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* Jim Sullivan, Catholic Boys, Penguin Books, Auckland 1996.
* Jim Sullivan, Catholic Boys, Penguin Books, Auckland 1996.
* James Allan: Growing Up Gay: New Zealand Men Tell Their Stories, Godwit, Auckland, 1996.
* James Allan: Growing Up Gay: New Zealand Men Tell Their Stories, Godwit, Auckland, 1996.
* Western Australia Legislative Assembly, Select Committee into Child Migration, Perth, 1996.
* House of Commons, Health Committee, The Welfare of Former British Child Migrants, Third Report, Session 1997 - 1998, HC 755-1 and HC 755-II, Volumes I and II, London, 1997;
* Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998.
* Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998.
* Bronwyn Sell, From black sheep to honoured guest, New Zealand Herald, [[20 October]] [[1999]].
* Bronwyn Sell, From black sheep to honoured guest, New Zealand Herald, [[20 October]] [[1999]].

Revision as of 04:17, 27 March 2007

St Peters College
Address
Map
Mountain Road, Epsom, Auckland
Information
TypeIntegrated Catholic Boys Secondary (Year 7-13)
MottoTo Love and To Serve (formerly "facere et docere": "to do and to teach")
Established1939
Ministry of Education Institution no.62
PrincipalK. F. Fouhy
School roll1175
Socio-economic decile7
Websitehttp://www.st-peters.school.nz

St Peters College is a College for Year 7 to 13 Boys and offers a Catholic education to its students. It is an important boys' school in Auckland and is the largest Catholic school in New Zealand. Under an integration agreement with the New Zealand government St Peter's College has a maximum roll of 1200.[1]

Location

The college is located in the Central Auckland suburb of Epsom.

Roll

St Peter's College draws enrolments from throughout the city, reflecting its central location and its easy accessibility from all the main transport conduits and services of Auckland. The roll as at 12 February 2007 was 1175.[2] The ethnic composition of St Peter's College on that date was: European: 51.14%; Maori: 5.60%; Samoan: 7.29%, Tongan: 3.11%; Philippines: 2.30%; Indian: 6.30%; Chinese: 10.10%; Korean: 5.91%; Other Pacific: 2.38%; Other Asian: 4.02%; Other ethnicities: 1.84%.[3] There are 127 paid staff (teaching and support staff).[4]

St Peter's College thus has a diverse, multicultural roll, and it excels in sporting and cultural activities. Academically, the school offers for senior years both the National Certificate of Educational Achievement assessment system (NCEA) and the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

Foundation and Opening

The earliest Catholic school in Auckland was established under the patronage of St Peter.[5] It was established in 1841 by the Catholic laymen of Auckland following the first visit of Bishop Pompallier (Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, from 1848 first Bishop of Auckland)[6] and continued to provide education for boys mainly under lay teachers until 1885[7] when the Marist Brothers established a school on the corner of Pitt and Wellington Streets.

However, Walter Bisscop Steins S.J., third Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1879-1881) had had doubts about inviting the Marist Brothers to open a school in Auckland as he felt there were prejudices against them because they were a French congregation. He believed that it would be better to invite the Christian Brothers because they were an Irish congregation particularly since most of the Catholics in Auckland were Irish. Stein's successor, John Edmund Luck OSB, fourth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1881-1896), had no such qualms and invited the Marist Brothers to establish their Auckland school.[8] Another move may have been made in 1885 for a Christian Brothers School in Auckland. But that too was unsuccessful.[9]

Nearly 40 years later, in 1923, Henry William Cleary, the sixth Catholic Bishop of Auckland, issued an invitation to the Christian Brothers to establish a school in Auckland.[10]

The Marist Brothers, by now very well established in Auckland at Sacred Heart College (then located in Richmond Road, Ponsonby), objected strongly and Cleary wrote to the Provincial of the Christian Brothers, Brother Barron, changing his offer to a primary school.[11] As a result, the Christian Brothers lost interest.[12]

Shortly after he became seventh Catholic Bishop of Auckland in 1929, James Michael Liston expressed an intention to renew the invitation to the Christian Brothers, whose pupil he had been in Dunedin.[13] Liston's intention again aroused the opposition of the Marist Brothers.[14] They were concerned that a new boy's Form I to VI school would take enrolments from Sacred Heart College and would diminish their revenue.[15] Unmoved by the Marist Brothers' opposition, Liston wrote to Brother James Hanrahan, the provincial of the Australian province of the Christian Brothers requesting Christian Brothers to provide staff for the proposed school.[16] The Christian Brothers agreed on the establishment of the school.[17]

A contractor cleared the Mountain Road site in 1931 and it was expected that the school would open in 1933.[18] But financial problems caused delays.[19] The Marist Brothers appealed to the Apostolic Delegate and to the Sacred Congregation of Religious in Rome.[20] They believed that Cleary had promised them the St Peter's School site but as no written record could be found, the Bishop was informed by the Sacred Congregation of Religious that he could invite the Christian Brothers[21] and the Apostolic Delegate ruled "that the Bishop is free to make whatever provision he may decide in the matter".[22] The Marist Brothers accepted this ruling, but unhappily.[23]

