well-preserved Schoolteacher’s House at Karioitahi reflects the commitment of the
Auckland Education Board (AEB) to rural schooling after the passing of the 1877 Education Act.
Purpose-designed by AEB architect Henry Allright, the single-storey timber villa housed successive
teachers for the adjacent Karioitahi School, whose in-ground remains also survive within the place.
Significant as a very early surviving example of Allright’s use of square-plan pyramid villas for teacher’s
residences – which remained a standard type into the early 1900s – the house continued to be used
for its original purpose until the late 1960s. It has close associations with several notable occupants
including Alfred, Hugh and Montague Goldsbury – prominent individuals in the history of Quaker
education in New Zealand – and Vivian Ramsay, who died while serving on the Somme in 1918. Both
Ramsay and the Goldsbury family are significant for their links with pacifism and conscientious
objection during the First World War (1914-18).
Situated between the Manukau Harbour and Waikato River, Karioitahi lies within the rohe of Ngāti Te
Ata. The locality was strategically important as well as providing food and other resources at Lakes
Rotoiti and Whatihua, and elsewhere. Following the Waikato War (1863-4), the area was subject to
raupatu or confiscation by the Crown with long-term, traumatic consequences for tangata whenua. In
1865, the colonial government provided ten-acre grants to immigrants, encouraging them to establish
small farms. After the 1877 Education Act introduced free and compulsory secular schooling for all
Pākehā New Zealand children, Karioitahi settlers sought the construction of dedicated facilities. In
1883, the AEB erected a single-classroom school consisting of a former Wesleyan chapel relocated
from nearby Waiuku. This was built on a three-acre site overlooking the settlement.
In 1886, a teacher’s residence was added in a prominent position beside the school. Purpose-built
housing was considered essential to attract married staff to teach in rural areas and improve ‘the
progress of education’. Construction occurred during a major expansion of AEB facilities overseen by
Henry Allright after introduction of the 1877 Act. His design for a square-plan pyramid villa at
Karioitahi was of a generous size and quality, and formed a very early example of what became a
broadly standard AEB type. The new building incorporated a parlour, three bedrooms, large kitchen
and scullery, as well as a prominent front verandah. Its earliest occupants were Quaker schoolteacher
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 3
Alfred Goldsbury (1849-1935) and his young family. Goldsbury later became clerk to the General
Meeting of the Society of Friends; actively promoted pacifism; and helped establish the country’s first
Quaker boarding school at St John’s Hill, Whanganui. Two of his sons Hugh and Montague, brought up
at Karioitahi, were the first principals of the latter. Hugh and another son Noel were additionally
involved in conscientious objection during the First World War, with Noel being imprisoned for his
views.
Of subsequent occupants, pre-war schoolteacher Vivian Ramsay was also a pacifist. Having initially
volunteered for the conflict as a combatant, he transferred to the Medical Corps following a crisis of
conscience and died in northern France. The house remained in use as a teacher’s residence until the
1960s, although the initial school building was demolished in 1933 after a new facility was built on
adjacent land. The 1883 school remnants include earthworks linked with a tennis court – reflecting
early twentieth-century approaches to health and physical exercise. The main residence survives with
minor changes, and remains in private use (2021).
1. IDENTIFICATION1
1.1. Name of Place
Name
Schoolteacher’s House (Former)
Other Names
Teacher’s House
Teacher’s Residence
Karioitahi School House
Karioitahi School
Kariaotahi School
1.2. Location Information
Address
47 Binns Road
KARIOITAHI
1 This section is supplemented by visual aids in Appendix 1 of the report.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 4
Additional Location Information
NZTM Easting: 1749382.0
NZTM Northing: 5873633.02
Local Authority
Waikato District Council
1.3. Legal Description
Allot 46 Sbrn Sec 1 Parish of Waipipi (RT NA67C/118), North Auckland Land District
1.4. Extent of List Entry
Extent includes the land described as Allot 46 Sbrn Sec 1 Parish of Waipipi (RT NA67C/118),
North Auckland Land District, and the building and structures known as Schoolteacher’s
House (Former) thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further
information).
1.5. Eligibility
There is sufficient information included in this report to identify this place. This place is
physically eligible for consideration as a historic place. It consists of land, an archaeological
site, and a building and structures that are fixed to land which lies within the territorial limits
of New Zealand.
1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition
Local Authority and Regional Authority Plan Scheduling
Not scheduled in the Waikato District Plan, Operative 26 March 2013, or Waikato Regional
Plan, Operative April 2012. Not included in the Proposed Waikato District Plan, 18 July 2018.
New Zealand Archaeological Association Site Recording Scheme
This place or sites within this place have been recorded by the New Zealand Archaeological
Association. The reference is: Schoolteacher’s House (Former), R12/1185.
2 Approximate centre of main residence.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 5
2. SUPPORTING INFORMATION
2.1. Historical Information
Early history
Situated between the south Manukau Harbour and the west coast, Karioitahi forms part of
the rohe of Ngāti Te Ata.3 Traditionally, land in the south Manukau area was settled by
successive peoples including those connected with the Tainui waka and Waiohua.4 Ngāti Te
Ata descend from both these groups, being named after Te Ata I Rehia of Waiohua who
married a prominent Waikato rangatira, Tapaue.5 Their lands between the Manukau Harbour
and Waikato River were strategically important for connecting peoples and resources linked
with both major waterways. Karioitahi itself lay close to marine access at Karioitahi Beach, as
well as encompassing a group of small lakes including Rotoiti and Whatihua, which provided
traditional freshwater resources such as kōura, tuna and native fish.6
After temporary depopulation during Ngāpuhi incursions in the 1820s and 1830s, iwi in the
south Manukau began to grow crops and other produce for the European market,
particularly after Auckland was founded in 1840 to be New Zealand’s colonial capital.7 A
short distance from Karioitahi, Waiuku formed an important European toehold on the south
Manukau shores around which expanding Pākehā settlement occurred. Following the
Waikato War (1863-4), during which Ngāti Te Ata supported the Kīngitanga, additional land in
the south Manukau - including at Karioitahi - was obtained by Europeans through
government confiscation or raupatu.8 This event had long-term and traumatic consequences
for Ngāti Te Ata and other dispossessed peoples.9 In 1865, the colonial government provided
ten-acre grants at Karioitahi to a number of British immigrant families who had arrived in
Auckland on the Matoaka from overseas.10 Forming part of the Waikato Immigration Scheme
3 Also known as Ngāti Pou and Ruakaiwhare.
4 Waitangi Tribunal, ‘Report of the Waitangi Tribunal on the Manukau Claim (WAI-8)’, Wellington, 1985, pp.10-11;
5 Te Ata I Rehia was a granddaughter of the founding Waiohua leader, Te Hua o Kaiwaka: Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua,
‘Matukutureia: Preliminary Cultural Impact Assessment for McLaughlins Quarry Private Plan Change’, [Auckland], 2019,
p.16.
