EARLY DAYS OF THORNTON

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 227, 18 October 1940, Page 5

EARLY DAYS OF THORNTON

HOW SCHOOL WAS OPENED EVENTS OF 1914-18 WAR PERIOD SOCIAL ACTIVITIES IN 'THE OLD TIN SHED" I Recollections of the Rangitaiki Plains and its people a generation ago, supplied to the Bay of Plenty Beacon by an early settler, make interesting reading. The writer, is Mrs Laura H. Sheat, who came to Thoriv ton in March 1915, and has been living in retirement in Auckland for the past 12 years. We came to Thornton on March 6, 1915, from Nelson, the head of the family and oldest son having arrived there six months before to put in the lirst stroke,, clear a site for a house and make a garden. So that by March the house was completed, the kitchen garden flourishing, and the acre in front in oats all in stook. A few days after our arrival, we drove the dusty road in the spring' dray, to take the. two children to the school, a mile and a half away. It was a shock to us to see the building that served as a school, A long, low corrugated iron shed, unlined, a tin chimney, windows that worked on a swivel in the middle, great double doors at entrance (and we had left such good schools in Nelson), the light Avas not good, the desks so small. The young teacher in charge was a girl from North Auckland. The surroundings were not at all inspiring, our two children plodded down in the dust of summef, and the mud of winter, until they left for their Secondary Schools in distant towns. First Teacher's Impressions. The first teacher of the Thornton School was a Mr Bromley, from Auckland, who wrote in the school record book: "Opened school, August 1912. Found the children had forgotten.all-thejr ever knew."

Originally the school was known as "Rangitaiki." Then a mild boom set in on the Rangitaiki Plains. The Lands Department had a big team of men excavating the "cut" over a mile long which took 'the waters of the Rangitaiki River straight out to sea, where for centuries previously they had meandered into the bay at Matata. Mr Alfred T'horne, who owned most .of the land in the vicinity, had a town ship surveyed and named "Thornton," When the 1911-18 war opened the "Rangitaiki Outlet'* was completed, and ft store and school, and a ferry punt over the "cut" gave the township a place on the map. At the end of July, 1915, Miss Hutchings, the young teacher from North Auckland, left for Mt: Maung- ] anui, Tauranga. She appeared at our back door, on horse-back, clad in Sou Wester and oil coat, to say farewell and over the ferry she went a,nd round by the seashore to Matata. There was no inland track then and travellers used the beach between Thornton and Matata. She could ride like a Cossack, and we gave her our good wishes. Mrs Wilfred Mills, of Whakatane, a certificated teacher, educated in Christchurch, then came to relieve for three months. She was a highly qualified teacher, and taught the children class singing. The road from Thornton to Whakatane was flooded all that winter, and we would take her over the stretch of water (near McGregor's Road). She would be met " the other side by a settler, and so home to Whakatane. Note: There were disastrous floods over the Rangitaiki Swamp in 1915 and succeeding years and tens of thousands of acres were under watei for months of each year. An Organ for Sunday School. I had opened a Sunday School in the Thornton School in April 1915. on Elast'er Sunday, which pleased the mothers very much, and the children were most diligent in attendance every Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. We had a violin to lead the singing, and all joined In singing the Easter Anthem that Easter Sunday morning. The children had few pleasures, and little music in their lives, and I conferred witi(| Mrs Mills and Mrs Thome as to the purchase of an organ to make the children's lives brighter. Mrs Mills trained the children for a concert, whicji was a great success. We also had a subscription list out, which was responded to by all classes and creeds, pakehas and Maoris, and soon the money was gathered in.

We decided oil an organ rather .than a piano, as an organ would be so , useful' l'or the Sunday School ancl , ' Day School singing. iThe' organ being for the benefit of the children of Thornton, Mrs Thorne generously made up the last £6 What a delight to children and grown-ups, when the organ arrived in Mr Thome's waggon, and. .was. lifted " into "the old tin shed" and'the organ and voices, blended in a little song of Thanksgiving. Note: The organ is still part of the equipment of the . Thornton School after a quarter of a century of usefulness. • - Thornton's "Social Centre." "The old tin shed" was the centre of social activities,' to which the people of the district gravitated., In it were held Farmers' Union meet ings; Church Worship, socials, dances (after the boys came back from . the war) until a large building—a wharf shed—was built on the banks of the swift Rangitaiki River (the wharf shed later .taken away to Edgeciimbe, but tlien much' cargo came up the outlet) as scows trad-, ed regularly from Auckland and Tau , ; ranga, bringing goods for settlers and coal and supplies for the Lands Department's dredges, and taking away cargoes of fibre from .the flaxmill. There were" few settlers in those days, the land being "full of absentees" as used to be said of old Ireiand. A School Commissioner was appointed to manage the school affairs, as there were not enough householders to form a committee , We agitated for a school site, but there was great difficulty In securing a site. We had no less than-six Inspectors sent down • through the , years to confer with the School Commissioner on the subject—a site at, the mouth of the. river was inspected, a site over the bridge, and at length a site of 4 acres beyond the store was secured. The Board's Architect was sent down, and soon . plans for a new classroom were out. The new school was opened nearly; . 20 years ago, and the old tin shed closed. It'was then used as a dwelling house for various families in turn, and at the time of the great flood of June 1928, it was a refuge for 14 persons for some days. . (To be continued).