The School was constructed on the corner of Khyber Pass and Mountain Road a site which been given to the church for educational purposes by the Outhwaite family. The Outhwaite family were descendents of an English lawyer, Thomas Outhwaite who was one of New Zealand's early colonists and was the first registrar of the Supreme Court in Auckland. The family not only bequeathed the site of the college but also a part of the fund required for its erection.[24] The remaining money was provided from other trust funds.[25]

The Christian Brothers to staff the school arrived in Auckland from Australia and the South Island for the 1939 school year. They were accommodated by the parish priest of Remuera, Monsignor J. J. Bradley, in his presbytery until the Brothers residence was habitable.[26] Bradley, who had been a pupil of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, was responsible for the laying out of the grounds of the school - work which took ten months to complete.[27] However, work continued until 1941 on the development of Reeves Road (a street that has now disappeared as it has been incorporated as the entrance to St. Peter's College),[28] the building of stone walls, and the very significant soil transfer from the netball courts to level the playing fields. The year 1941 " ... saw the end of a familiar sight at the College when workers on the Government Relief scheme finished working on the grounds on November 1. These men spent three years working on the grounds at a very small cost, as the Government paid their wages in an effort to lessen hardship in the difficult post-depression years. Without their work and the guiding hand of Monseignor Bradley, the grounds with their three different levels [i.e. the netball court level (the netball courts have now become the school tennis courts) , the old tennis court level (now filled in under the playing field level) and the playing field level (now extended into the old tennis court level)] could not have been developed as they were".[29]

The school was opened on Sunday, 29 January 1939 by Bishop Liston and in the presence of Hon H. G. R. Mason, Attorney-General and local MP, standing in for Rt Hon Peter Fraser, the Minister of Education (who became Prime Minister on the death of Michael Joseph Savage in 1940) the Mayor of Auckland, Mr (later Sir) Ernest Davis, and Mr Justice Callan of the Supreme Court (who had been a pupil of the Christian Brothers in Dunedin). The opening took place on a wet afternoon and, as he read his speech, Bishop Liston was sheltered under an umbrella held by the foundation principal of the college, Brother F.P. O'Driscoll.[30] In spite of the rain, a large number of friends and well-wishers participated in the opening.[31]

It is noteworthy that, in view of the difficult history with the Marist brothers, Liston said, "this is a fitting occasion to pay tribute to the Marist Brothers for their long, honourable and fruitful record of service in the cause of education in the diocese of Auckland and throughout New Zealand: 'by their fruits ye know them' ". He also said later in his speech, "We welcome today the Christian Brothers, who are here at the invitation of the Bishop to take charge of St Peter's school and to have their part, along with the Marist Brothers and other religious communities, in our Catholic education system. They have their own traditions to give us, formed in the society's work of teaching since 1802, and the fruit of the experience gathered, to speak only of Australia and New Zealand, of over 500 Brothers teaching more than 20,000 boys". Liston added, " ... if I know the Brothers at all, the boys under their care will be put to hard work - an excellent thing - and teachers will not do for them what they should do for themselves. The thought of the years ahead and of the eternal life will be regarded as of first importance. Teachers will feel it their daily duty to fit the boys to bear life's burdens with a spirit of nobility and to meet life's problems with unfaltering courage". At the conclusion of his speech, Bishop Liston said, "This is a very happy day for me indeed for I owe much more than I can say to the training I received at the hands of the Christian Brothers in Dunedin long years ago".[32]

On Monday, 06 February 1939, St Peter's College opened its doors[33] with a roll of 183 pupils,[34] aged from 11 to 14 (i.e from Form I to Form IV).[35] Five brothers comprised the original staff - Brothers O'Driscoll, Killian, Rapp, Skehan and Carroll.[36]

The original school buildings opened in 1939 on the four acre Outhwaite site consisted of an incomplete two-storied class-block (now the Bro P. O'Driscoll Building) for the pupils and an incomplete two-storied residence (the brother's residence). They were designed by William Henry Gummer (1884 - 1966), a student of Sir Edward Lutyens and architect of some notable Auckland buildings such as the Dilworth Building in Queen Street and the old Auckland railway station in Beach Road. He also designed the National War Memorial and carillon and National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum buildings in Wellington.[37] The two original school buildings were fully completed in 1944.[38]

Development

In the early 1960s St Peter's had the largest roll of any Catholic school in New Zealand, having 834 pupils. Expansion became necessary.

In 1959 Archbishop[39] Liston purchased 2.5 acres on Mountain Road opposite the school.[40] This land was purchased from Dominion Breweries for 11,000 pounds per acre.[41] This land is used as a rugby field (in 2007, called "The Cage") and also has located on it a sports pavilion (now replaced by the Brother P. C. Ryan Sports Pavilion - see below).

In the 1960s the Brother's residence was extended and a new science block consisting of science laboratories, class-rooms and a demonstration room was built. This building was upgraded in the 1990s and is now called the Brother J. B. Lynch Science Laboratories. A large three-story set of classrooms plus assembly hall and squash courts were opened in the early 1970s.[42]

The school became an integrated state secondary school with attached intermediate in 1982 under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. At that time the entire Catholic school system (currently some 240 schools) was integrated into the New Zealand state school system, with all schools retaining their Catholic "special character".[43]

The school is, and always has been, a diocesan school in that its proprietor is the Catholic Bishop of Auckland.