6 Waitangi Tribunal, 1985, p.30.
7 This included at Pehiakura, a short distance to the north of Karioitahi: New Zealander, 21 Mar 1846, p.2.
8 ‘Sketch Map of the North Island of New Zealand shewing native tribal boundaries, topographical features, confiscated lands,
military and police stations etc.’, 1869, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZ Map 471.
9 Waitangi Tribunal, 1985.
10 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, Kariaotahi School: 80th Anniversary 1879-1959, [Karioitahi], 1959, p.4; Appendix to the
Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR) 1865, Session I, D-02, p.44; Pukekohe and Waiuku Times, 12 Jun 1912,
p.2; 10 Jun 1913, p.3; Auckland Star (AS), 10 Nov 1924, p.9. According to a report by Charles Knight to the Colonial
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 6
to populate lands south of Auckland with European settlers, the new arrivals were required
to create public infrastructure such as roads and bridges construction, and occupy the land
for three years to qualify for ownership. The landscape was gradually converted to small-
scale farms.11
In new European rural settlements, schools symbolised the potential for a future
community.12 At Karioitahi, early educational needs were initially met through private tuition
at the home of one of the settlers, John Holmes. In 1876, a teacher was requested from the
Auckland Education Board (AEB), which controlled secular education throughout the
northern half of the North Island.13 Two years after the 1877 Education Act introduced free
and compulsory secular schooling for Pākehā New Zealand children, a school formally
opened in Holmes’ house, by this time owned by George Bennett – a prominent local farmer
who had led a petition to request permanent educational facilities.14 Plans for a dedicated
school building eventually came to fruition in 1883 following the gazettal of a three-acre site
on a prominent, elevated knoll overlooking many of the fledgling farms.15
A single-classroom school was soon erected on the highest point of the reserve.16 Reflecting
the often close connection between education and religion in earlier colonial New Zealand,
the simple, timber building consisted of a former Wesleyan chapel relocated from nearby
Waiuku. Of gabled construction with a porch at one end and an added chimney at the other,
the structure was erected in July 1883 by Waiuku contractors Hammond and Hennessy after
the ground had been cleared of ‘light tea tree, fern or other vegetation’, levelled and
Secretary, published in AJHR, 54 families were put in possession of their allotments at Karioitahi and nearby
Taurangaruru on 9 March 1865.
11 In 1871, Karioitahi was the location for the annual ploughing, draining and fencing competition held by the Waiuku
Agricultural Association – created a few years earlier to promote farming methods and interests in the area: Daily
Southern Cross (DSC), 14 July 1871, p.2; New Zealand Herald (NZH), 12 Jul 1866, p.4.
12 Helen May, School Beginnings: A Nineteenth Century Colonial Story, Wellington, 2005, p.185.
13 This request was not immediately granted: DSC, 5 May 1876, p.2.
14 'Education Act passed into law', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/education-act-passed-law (Ministry for Culture and
Heritage), updated 18-Sep-2020; Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee 1959, p.5; AJHR 1880, H-1A, Appendix p.9; NZH, 29 Jan
1880, p.3. Bennett had won first prize for fencing at the Waiuku Agricultural Association’s annual ploughing, draining and
fencing competition at Karioitahi in 1871, and appears to have held more than one ten-acre lot in the settlement: DSC, 14
Jul 1871, p.2; SO 627, North Auckland Land District, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). He was an auditor for the
Waipipi Highway Board and a member of the Waiuku Temperance and Public Hall committee, as well as the Waiuku School
Committee: DSC, 1 Aug 1871, p.3; NZH, 29 Jan 1880, p.3; 15 Jan 1883, p.6.
15 New Zealand Gazette 1883, p.253; NZH, 27 Jul 1883, p.3.
16 Its position within the reserve was evidently the explicit choice of the School Committee: ‘Specification for Taking down
the Wesleyan Chapel at Waiuku…’, Original School Plans – Kariaotahi, YCBD 19843 A688 1649/b, Archives New Zealand,
Auckland.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 7
drained.17 With a roll of 30 children, the school was granted full-time status in 1884.18 Plans
were soon underway for it to be joined on the reserve by a schoolteacher’s house.
Construction and early use of the Schoolteacher’s House (1886-1930)
Teacher’s residences were a distinctive feature of schools in colonial New Zealand,
particularly in rural situations.19 Immediately after introduction of the 1877 Education Act,
the AEB purchased or adapted pre-existing buildings for teachers’ accommodation, but soon
began creating purpose-built dwellings. Intending to reflect well on the status of
schoolteachers in colonial society, the latter were generally of good quality construction.
Early examples were single-storey timber bay villas, succeeded by square-fronted villa
designs with front verandahs and hipped or gabled roofs.20
In 1885, more than half of the AEB’s 234 schools had associated housing, although this was
still felt insufficient for the need.21 At this time, additional residences were required ‘for the
location of teachers, without which married men with families cannot be induced to settle in
the country appointments.’22 Such housing was also considered to improve ‘the progress of
education’ by reducing teacher turnover. At Karioitahi, the school reserve was organised to
encompass a relatively small area for the school, an adjoining space set aside for a residence,
a large paddock for the teacher’s horse or horses – which were necessary for travel – and a
‘glebe’ for gaining additional income.23
17 ibid.; NZH, 27 Jul 1883, p.3. The chapel was initially built by a Mr Cooper in 1866, when it was described as being 35 x 20
feet in plan, 25 feet from floor to apex, finished internally and ‘one of the best buildings in Waiuku’: DSC, 2 Nov 1866, p.5.