The Christian Brothers

The Christian Brothers have staffed St Peter's College ever since its opening. However, the numbers of brothers teaching at St Peter's College gradually declined from the 1970's. in 1975 there were 15 brothers teaching. In 1982 this number had reduced to 8. In 1988 it was 7, 4 in 1991, 2 in 1993, and 1 from 1994.[44] From 1994, Brother Paul Robertson (in 2007, the deputy principal of the college) is the only Christian Brother teaching at St Peter's College.[45]

The integration of St Peter's College into the state education system also " ... caused a 'church/state' separation of the [Christian Brothers] community from the institution".[46] In 1992 the Christian Brothers shifted from the college to a new community house in Queen Mary Avenue, Epsom, acquired because it was near St Peter's College.[47] Brother L. H. Wilkes wrote about what this meant for the Christian Brothers community. "For years the dread of leaving St Peter's house hung over the community at St Peter's. In 1991 it was down to months and in early 1992 it was down to weeks and to days. Nobody actually spoke definitely about leaving but everyone knew it was inevitable. I could just not imagine the community in an ordinary house in an ordinary street ...". [48] Some of the brothers teaching at St Peter's College in the late 1980's moved to another community house in Mangere which soon closed. [49] Apart From Brother Paul Robertson, the last Christian Brother to retain particular involvement with St Peter's College into the late 1990's was Brother V. N. Cusack.[50]

In his Annual principal's report for 1988, Brother Prendergast expressed in effect a eulogy for St Peter's as a Christian Brother's school and also perhaps a mandate for the school's future. Brother Prendergast said: "It is my pleasure to present to you the forty-ninth annual report. I do so as a proud past pupil, past teacher, and almost, past Principal of this school. In a sense I see my position in this school as completing a cycle which is a model of the church right through the world. In 1939 the Brothers first came to St Peter's and they came from the southern parts of New Zealand and from Australia. From that time the seeds of vocations were sown. The first Old Boy priest was ordained in 1950 and the first Old Boy Christian Brother was professed in 1954. The first old boy Christian Brother returned to teach in this school in 1965. I was the first old boy Christian Brother appointed to the position of Principal and that was in 1980.

"In my first report at the end of 1980 I said that 'the time is fast approaching when the Brothers may no longer be able to maintain a presence in this school. Perhaps one of the more valuable endeavours of the Principals of recent years has been to prepare the school for that eventuality. There is no doubt that we are on the threshold of a new cycle of development'. The brothers have maintained their presence over those nine years, mainly the same ones as it happens and I can tell you that those who are around in other schools are just as old. You can draw your own conclusions.

"St Peter's has been a Christian Brothers school for forty-nine years. I don't know if you can say it is going to be a Christian Brothers' school next year. That is up to those of you who are here next year to maintain if you want to. I am going to put before you some of the characteristics of Christian Brothers schools. Christian Brothers' schools throughout the world have a remarkable similarity of purpose, spirit and tone. Allowing for culture change a boy from St Peter's College in Auckland will fit in easily in Cardinal Newman College, Buenos Aires[51] or Waverley College, Sydney, or St Columba's School, New Delhi, or St Edward's College, Liverpool, or in schools in twenty other countries. All these schools reveal characteristics that help identify them as inheritors of the spirit and traditions of Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers. These characteristics are not unique but they are distinctive.

"The first characteristic: the encouragement given to pupils in our schools to strive for scholastic excellence in a disciplined atmosphere. The development of excellence is applied to all areas of school life with the aim of the fullest development of every dimension of the person linked to the development of a sense of values and a commitment to the service of others. Our pupils are urged to put forward their very best in everything they do.

"The second characteristic: Christian Brothers' schools offer a religious dimension that permeates the entire education available to their [students]. Religious and spiritual formation has been an integral element of the education offered in our schools. It is not added to or separate from the educational process. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ are at the heart of our religious education programme. Without a frequent encounter with Him and a constant reference to the Gospel, our schools lose their purpose. Christian Brothers' schools are unashamedly at the service of the church.

"The third characteristic is intimately allied to the second: the cultivation of a strong devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. Our Founder was insistent that devotion to Our Lady should be practised in the lives of the Brothers and taught in our schools. 'Whatever else you teach children', Edmund Rice wrote in an early letter to the Brothers, 'you must before all implant deep in their hearts a love of God, of their faith, and of Mary'. Down through the ages our schools have striven to follow that instruction.

"The fourth characteristic of Christian Brothers is the emphasis given to the care and concern for each individual in the school community. Today, the Brothers and their co-workers are more than academic guides. They are involved in the lives of students, taking a personal interest in the intellectual, moral and spiritual development of every student helping them to develop a sense of self-esteem based upon an awareness of their unique dignity [as] children of God.

"The fifth characteristic is that Christian Brothers schools demonstrate a particular concern for the poor. Commitment to and working for the poor are basic to the charism of Christian Brothers and to the educational apostolate in which we are involved. The values the school teaches today and gives witness to are those values that promote a special concern for those men and women who are without the means to live in human dignity: the unemployed, the homeless, refugees, handicapped, oppressed. Our schools aim to produce pupils who will commit themselves to the building of a more just society.

"These then are five distinctive characteristics of Christian Brothers' schools today. They are part of our heritage. Remaining faithful to that heritage is the challenge of the future. I believe St Peter's college exhibits these characteristics some more clearly than others. The challenge I put to you tonight is to maintain and build on those characterisics."[52]

St Peter's College Today

The school has had a lay principal, Mr Kieran Fouhy, since 1989. Under his leadership, significant building projects have been completed. During the 1990s, as well as the renovation (and naming) of the Brother J. B. Lynch Science Laboratories, the Brother P. C Ryan sports pavilion replaced the original pavilion built in 1960 and the Brother W. R. Smith Music and Drama Suite was built. Brother Smith (1948 - 1953), the third principal of the college, had initiated the first school orchestra.[53]

Recent important buildings completed are the Brother L. H. Wilkes Technology Block (2001)(awarded the NZIA Resene Supreme Award for Architecture 2002, NZIA Resene New Zealand Award for Architecture 2002, and the NZIA Resene Branch Award for Architecture 2001) and a dedicated building for the intermediate school on Mountain Road (2003) named after Brother V.A. Sullivan.[54]

"St Peter's is still dedicated to the objectives of the Christian Brothers' founder, eighteenth-century Irish merchant Edmund Rice [(now Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October, 1996)]:[55] they were to encourage its members to serve the community in a positive manner. As such, some of the school's recent old boys have become lay member's of Edmund Rice communities, and have committed themselves to Rice's objective of bringing social justice. The school has always had a particular commitment to supporting Christian Brothers missions in Polynesia and, more recently, has organised annual trips to India for senior students"[56]

"The school has also endeavoured to ensure outlets for the boy's sporting and cultural aspirations. In recent years St Peter's has attained national secondary titles in rugby, softball, soccer and music. By establishing both music and soccer academies in the late 1990s the school has encouraged excellence in pursuits that might be considered atypical within the context of educating New Zealand boys".[57]

The North train and the railway station

The railway running along the western boundary of St Peter's has played an important part in the history of the school. From the time the school opened many students came from the western suburbs of Auckland along the route of the train and they used the train service (the "North train") to attend the school. Until 1964 the nearest station to the school was Mt Eden station, a twenty minute walk to or from the school. By 1964 about 250 St Peter's boys[58] were using the train and walking between Mt Eden station and the school.

The college (Brother T. A. Monagle, who supervised the train boys and who travelled on the train each day for that purpose) approached the Railways Department to request that the train stop at the school. The college had several reasons for asking that the trains should stop there. "The traffic in Mt Eden Road had become very heavy, and was a constant danger to the younger and more thoughtless of our pupils, and another source of considerable danger existed at Mt Eden station where supervision was necessary to prevent accidents when the boys were boarding the train. Again, the train would disgorge its pupils at Mt Eden and then chug merrily past the school almost empty, leaving the boys to walk half a mile, often in heavy rain."[59]

Brother Monagle persuaded the Minister of Transport[60] to come and see for himself. In fact the Minister volunteered to walk up to the Mt Eden station from the school. "Well, somebody must have been pulling some strings up above, because on the day of the Minister's visit it rained cats and dogs, and even the odd pink elephant ..."[61] and Brother Monagle's request was granted.[62] The North train stopped at St Peter's College for the first time at 8.30am on Tuesday 15 September 1964 for the 250 St Peter's College boys and a dozen from Auckland Grammar.[63]

Another noteworthy event occurred in November 1965, when, for the last time, the North train had a steam engine on it. it was the last passenger train in the North Island to be pulled by a steam locomotive...."[64]

In relation to Brother Monagle, " ... it is generally agreed that he deserved the rank of Railway Employee. Surely no single person has ever held down so many positions at once - stationmaster, signalman, ticket inspector and guard, not to mention construction engineer, traffic officer and the occasional shot at engine-driving! During the many years that he was associated with the train, Brother Monagle became friends with most of the railway employees along the line as he made his trip each afternoon as far as Mt Albert".[65]

Initially, only the "school" trains stopped at St Peter's College, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.[66]

The St Peter's College railway station is now a formal part of the Auckland suburban rail network and has been named prosaically after its nearest street as the Boston Road station. It is still a major transport link for St Peter's College.

Principals

Brother F. P. O'Driscoll (foundation principal 1939 - 1944)[67]

Brother J. A. Morris (1945 - 1947)[68]

Brother W. R. Smith (1948 - 1953)[69]

Brother K. V. Watson (1954 - 1956)[70]

Brother P. C. Ryan (1957 - 1965)[71]

Brother B. E. Ryan (1966 - 1974)[72]

Brother N. C. Doherty (1975 - 1980)[73]

Brother J. P. Prendergast (first old boy principal 1981 - 1988)[74]

Mr Keiran F. Fouhy (first lay principal 1989 - present)[75]