Immediately prior to relocation in 1883, it was described as ‘35’ 4” x 20’ 4” outside measurement, studs 12’ high gable
roof, porch 8’ x 6’ studs 8’ high gable roof. There are three large windows on each side of the building and a sash
Ventilator in each gable, there is also a small window (fixed) in the porch’. In addition to the new chimney, two detached
earth closets were also erected: ‘Specification…’, op. cit. Hammond and Hennessy had operated in Waiuku from at least
the mid-1870s: NZH, 28 Oct 1874, p.3.
18 NZH, 22 Mar 1884, p.6; Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.5.
19 J.W. Kellaway, Education 150: From Schoolhouse to Classpace in the Waikato – Bay of Plenty, [Hamilton], 1981, p.268.
20 ibid., pp.277-80. Kellaway has noted that AEB-built residences in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty of this period were
‘evidently good buildings, befitting the status of their occupants, and every bit as good or better than other houses of the
time’.
21 Ian Cumming, Glorious Enterprise: The History of the Auckland Education Board 1857-1957, Christchurch, 1959, p.123. At
this time, the Auckland Education Board considered that ‘in the Southern Districts of the colony, and particularly Otago
and Canterbury, almost every school has its proper building and a separate residence for the teacher’.
22 ibid.
23 ‘Kariotahi School Site’, Plan attached to Letter, Secretary, Auckland Education Board to Director of Education. Wellington,
11 Sep 1929, Buildings and Sites – Primary Schools – Auckland – Kariaotahi – near Waiuku, BCDQ 1050 A739 182/1 7/11/1,
Archives New Zealand, Auckland. Derived from medieval European precedents, the term ‘glebe’ generally refers to
cultivated land or land belonging to or providing financial benefit to an institution – usually a church but occasionally a
body such as a school: see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glebe [accessed 19 Jan 2021]; Waiwera School
Glebe Sale Act 1877 https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/local/1877/0010/latest/DLM12859.html [accessed 19 Jan 2021].
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 8
Plans and specifications for a teacher’s residence were prepared in September 1886.24 This
occurred at the end of a period of major expansion in AEB school facilities between
introduction of the 1877 Education Act and the onset of economic depression in the mid-
1880s.25 The Karioitahi plans were almost certainly either prepared or overseen by the
Board’s architect, Henry Allright (1827-1906), who had been responsible for the design of
AEB school buildings throughout this period. Trained in England, Allright was also notable for
having been Auckland Provincial Engineer.26 The successful tenderer for construction was
North Shore builder, Henry Pitts (1833-1891), who gained several AEB contracts during the
1880s – as well as being prominent in Devonport’s public affairs as a borough councillor and
member of numerous local committees.27 Assistance came from Karioitahi community
members, who transported relevant materials to the site from Waiuku wharf and provided
pūriri house blocks free of charge.28
The plans were for a comfortable, family-size timber villa of sufficient scale and quality to
demonstrate the schoolteacher’s elevated status within rural society.29 The single-storey,
weatherboard house also directly reflected this in its physical position, being built at the crest
of the knoll, immediately next to the school. Incorporating a prominent front verandah, the
building looked out over the associated farmscape. As a ‘respectable’ middle-class residence,
its internal layout incorporated a front parlour, three bedrooms, a large kitchen and a scullery
at the rear – common to earlier AEB residence plans. It differed from most previous
examples, however, by incorporating a roof of pyramid type with an integral rear lean-to.
Pyramid villas were to remain the standard type for teacher’s residences in northern New
Zealand into the early twentieth century, including under subsequent AEB architects Mitchell
24 ‘Specification for Erecting a Teachers House at Kariotahi’, 21 Sep 1886, and Plans, ‘Teacher’s House, Kariotahi’, n.d.,
Original School Plans – Kariaotahi, YCBD 19843 A688 1649/b, Archives New Zealand, Auckland; Auckland Education Board,
Minutes of Proceedings, 16 Jan 1885 – 28 Jan 1887, 3 Sep 1886, folio 414, YCAF 5491 A433 5/a, Archives New Zealand,
Auckland.
25 F.W. Furkert, Early New Zealand Engineers, Wellington, 1953, p.92. The national education budget was cut in 1887: May,
2005, p.172. According to Ian Cumming, building work by the Auckland Education Board declined dramatically after 1885:
Cumming, 1959, p.124.
26 Furkert, 1953, p.92; Buildings Classification Committee, ‘Glossary of Architects, Engineers and Designers’, 31 Jan 1990, New
Zealand Historic Places Trust. Warwick Kellaway considers it probable that Allright created the Auckland Education
Board’s school building plans whilst he was architect, although accompanying specifications for these buildings were
written in a variety of hands: Kellaway 1981, pp.73-4.
27 NZH, 5 May 1883, p.6; 28 Apr 1885, p.6; 30 May 1885, p.3; 22 May 1886, p.3; 11 Jun 1886, p.4; 9 Oct 1886, p.6; 9 Sep 1887,
p.1; 19 Nov 1887, p.3; 24 Jul 1888, p.4; 15 Jul 1889, p.1; AS, 24 Aug 1871, p.2; 17 July 1872, p.3; 19 Aug 1881, p.3; 6 May
1886, p.3; 11 Aug 1888, p.5; 9 Sep 1890, p.1.
28 ‘Specification for Erecting a Teachers House at Kariotahi’, 21 Sep 1886, Original School Plans – Kariaotahi, YCBD 19843
A688 1649/b, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
29 Kellaway, 1981, p.268. Its quality was commensurate with other housing erected by the AEB during this period: ibid.,
p.280.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 9
and Watt, and John Farrell.30 A separate washhouse and combined earth closet and
woodhouse were located in the back yard, nearest the school.
The residence’s first occupants after its completion probably towards the end of 1886 were
the Karioitahi schoolteacher, Alfred Goldsbury (1849-1935), and his family.31 Goldsbury
taught at Karioitahi between 1881 and 1888, and was for a considerable period the school’s
longest-serving teacher. Goldsbury and his family – including his wife Margaret – were active
members of the relatively small community of Society of Friends, or Quakers, in New
Zealand, and became particularly prominent after leaving rural Karioitahi for Whanganui.32
Quaker beliefs strongly emphasised the value of education. In the early 1900s, Goldsbury
helped establish New Zealand’s first boarding school for Quaker children at St John’s Hill,
Whanganui, eventually opened in 1920; and as clerk to the General Meeting of the Society of
Friends for ten years, actively promoted pacifism before and during the First World War
(1914-18). At his death he was ‘one of the very few recording ministers of the society in the
Dominion’.33
Other family members who occupied the residence included son Noel Goldsbury (1884-?),
who became notable as the only Society of Friends member to be imprisoned as a
conscientious objector in Canterbury during the First World War.34 Of similar beliefs, eldest
30 Allright’s adoption of the pyramid roof strongly influenced later designs utilised by John Mitchell and R.M. Watt. AEB
architects from 1892, who retained this roof form for their teachers’ residences into the twentieth century – and possibly
also influenced some of their school designs, as at Kuaotunu. Mitchell and Watt residences have been described as
generally smaller and less impressive than their predecessors, although larger examples were sometimes erected: ibid.,
pp.281, 286-7. Mitchell’s successor as AEB architect, John Farrell, also used pyramid roof design for buildings such as the
c.1909 residence at Gordonton: New Zealand Historic Places Trust, ‘Historic Building and Record Form No.4035’, Heritage
New Zealand, Auckland.
31 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee 1959, p.5; AJHR 1886, E-1, Appendix p.17; 1887, E-1, Appendix p.17; Cyclopedia of New
Zealand, Vol. 1: Wellington Provincial District, Wellington, 1897, p.1464. The local School Committee was reimbursed a
sum for cartage of materials on 10 December 1886, suggesting that the latter were already on site: Auckland Education
Board, Minutes of Proceedings, 16 Jan 1885 – 28 Jan 1887, 10 Dec 1886, folio 478, YCAF 5491 A433 5/a, Archives New
Zealand, Auckland.
32 NZH, 2 Feb 1880, p.6; K.R. Adams, ‘The Growth and Development of the Society of Friends in New Zealand 1840-1920,
M.A. thesis, University of Canterbury, 1986, p.38. In 1886, Alfred Goldsbury rode 40 miles to attend a Friends’ meeting,
returning home at 2 a.m.
33 Manawatu Standard, 18 Dec 1935, p.10; AS, 7 Jun 1888, p.1; Wanganui Chronicle, 15 Jan 1891, p.3; Otago Daily Times, 25
Apr 1916, p.3; New Zealand Times, 11 Jul 1916, p.3; Lovell-Smith; ‘The case of Noel Goldsbury: A Quaker whose 'leave of
absence' caused a furore’, http://voicesagainstwar.nz/exhibits/show/conscription--and-those-who-ob/the-case-of-noel-
goldsbury--a- [accessed 7 Sep 2020]. In 1916, Goldsbury circulated a minute of the general meeting, affirming its view
that ‘all war is contrary to the teaching and example of Jesus Christ’ and endorsing the London Yearly Meeting’s ‘entire
opposition to compulsory military service’, Parliamentary Debates: Legislative Council and House of Representatives,
Vol.176, pp.516-17. In 1912, Goldsbury also wrote a paper titled, ‘The Reasonableness of Peace’, published by the Peace
Committee of the Society of Friends: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21013543 [accessed 7 Sep 2020].
34 Margaret Lovell-Smith, ‘The case of Noel Goldsbury: A Quaker whose 'leave of absence' caused a furore’, [n.d.],
http://voicesagainstwar.nz/exhibits/show/conscription--and-those-who-ob/the-case-of-noel-goldsbury--a- [accessed 7
Sep 2020]. Support for Noel Goldsbury from his employer, the Christchurch Technical College, became national news as
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 10son Hugh Goldsbury (1877-1951) resigned as a teacher with the Wanganui Education Board
after refusing to salute the British flag during the latter part of the same conflict, becoming a
local cause celèbre.35 Hugh subsequently became the St John’s Hill school’s first principal.
Another son, Montague Goldsbury (1881-1958), became its second.36
Early subjects taught by Alfred Goldsbury at Karioitahi School included drawing, history,
geography and elementary science, as well as additionally required topics such as repetition
and recitation, ‘drill and exercises’, singing and needlework.37 The school contained a library,
probably also opened in late 1886.38 In 1887, a shelter shed was added to the school
grounds, with the local community contributing half of the £20 cost.39
Gender divisions in New Zealand schools, including within the teaching workforce, were
strong.40 For much of the period between Alfred Goldsbury’s departure in 1888 and the First
World War, the house was occupied by a succession of relatively short-term incumbents, who
were in most cases single women. In late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New
Zealand, teaching was one of relatively few careers in which female practitioners could earn a
living, although children in sole-charge schools – especially in rough, rural locations – were
more usually taught by men.41 Within a conservative rural community, objections were
raised when the first unmarried female teacher at Karioitahi, Marianne Wann, was appointed
in 1889, with concerns being expressed about a ‘young lady’ serving at an out-of-the-way
country school and occupying the recently-erected residence.42
In 1891-2, funds were granted for the construction of a shelter porch at the rear door
nearest the school – perhaps suggesting its more frequent use than the front door at this
the ‘Goldsbury Case’.
35 Hugh Goldsbury resigned in 1918 after ‘his refusal, on conscientious grounds, to salute the British flag on certain days of
the year appointed by the Board for the observance of patriotic ceremonies in the schools’: Wanganui Chronicle, 23 Sep
1918, p.4.
36 Wanganui Chronicle, 19 Dec 1919, p.1; Frances Menefy and Malcolm Douglass, A History of NZ Friends School, Wanganui
1920-1969, [n.p.], 2003.