Notable Alumni

Arts

  • George Baloghy (1950 - ), Artist, (since 1978 has had twenty-six solo exhibitions, represented in every major public collection in New Zealand). George Baloghy website
  • Sam Hunt (1946 - ), Poet.[76]
  • Tony Mackle (1946 - ), MA Art History (Ak), Diploma in Archives Administration, Art historian and curator, Collections Manager Art (Works on Paper) Te Papa Tongarewa (Specialist areas of knowledge and expertise: New Zealand and British art 1850-1950).
  • Constant Mews (1953 - ), D. Phil (Oxon), Associate Professor, Director, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, Monash University, Melbourne, (expert on medieval religious thought (especially Peter Abelard) and on interfaith dialogue).
  • Douglas Mews (1956 - ), MMus (Auck), Certificaat Koninkijk Cons, Lecturer, organ, Harpsichord, Fortepiano, Keyboard Skills at the New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University of Wellington), Wellington City Organist, choir director at St Teresa's church, Karori, Wellington.
  • Michael Brian Lewis Morrissey (1942 - ), Poet and Fiction writer.[77]
  • Mark Williams (1951 - ), M.A(Hons) (Auckland), Ph.D (British Columbia) (1983), Professor of English, University of Canterbury; academic critic and editor of contemporary New Zealand literature[78]

Business

  • Sir (Humphrey) Michael Gerard Fay (1949 - ), (Knight Bachelor - 1990), New Zealand Merchant banker, co-founder/joint chief executive and director of Fay, Richwhite and Co Ltd, chair of the campaigns for three New Zealand challenges for the America's Cup in 1987, 1988 and 1992.
  • The Huljich brothers, Christopher Peter Huljich (1950 - ), Paul Richard Huljich (1953 - ), Michael Huljich (1957 - ), Auckland manufacturers, merchants, entrepreneurs, rentiers and philanthropists.
  • Kevin Malloy (1965 - ), international chief executive, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) (responsible for all Saatchi & Saatchi’s media departments in New Zealand).

Church

  • Denis George Browne, Most Reverend, CNZM DD, (1937 - ), third Catholic Bishop of Cook Islands and Niue (1977 - 1983), tenth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1983 - 1994), second Catholic Bishop of Hamilton (1994 - ).
  • Father Maurice Carmody (1946 - ), Priest, academic, historian; Doctorate in Church History (Gregorian University, Rome (1988)); Former Vice-President of the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality and former Professor of Franciscan History, Pontificio Ateneo of St. Anthony (the Antonianum), Rome; former lecturer in Church History, Beda College and the Dominican University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum), Rome; Parish priest and administrator, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington (2005 - ).
  • Father Felix Cornelius Donnelly (1929- ), QSM, PhD, priest, broadcaster, author, counsellor.[79]
  • Edward Russell Gaines, Most Reverend, (1926 - 1994), first Catholic Bishop of Hamilton (1980 - 1994) (foundation pupil of St Peter's and first old boy to be ordained a priest).

Law

  • Patrick James Downey (1927 - ),OBE, MA(NZ), LL.B(NZ), Barrister and Solicitor, Chief Human Rights Commissioner and Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of New Zealand (1978 - 1984), Director, Butterworths of New Zealand (1983 - 1993), Editor, "NZ Law Journal" (1983 - 1996), General Editor, "The Laws of New Zealand" (1991 - 1995) (a foundation pupil of St Peter's).
  • Michael Kruse (1948 - ), LL.B (VUW), MCL (George Washington), Chief Justice of American Samoa (1987 - ).
  • Dr Anthony Patrick Molloy (1944 - ), LL.D (Auck), QC (1984), lawyer, tax and trust law expert, winegrower (St Nesbit winery), author.

Media

Politics

  • Chris Carter (Honourable Christopher Joseph) (1952 - ), New Zealand Labour Party politician, Member of Parliament for Te Atatu (1993 - 1996; 1999 - ), Minister of Conservation, Minister of Ethnic Affairs and Minister of Housing (2002 - ) (He was New Zealand's first openly gay MP, and first openly gay member of the Cabinet).[80]
  • John Henry Tamihere (1959 - ), New Zealand Labour Party politician, Member of Parliament for Hauraki (1999 - 2002) and Tamaki Makaurau (2002 - 2005), Cabinet Minister (2002 - 2004).[81]

Public service

  • Martyn Dunne (1951 - ), CNZM (2000), Soldier and senior public servant, Commander of New Zealand Forces and international troops in East Timor during New Zealand's largest deployment since WWII (1999-2000), (as Major General) Commander Joint Forces New Zealand in the New Zealand Defence Force (2001 - 2004), Chief Executive of the New Zealand Customs Service and Comptroller of Customs (2004 - ).
  • Warwick Hutchings (1946 - ), New Zealand Diplomat, New Zealand permanent representative in Nairobi (1992 - 1994), Press secretary to HRH the Prince of Wales (2005).
  • Patrick Joseph McClure (1948 - ), MA(Public Policy), AO (Order of Australia, 2003, Australian Centennial Medal, 2001), Franciscan priest 1977 - 1987; Chairperson, Australian Reference Group on Welfare Reform (2000 - 2001); Deputy Chairperson, Australian Welfare to Work Consultative Forum (2005 - 2006); Member of the Board for a New Tax System (1999-2001) (Australia); Chairperson, OECD-LEED Forum on Social Innovation, Paris (2003 - 2006); CEO Mission Australia (1996 - 2006); Member of the Australian Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership (1999 - present); Division Director, Macquarie Bank and CEO of the Retirement Villages Group.
  • Jan Charles Schell (1950 - ) Senior public servant, General Manager, Crown Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (1998 - ).