37 ‘Examination Report on Kariotahi Public School, 21 Sep 1886’, Examination Reports - Summary - no class lists, p.286, YCAF
4135 A221 17/a, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
38 NZH, 9 Oct 1886, p.6.
39 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.5. The corrugated iron building was said to have been the first shelter shed erected
at a school in the Waiuku District and was eventually replaced in 1928: NZH, 5 Jun 1931, p.15.
40 May, 2005, p.192.
41 Nancy Swarbrick, 'Primary and secondary education - Teachers', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2012
http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/primary-and-secondary-education/page-8 [accessed 18 Sep 2020]; May, 2005, p.192.
42 AS, 10 Jul 1889, p.4.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 11time.43 In 1892-3, when the residence was occupied by Wann’s male replacement, J.A.C.
Lamont, the house was additionally provided with a cooking stove, the school fencing
renewed and a number of shelter and ornamental trees planted. A specialist sewing teacher,
Mrs Binns was also appointed.44 Due to a reported decline in school attendance in the mid-
1890s, attempts to find a male successor to Lamont were explicitly abandoned in favour of
the appointment of a female incumbent.45 In the early 1900s, women teachers’ wages were
significantly less than those for their male colleagues, and they were often employed as
cheap labour.46 For many decades, sole teacher institutions were the only schools that
women were allowed to head.47
As the only public building in Karioitahi, the adjoining school formed a major focus for the
settlement’s community activities.48 It was used for religious services by several
denominations, as well as dances and meetings. During the First World War, patriotic events
at the school included social gatherings in aid of the Belgian and Hospital Ship Funds, and
donations were also provided to the Children’s Day, Russian Prisoners’ and Navy Relief Funds
(1915-16).49 The piano of teacher Estelle Tisdall was evidently borrowed for at least one
money-raising event, accompanying songs delivered in both te reo Māori and English. In
1918, a former teacher and occupant of the residence, Harold V. (Vivian) Ramsay (1889-1918)
was killed in action at the Somme, while serving in the Medical Corps.50 Like the Goldsburys,
he was a conscientious objector – having resigned his initial position as an officer in the New
Zealand Expeditionary Force to become a private in the Field Ambulance. At his resignation,
he wrote:
I come from worthy stock, of Scotland and of Devon. I have been brought up to
consider patriotism the very breath of life. I have drunk of the spirit of Kingsley and of
43 NZH, 28 Apr 1892, p.3.
44 NZH, 27 Apr 1893, p.6.
45 AS, 5 Nov 1895, p.2; 18 May 1898, p.4. Over the next six years, firstly Miss E.A. Gledhill, then Miss M. McGee fulfilled this
role: AS, 12 Mar 1902, p.2; 8 Feb 1905, p.3; NZH, 28 Mar 1902, p.3. When vacancies arose for the role of teacher, the
house ‘of five rooms’ was prominently advertised as part of the job benefits: Waikato Argus, 13 Feb 1905, p.3; AS, 17 Feb
1908, p.1. The relatively high turnover of teachers may, in part, have been due to the school’s remote location. This is
indicated by one teacher keeping milking goats, and the resident mother of another being fatally injured after being
thrown from a horse-drawn vehicle on the way to Waiuku in 1906: Waikato Argus, 13 Feb 1905, p.3; AS, 17 Feb 1908, p.1.
46 Swarbrick, 2012.
47 Sandra Coney, Standing in the Sunshine: A History of New Zealand Women since they got the Vote, Auckland, 1993, p.209.
48 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.8.
49 Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, 4 Jun 1915, p.1; 8 Jun 1915, p.3; AS, 6 Dec 1915, p.7; NZH, 28 Apr 1916, p.7; 2 Sep 1916, p.6; 21
Sep 1916, p.6.
50 Northern Advocate, 27 April 1918, p.2.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 12Burns, of Tennyson and of Scott. I have loved England well, and love her still. In the
present struggle I know surely that if national causes be compared that of England is
right and that of Germany damnably wrong.
But I know now that for me there is the call of a higher cause which cannot be linked
with that of the nation. England's cause may be just, but her hands are not clean. She
is in no true sense a Christian nation; her real reliance at this moment is not in God but
in material forces - in armaments and in men.51
In 1919, children from Karioitahi and other schools in the area paraded through Waiuku as
part of Peace Day celebrations.52 The following year, a roll of honour was unveiled inside the
school, remembering 30 former pupils as well as Vivian Ramsay.53 Some of those
commemorated had fought at Gallipoli. John Henry Tupara Pickard (1892-1915) died of
wounds received, while Claude Russell Hill (1882–?) and Charles McNaughton (1881-1952)
were also both wounded in the campaign.54 Another former pupil who served was Robert
Haldane Makgill (1870-1946), who was ‘one of the architects of New Zealand’s public health
system in the twentieth century’.55 Makgill served as a doctor in the Medical Corps during
the conflict and was recalled from the Department of Defence to return to Wellington and
help manage the official response to the Influenza Epidemic in 1918. He was also responsible
for drafting the 1920 Health Act.56
51 Letter, H. V. Ramsay, 2nd Lieutenant, A Company 14th Reinforcements, to Assistant Infantry Instructor, Featherston Camp,
16 May 1916, quoted in Auckland War Memorial Museum, ‘Harold Vivian Ramsay’, Online Cenotaph,
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-
cenotaph/record/C12761?n=Harold%20Vivian%20Ramsay&ordinal=0&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-
cenotaph%2Fsearch [accessed 10 Sep 2020]
52 NZH, 23 Jul 1919, p.8.
53 Waiuku News, 30 Nov 1920, p.2; Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.3.
54 Auckland War Memorial Museum, ‘John Henry Tupara Pickard’, Online Cenotaph,
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-
cenotaph/record/C12359?n=J%20H%20Pickard&w=World%20War%20I%2C%201914-1918&ordinal=0&from=%2Fwar-
memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fsearch [accessed 10 Sep 2020]; AS, 26 May 1915, p.8; New Zealand Times, 18 May 1915,
p.7; Military Record, Claude Russell Hill, Archives New Zealand
http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=18047912 [accessed 10 Sep 2020]; Kariaotahi Reunion, ‘Lest
we Forget - The Kariaotahi Roll of Honour’, URL: http://kariaotahireunion.blogspot.co.nz/p/lest-we-forget-kariaotahi-roll-
of.html [accessed 10 Sep 2020].
55 Geoffrey W. Rice, 'Makgill, Robert Haldane', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996, updated January,
2012, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m39/makgill-robert-haldane
[accessed 10 Sep 2020]
56 ibid.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 13Robert Makgill’s brother David was a prominent figure in Karioitahi’s school affairs.
Reflecting wider moves to improve public health after the influenza epidemic, changes to the
school grounds in the 1920s included improvements connected with children’s physical well-
being. A tennis court created in circa 1921 reflected the increasing importance of sport and
outdoor recreation to promote health among schoolchildren of both sexes. At this time,
tennis in New Zealand was developing from a game played predominantly by wealthy
members of society to a more popular pastime.57 As a community facility, the Karioitahi
tennis court also had an impact on local adults, with the formation of a tennis club
stimulating surrounding districts to follow its lead.58 When Karioitahi gained its own school
committee in 1929, David Makgill was its first secretary and treasurer.
Removal of Karioitahi School, and ongoing use of the residence (1931-1972)
By the late 1920s, the school building was seen as unhealthy in both its condition and
exposed position on a knoll.59 Following a visit by the Minister of Education, Harry Atmore, a
decision was made to create a more modern, two-classroom building on lower ground,
within a nearby property further north on Binns Road.60 Exhibiting large windows for greater
lighting and ventilation, the new structure opened in 1931.61 In December 1933, the old
school building was dismantled.62 Component elements, including timber, bricks and
corrugated iron were sold to local farmers for re-use.63
57 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.8; Ben Schrader, 'Children and sport', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand,
2013 http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/children-and-sport [accessed 18 Sep 2020]; Charlotte Macdonald, ‘Organisations in
sport, recreation and leisure’, New Zealand History, updated 2018, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/women-
together/theme/sport-and-recreation [accessed 18 Sep 2020]. Major tennis venues were created in Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch during the 1920s, with the Auckland venue at Stanley Street being opened in 1922: Joseph Romanos,
'Tennis', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2013, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/tennis [accessed 21 Sep 2020];
Auckland Weekly News, 23 Nov 1922, p.39.
58 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.8.
59 Its single room also served two teachers: Report, ‘Kariaotahi’, A.B. Miller, Architect, 2 Aug 1928, School Accommodation –
Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/a 1/147/1, Archives New Zealand, Auckland; Letter, Secretary, Auckland Education
Board to Director of Education, Wellington, 11 Sep 1929, School Site – Kariaotahi 1929-72, YCBD 5023 A688 1726/a,
Archives New Zealand, Auckland. In 1930, Frank Shepherd stated: ‘…the place seems unsafe. The walls sway in and out
and the western side is almost unusable when heavy rain is on as the water pours in through windows and crevices and
through the ridging of the roof. The draughts are fierce too, buzzing through in a hundred places’: Letter, Frank Shepherd,
Kariotahi, to the Architect, Auckland Education Board, 29 May 1930, School Accommodation – Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023
A688 1725/a 1/147/1, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
60 NZH, 6 Jun 1929, p.17; Franklin Times, 18 Feb 1931, p.4.
61 NZH, 26 Sep 1931, p.6; New Zealand Herald, 26 Sep 1931, p.10.
62 NZH, 20 Sep 1933, p.18; Letter, Frank Shepherd, Kariaotahi, to Secretary, Auckland Education Board, Dec 1933, School
Accommodation – Kariaotahi 1928-1968, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/a 1/147/1/2, Archives New Zealand, Auckland. The
successful tenderer for demolition was Sandford and Lowndes of Ponsonby.
63 NZH, 11 Dec 1933, p.2; Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee 1959, p.7.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 14The house was retained as the teacher’s residence, now directly looking out over the new
school. Between 1921 and 1934, it was occupied by long-serving head teacher Frank
Shepherd.64 Relatively minor changes to the house before and after the Second World War
(1939-45) included the installation of electricity in 1929 and built-in cupboards in 1948.65
Accompanying the provision of running water in 1954, the former scullery and rear porch
were converted into an inside toilet, bathroom and kitchen.66
Plans to demolish and replace the residence were deferred as a result of the closure of
Karioitahi School in 1968.67 Amalgamation with other school facilities had been considered
since at least 1957.68 For a short period in the late 1960s, the residence accommodated staff
working at other schools. At this time, the property included a temporary bedroom brought
in from Papakura School.69 The entire three-acre reserve, including the residence, was sold
into private hands in 1972.
Few alterations have since been made to the house and immediate school grounds. Several
pine trees, believed to have been planted in the late nineteenth century, have been removed,
and a low, monopitch-roof garage added to a rear corner of the house.70 The latter replaced
a porch erected in 1954. The grounds beyond the immediate house and school site have
been retained as grazing.
64 Kariaotahi Jubilee Committee, 1959, p.2.
65 Letter, Secretary [Auckland Education Board], to Director of Education, Wellington, 11 Nov 1929; and Estimate, F. R. Smith,
Waiuku, to [Auckland] Education Board, 13 Aug 1948, School Maintenance, Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/f 1/147/2,
Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
66 A. B. Miller, ‘Additions to Residence at Kariotahi’, Original School Plans –Kariaotahi, YCBD 19843 A688 1649/b, Archives
New Zealand, Auckland. An annotation on one version of the plan states ‘Additions carried out 1954’. The following year,
the house was re-blocked: Letter, Secretary [Auckland Education Board] to Chairman, Kariaotahi School Committee, 11
May 1955, Residences – Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/c 1/147/3, Archives New Zealand, Auckland. In 1957,
wallpaper was removed, replaced and repainted in the ‘three bedrooms, hallway and lounge’: Letter, M. J. Rack, Waiuku,
to District Architect, Education Board, Auckland, 3 Oct 1956; and Letter, Secretary [Auckland Education Board] to J. F.