Science

  • Professor Patrick John Molloy (1928 - ) MB ChB, FRCS, FRACS, University Professor Emeritus, former Professor and Director of Cardiac Surgical Unit, Otago University (1973 - 1993). (a foundation pupil of St Peter's College)
  • Dr Martin Reyners (1950 - ),(Ph.D), Seismologist, New Zealand Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Ltd).
  • Dr Stephen Parke (1950 - ), Ph.D, Harvard 1980 (in Theoretical Particle Physics); Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Post Doctoral Fellowship (1980 - 1983); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Batavia, Illinois), Senior Scientist (1983 - present), Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Sport

Notes

  1. ^ the integration agreement was first entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland (as the proprietor of the college) and the government of New Zealand in 1982 under Section 7 of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975.
  2. ^ One reason that St Peter's College has always been a popular school is the great convenience of its location. However, that location also has some attendant disadvantages. In 1975, the principal of the college said; "It is with great pride that I attended the opening of a new school, Liston College, at Rathgar Road, Henderson, which is staffed by the Christian Brothers. The space, the facilities and the quiet atmosphere are in sharp contrast to what we have here at St Peter's. The cramped playing fields and the continual noise of motorway traffic, Khyber Pass traffic and railways makes the education of over eight hundred boys extremely difficult. I can see no way of improvement on our present site, and with the advent of a new portion of the motorway bringing heavy traffic from the wharf right past our classrooms, I can see only greater difficulties": Brother N. C. Doherty, Report of the Principal, St Peter's College Magazine 1975, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1975, P. 5; Graeme W. A. Bush (ed), The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, p. 147. It is interesting to observe that, 30 years later, St Peter's College is still located on the same site and that its roll has increased over that period by about a third.
  3. ^ "Roll", St Peter's College Newsletter 02/2007, 23 February 2007. It is interesting to compare this ethnic composition with the ethnic composition of St Peter's College's adjacent neighbour, Auckland Grammar School. As at 2005 the ethnic composition of Auckland Grammar was Pākehā/New Zealand European 54%, Chinese 21%, Indian 8%, Korean 6%, Sri Lankan 3%, Māori 3%, Samoan 1%, Tongan 1%, Other 3%: Education Review Office, Review Report, Auckland Grammar School, October 2005. Auckland Grammar has an enrolment scheme and, in effect, enrols students only from its zone (i.e. a defined area physically proximate to it, known colloquially as "the Grammar zone"). St Peter's College does not have an enrolment scheme and enrols students from anywhere in Auckland.
  4. ^ Ibid.
  5. ^ Auckland's First Catholic School - And its Latest, Zealandia, Thursday, 26 January 1939, p. 5.
  6. ^ A. G Butchers, Young New Zealand, Coulls Somerville Wilkie Ltd, Dunedin, 1929, pp. 124 - 126.
  7. ^ E.R. Simmons, In Cruce Salus, A History of the Diocese of Auckland 1848 - 1980, Catholic Publication Centre, Auckland 1982, pp. 53 and 54. Simmons quotes from a list which Bishop Pompallier prepared in 1957 for the Government and for Propaganda: "St Peter's Select School is established for the more advanced boys. The Greek, Latin, French, Italian and German languages are taught in it, also Geometry, Mensuration, Arithmetic, Geography, Engish Grammar etc ... Terms per Annum 12.0.0 for each pupil." Ibid., p. 146: St Peter's Boys School had a roll of 43 in 1879. Propaganda or the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, whose official title was "sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando" was the Vatican department charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries (such as New Zealand). It is now known, in English, as the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
  8. ^ Tony Waters, Confortare, A history of Sacred Heart College, Auckland 1903 - 2003, Sacred Heart College, Auckland, 2003, p. 19; E.R. Simmons, A Brief History of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, Catholic Publication Centre, Auckland, 1978, Pages 75 and 76.
  9. ^ Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001, p. 10.
  10. ^ Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition, A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996, pp. 40 - 41.
  11. ^ Ibid.
  12. ^ Ibid.
  13. ^ Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006, p. 163.
  14. ^ Ibid.
  15. ^ Ibid.
  16. ^ Ibid.
  17. ^ Graeme W. A. Bush (ed), The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, p. 224.
  18. ^ Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006, p. 163.
  19. ^ Ibid.
  20. ^ Ibid.
  21. ^ Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition, A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996, pp. 40 - 41
  22. ^ Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006, p. 163.