Mitchell, Tuakau, 28 Mar 1957, Residences – Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/c 1/147/3, Archives New Zealand,
Auckland. The detached washhouse was repaired after fire damage in 1961 and a detached garage was erected in 1962-3:
Final Certificate, ‘Fire Damage Residence Shed, Kariaotahi’, Auckland Education Board, 1 Jun 1962; and Letter, L J.
McCarthy, Secretary-Manager, [Auckland Education Board], to Head Teacher, Kariaotahi School, 17 Dec 1962, Residences
– Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/c 1/147/3, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
67 Memo, L. J. McCarthy, General Manager, Auckland Education Board to Auckland Department, 11 Oct 1968, Residences –
Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/c 1/147/3, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
68 Report, ‘Auckland Education Board: Re-organisation of Schools in Waiuku Area’, Research Officer and Transport Officer,
1957, School Accommodation – Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/a 1/147/1, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
69 Memo, L. J. McCarthy, Auckland Education Board, to Auckland Department, 8 Jun 1965; and Memo, L. J. McCarthy,
Auckland Education Board, to Auckland Department, 4 Jun 1970, Residences – Kariaotahi, YCBD 5023 A688 1725/c
1/147/3, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
70 Barbara Reece, ‘Karioitahi School House Preservation Journey from 1972 to 2020’, 10 Mar 2020, file BDG 1851, HNZPT,
Auckland.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 15Maintaining its rural situation and vista, the property has been occupied as a family home
and smallholding for the past fifty years. The residence is currently considered to be an
uncommon survival of an early schoolteacher’s house associated with the Auckland
Education Board in the Waikato region.71
Associated List Entries
N/a
2.2. Physical Information
Current Description
Context
The Schoolteacher’s House (Former) is situated in the dispersed rural settlement of
Karioitahi. Karioitahi lies approximately four kilometres southwest of Waiuku, a short
distance inland from both the Manukau Harbour and the North Island’s western coastline.
Karioitahi retains features of significance to Māori within the landscape, including lakes
Rotoiti and Whatihua; as well as a small number of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-
century buildings. Apart from the former Schoolteacher’s House, a 1931 school building
survives a short distance to the north on Binns Road.72 The Schoolteacher’s House (Former)
occupies elevated ground, overlooking the 1931 school and extensive surrounding farmland.
Although a couple of more recent houses have been erected nearby, the residence retains its
prominent and distinctive position within the rural landscape.
The site
The site extent encompasses the full historical curtilage associated with the schoolteacher’s
residence and 1883 school. It is broadly rectangular in plan, and lies on the east side of a
sharp bend in Binns Road. The land occupies the top of a raised knoll and its associated
slopes to the north, east and south. Parts of the latter ground are relatively steep.
The single-storey, timber residence is situated in the central northern part of the site, on
moderately sloping ground near the crest of the knoll. It is surrounded by a small, fenced
71 In his survey of buildings linked with education in Waikato, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty, Warwick Kellaway notes
that only a few teachers’ residences survive from the early period of AEB construction, prior to 1892: Kellaway, 1981,
p.280.
72 This structure, which incorporates a Roll of Honour initially erected in the 1883 school building, is included in the heritage
schedule of the Proposed Waikato District Plan, 18 July 2018.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 16garden. The 1883 school building site occupies flat ground on the top of the rise, immediately to the west. A track crosses the school site to connect the residence with Binns Road. The rest of the site is under pasture, and is fenced. House The residence consists of a square-plan pyramid villa with a front verandah and integral rear lean-to. It is orientated with its main axis approximately northeast-southwest. It is very well- preserved, both externally and internally. The house was specifically designed for its elevated, sloping site, with its full-length front verandah both offering extensive vistas, and being visible from a distance. The only modifications to its 1880s external form are a slight extension to the rear lean-to and an adjoining low, attached timber garage of relatively unobtrusive type. Detached water tanks of modern type are also situated at the rear. Trees associated with the residence include a small pōhutukawa near its northwest elevation. Exterior The structure is clad throughout with overlapping, horizontal weatherboards. Its roof is covered with corrugated metal. A brick chimney extends from the roof on the southwest side of the building. This protrudes a maximum of 19 courses high above roof level. The front (northeast) elevation of the building incorporates a full-length verandah with an elegant, concave roof. Reached from the front garden via a set of low, timber steps, the verandah incorporates ornamental cross-braced railing between single-post supports. Both ends of the verandah are enclosed by vertical-board walls. Behind the verandah is a centrally-positioned door with two lower panels, two upper arched lights and a rectangular fanlight above. Flanking windows on either side of the door are of four-pane, double-hung sash type. The side elevation on the southeast contains two windows of similar design. A corrugated iron water tank of some antiquity at the rear corner sits on a standalone timber base. This received rainwater running from the roof of the back lean-to. The rear or southwest elevation contains smaller windows connected with the 1950s toilet and bathroom. As shown by joints in the weatherboards, the latter has visibly replaced an earlier sash window of similar size to those at the front. The recessed western extension of the rear lean-to, created in the 1950s, has horizontal weatherboards in keeping with the rest of the house. A Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 17
more recent attached garage at the west corner, which incorporates a monopitch roof, is
similarly clad.
The elevation on the northwest side incorporates a four-pane, double-hung sash window,
which lights the former kitchen, now living room.
Interior
Internally, the house retains nearly all of its 1880s layout and features, in addition to
modifications undertaken in the 1950s when it remained in use as a schoolteacher’s
residence. It demonstrates both the initial nature of the accommodation, and improvements
in rural teachers’ housing carried out during the twentieth century, including improved
sanitation and lighting.
The house layout features a central hall with flanking parlour and main bedroom. The hall
leads to a larger room towards the rear, initially a kitchen then converted into a living room,
from which access to a second bedroom is reached on one side. A door at the back of the
former kitchen leads into a rear lean-to. This retains an original third bedroom at one end.
The remainder of the lean-to incorporates a passage, bathroom and toilet, as well a kitchen
at its west corner – all created in the 1950s although retaining some earlier fabric including
the 1880s rear door. A relatively unobtrusive timber garage of low, monopitch-roof design
has been more recently erected at the same corner as the kitchen, through which access to
the exterior is gained.
The interior retains its early floorboards, skirting, beaded-board wall linings, cornices and
ceiling boards, in addition to its four-panel doors.73 The 1880s, back-to-back fireplace in the
parlour and former kitchen remains. A timber fireplace surround in the parlour is a
replacement, and the former kitchen fireplace has been converted into a smaller hearth
using high-quality brickwork – reflecting subsequent conversion of this space to a living
room. All of the rooms in the main part of the house have board and batten ceilings. Other
remnants of décor survive. These include fragments of scrim and ornamental wallpaper in
the former kitchen, which pre-date a cupboard possibly inserted in the 1940s.
In the 1880s lean-to, the floor, wall and roof linings also survive. The latter two use the same
beaded, tongued-and-grooved boards as employed in the main part of the building. Pencil
73 A couple of the doors have been re-hung upside down. One of these contains a lock mechanism, trademarked ‘H. & T.
VAUGHAN, No.60 REAL PATENT’.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 18graffiti on the wall lining in the rear bedroom pre-dates scrim, and could belong to an early
phase of the building. This consists of a drawing of two figures, one in a top hat and tunic or
frock coat, and the other wearing a hat of more rounded design. During the 1880s, this
space is likely to have been a children’s bedroom.
The 1950s alterations in the rear lean-to and its westward extension are also well-preserved.
These consist of rooms lined with tongued and grooved horizontal boards, containing
cupboards of narrow, vertical matchboard design. A large number of these cupboards line
the northeast wall of the kitchen. The kitchen sink and associated preparation areas are in
the same position as on 1954 architect’s plans.
School site
The site of the 1883 school building occupies a large flat area to the southwest of the house.
Patches of tarmacadam connected with the school building surrounds are visible.74 Midden
scatters are present, predominantly incorporating fragments of ceramic, bottle glass and
window glass.
A large, flat area immediately to the south has been terraced into the side of the hilltop. This
represents a playground that probably also served as tennis courts from circa 1921. The land
may also contain in-ground remnants linked with structures known to have existed on the
site including a flagpole, shelter sheds, and boys’ and girls’ toilet facilities.
Construction Professionals
Henry Allright (architect, 1886)
A.B. MIller (architect, 1954)
Henry Pitts (builder, 1886)
Henry Allright (1827-1906)
Allright (1827-1906) was born in Kent in 1827. After training as an architect, he emigrated to
New Zealand in 1854. From 1856 he was employed in various positions by the Auckland
Provincial Board of Works, becoming Provincial Engineer in 1874. In 1877 he was appointed
architect to the Auckland Board of Education. He held this position for 15 years during a
74 In 1929, this surface was described as being in ‘a very bad state’: ‘Kariotahi School Site’, Plan attached to Letter, Secretary,
Auckland Education Board to Director of Education. Wellington, 11 Sep 1929, Buildings and Sites – Primary Schools –
Auckland – Kariaotahi – near Waiuku, BCDQ 1050 A739 182/1 7/11/1, Archives New Zealand, Auckland.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 19period of major building expansion following the passing of the 1877 Education Act. In 1883
he was appointed engineer to the Waitemata County, although he retained his position with
the Education Board. He retired from the Education Board in 1892 and entered into practice
as an engineer, from which he retired in 1901. He died in 1906.
From 1881-85, he was a member of the Auckland Institute of Engineers.75
Henry Pitts (1833-1891)
Henry Pitts was likely born in Bicker, Lincolnshire, England in 1833.76 The son of a carpenter,
he worked as a joiner in Nottingham before emigrating with his wife Elizabeth and young
family to Auckland in 1864.77 By the late 1860s, Pitts was designing and building structures
on Auckland’s North Shore, where he remained based for the rest of his life. Early buildings
that he erected in and around Devonport included the settlement’s first Presbyterian Church
(1867); a dwelling for W. H. Cobley (1868), claimed at the time to be one of the most elegant
and commodious marine villa residences in Auckland Province; and a Sunday School for Holy
Trinity Church (1872) – both of the latter to his own plans.78 Pitts was additionally involved in
road construction, including local works in Devonport.79
During the 1880s, Pitts gained work further afield. In 1882 he created additions to the
Masonic Hotel at Cambridge, in the Waikato.80 He appears to have been particularly
successful in gaining contracts from the Auckland Education Board. After creating or
extending several buildings connected with Devonport School in 1881-6, he successfully
tendered for the construction of teacher’s residences at Puni (1886), Karioitahi (1886) and
Ōhinewai (1890).81 He also erected schools at Napier Street (1887) and Richmond Road
75 All information from: Buildings Classification Committee, ‘Glossary of Architects, Engineers and Designers’, 31 Jan 1990,
New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
76 Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841, Lincolnshire – Bicker Parish, p.5, The National Archives of the UK, Kew,
England, sourced from Ancestry.com [accessed 7 Aug 2020]
77 ibid.; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861, Nottingham – St Mary’s Parish – St Ann’s Ward, p.39, The National
Archives of the UK, Kew, England, sourced from Ancestry.com [accessed 7 Aug 2020]; New Zealander, 5 Oct 1864, p.4:
Henry and Elizabeth Pitts arrived in Auckland with at least two of their children (Charles and Elizabeth) on board the Surat
in October 1864.
78 Daily Southern Cross (DSC), 25 Mar 1867, p.5; New Zealand Herald (NZH), 24 Sep 1868, p.4; 18 May 1872, p.3; DSC, 12 Jun
1872, p.1. He was also responsible for additions to the Sunday School in 1874: Auckland Star (AS), 19 Aug 1874, p.2.
79 DSC, 13 Jun 1872, p.2; Press, 24 Jul 1875, p.3.
80 NZH, 1 Mar 1882, p.6; Waikato Times, 2 Mar 1882, p.2.
81 AS, 19 Aug 1881, p.3; 31 May 1890, p.4; NZH, 5 May 1883, p.6; 30 May 1885, p.3; 22 May 1886, p.3; 7 Aug 1886, p.3; 9 Oct
1886, p.6.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Report for a Historic Place, List No. 9844 20You can also read