  23. ^ Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition, A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996, pp. 40 - 41: " ... some of the Marist Brothers may have been influenced by memories of earlier events in Sydney. One elderly Brother in the Marist Brothers' Sacred Heart community in Richmond Road had been a member of the St Mary's Cathedral College community in Sydney early in the twentieth century. At that time the Marist Brothers who administered the Cathedral school in Sydney had complained to the Archbishop of Sydney [(Cardinal Francis Patrick Moran (1884 - 1911)] about their living and working conditions. The [Cardinal] told the Marist Brothers to leave the school and directed, under the threat of interdict, the Christian Brothers to take over the school, which they did in 1910. The Christian Brothers were then granted the requests that the Marists had been denied. Thus when the Christian Brothers arrived in Auckland they were seen as moving in on Marist 'territory' by some of the elderly Marist Brothers. However, [there is evidence] that the relationship between the Christian Brothers and the younger Marist Brothers was positive in the early days of St Peter's College". Ibid:"An interdict is a situation where the church refuses its sacramental ministry to some or all of its members in a particular area, usually for a specified time. Effectively this is a "lockout' of the people concerned by the church". Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006, p. 16: Part of the annoyance of the Marist Brothers also arose from their own scheme to re-develop Sacred Heart College which they did sixteen years later by shifting it to its new site in Glendowie. Felix Donnelly suggests that the problems with the Marist Brothers continued after the school opened. Donnelly has written that Brother O'Driscoll, the foundation principal " ... had a go-getter approach that probably did good things in getting the school established. He had to cope with the resentment of the Marist Brothers and their supporters at the coming of this new group into the Catholic boys' education scene": Felix Donnelly, One Priest's Life, and New Zealand Book Company, Auckland, 1982, page 8. Perhaps the memory of their troubles with the Marist brothers made the Christian Brothers particularly keen to welcome the new religious orders to the Auckland diocese to establish new schools, notably the De La Salle Brothers who established De La Salle College, Mangere in 1953 and the Rosmini Fathers who established Rosmini College, Takapuna in 1961. But the major reason for the warmth of the Christian Brother's welcome appears to be that both schools relieved significant roll pressure on St Peter's College: St Peter's College Magazine 1961, St Peter's College, Auckland 1961, P. 8 (in relation to Rosmini College) and "A Glimpse at the Past", St Peter's College Magazine 1964, St Peter's College, Auckland 1964, P. 16 (in relation to De La Salle College).
  24. ^ information provided by Liston in his speech at the opening of the college on Sunday 29 January 1939 at 3.30pm: Auckland Welcomes the Christian Brothers, Zealandia, Thursday 2 February, 1939, p. 5. Thomas Outhwaite, GH Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1940, Vol. 2, p. 140: Thomas Outhwaite was born in Westmoreland, England in 1805. He practised as a solicitor in Paris before coming to New Zealand in 1841 on the 'Tyne' with the first Chief Justice of New Zealand, Sir William Martin and Hon William Swainson, the first Attorney-General of New Zealand. Thomas Outhwaite, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, The Cyclopedia Company Limited, Christchurch, 1902, Volume 2, p. 274: Thomas Outhwaite was appointed as registrar of the Supreme Court for Sir William Martin and was the first person to hold that position which he took up on 01 January 1842. One of his most exciting experiences was during the trial of a Maori man for murder when 100 of his supporters " ... came rushing up the totally unformed street, shaking spears and brandishing tomahawks above their heads to rescue [the accused] from the clutches of the law. And they did rescue him, while the court sat petrified, unable to avert the lawless deed or arrest the doers ,... [this] in the very heart of the capital of the country". In 1843 Thomas Outhwaite, in company with Sir William Martin and Hon. Henry St. Hill, M.L.C., returned to Auckland overland on foot from Wellington, where they had gone on the Government brig, "Victoria" (a three-week sea voyage), to hold a session of the court. The return trip overland occupied a period of six weeks. Thomas Outhwaite, GH Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1940, Vol. 2, p. 140: When Outhwaite retired in 1869, Sir George Arney, the second Chief Justice of New Zealand, paid a tribute to Outhwaite's extraordinary firmness, patience, discretion and self-command. Outhwaite was very fond of music, and was a founder of the Auckland Philarmonic Society and of the Auckland Choral Society, acting as conductor to these and church choirs. He died on 14 July 1879. (A full obituary was published: Death of Mr Thomas Outhwaite, New Zealand Herald, Monday, 21 July, 1879). Dinah Holman, Newmarket Lost and Found, The Bush Press of New Zealand, Auckland 2001, pp. 60 - 62: It appears that Thomas Outhwaite and his family were living near the Auckland Domain by 1843. In 1844 he brought land and built a house on the south-western corner of Carlton Gore Road and Park Road opposite the Domain. This land is now a park called Outhwaite Park. Thomas Outhwaite's wife was Louise Roget, a French woman from Besançon. Thomas and Louise had four children, two sons and two daughters, none of whom married. The last of the children to die in 1925 was Isa Outhwaite and it was she who left the house and land to the citizens of Newmarket for the establishment of Outhwaite park and also left the site on the opposite side of Khyber Pass Road to the Catholic Bishop of Auckland for the establishment of St Peter's College. She also left money for the latter purpose.
  25. ^ Auckland Welcomes the Christian Brothers, Zealandia, Thursday 2 February, 1939, p. 5.
  26. ^ Twenty-Five Years, St Peter's College Magazine, 1964, St Peter's College, Auckland 1964, page 11
  27. ^ Ibid.
  28. ^ supposedly named after William Pember Reeves (1857 - 1932), journalist, poet, cabinet minister and New Zealand High Commissioner in London: Graeme W. A. Bush (ed), The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, p. 424.
  29. ^ A Glimpse at the Past, St Peter's College Magazine, 1964, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1964, Page 12
  30. ^ Auckland Welcomes the Christian Brothers, Zealandia, Thursday 2 February, 1939, p. 5.
  31. ^ Ibid.
  32. ^ Ibid. The Christian Brothers and St Peter's College held Archbishop Liston in high regard. He was always regarded as a special friend (if not ally and protector) of the college. He presided over almost every (if not all) the school prize-giving ceremonies from the first until his retirement in 1970. At the 1970 ceremony, in Liston's presence and in recognising his retirement, the principal of the college said: "His Grace has had his critics of course, as all men in similar positions have - he was even criticised for founding St Peter's College - but his achievements are sufficient answer in themselves. We of St Peter's in a certain sense owe him everything. Without His Grace's decision to open the new school in 1938, we humanly speaking, might not be here tonight to represent the thousands of boys and parents that have been influenced by the school in the past 32 years": Report by Brother B. E. Ryan, principal of the college, St Peter's School Magazine 1970, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1970, Page 5. When the school later adopted a new motto, it adopted the English version of Liston's personal motto "Amare et Servire", "To Love and to Serve".
  33. ^ J.C. O'Neill, The History of the Work of the Christian Brothers in New Zealand, unpublished Dip. Ed. thesis, University of Auckland, 1968, p. 102.
  34. ^ Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001, p. 10.
  35. ^ St Peter's College Silver Jubilee 1939 - 1964, Christian Brothers Old Boys Association, Auckland, 1964, p.7.
  36. ^ Ibid.
  37. ^ Graeme W. A. Bush (ed), The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, pp. 279 - 280.
  38. ^ St Peter's College Silver Jubilee 1939 - 1964, Christian Brothers Old Boys Association, Auckland, 1964, pp. 7 and 8.
  39. ^ In November 1953, the Vatican awarded Liston the personal title of Archbishop, acknowledging that while Auckland was not the archdicese of the ecclesiastical province of New Zealand, Liston was the most senior active bishop, Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston, a life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, p. 242
  40. ^ Ibid. p. 225.
  41. ^ Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001, p. 10.
  42. ^ Ibid., p. 11
  43. ^ Ibid., p. 11; Rory Sweetman, A Fair and Just Solution? A History of the Integration of Private Schools in New Zealand. Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 2002.
  44. ^ Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition: A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996, p. 46.
  45. ^ Ibid., p. 208.
  46. ^ ibid., p. 115
  47. ^ Ibid., p. 207.
  48. ^ Brother L. Hubie Wilkes, "On Leaving a Monastery", quoted in Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition: A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996, p. 116. Brother Wilkes died in Timaru on 03 March 1998, aged 75. Brother Norm Gillies, "Friend to all his students: Br Lawrence Wilkes: A legend in the Christian Brothers teaching community", Sunday Star Times, 05 April 1998, Edition A, P. 13: "Brother Lawrence Wilkes would have been the last to describe himself as a scholar, although he sometimes announced with a chuckle that while on a visit to England some years ago he had "read a paper at Oxford". A struggler in school himself, he knew the difficulties faced by his less gifted students and was the better teacher for that. His forte was the practical world. The technical arts were his strength and hundreds of his pupils at St Peter's, Auckland, and elsewhere had reason to be grateful for his expertise in this area. Several times during his 25 years at St Peter's one of his technical drawing students obtained top mark in School Certificate -- an achievement which gave him much quiet satisfaction. He was a legend in other ways. Members of cricket and rugby teams he coached with surprising expertise and considerable success will remember the pre-match prayer, the anxious looks during the game, the occasional exasperation over below par performances, culminating in 'Hell's bells' being invoked yet again. His early years as a Christian Brother were spent in the poorer areas of Brisbane and Sydney where he strove mightily to expand his pupils' horizons by introducing them to drama, classical music and the other arts -- not always with resounding success. Lawrence loved people. He had a deep affection for his own family and kept close contact with them over the years. Ex-students and their families became part of an ever-expanding network of friends. He delighted in receiving invitations to family occasions and in no time he would be surrounded by a group of children drawn to him as to the Pied Piper. He always wanted to provide that little bit extra for his pupils, and those who observed his end-of-season picnics will remember them as giant affairs. On occasions he brought home more picnickers than he set out with. Those who lived with him in community appreciated his wily simplicity, enjoyed his malapropisms (the "Moriarties in the Chatham Islands") and delighted in his reading the "day's disasters". We respected his love for his Christian Brother vocation; we marvelled at his ability to relate so well to so many. His earthly life has been celebrated in Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands by the hundreds who were privileged to have him as a friend. But he was, most of all, a friend of God and we, his earthly friends, confidently expect he is now in the presence of that best Friend of all. May he rest in peace."
  49. ^ Ibid., p. 200
  50. ^ Ibid., p. 206: "[In 1996] ... the oldest member of the community is [Brother] Nick Cusack. Nick is originally from Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand, and grew up in Dunedin where he attended the Christian Brothers' school. In his youth he was a noted cricketer and rugby player, playing for the Otago rugby side. Nick joined the Brothers in 1933 as a lay-brother (which meant that he did not wish to teach but rather do manual work). In 1961 he commenced teaching in the intermediate at St Peter's College. Now Nick is involved at the St Peter's tuckshop, where he arrives at 7.30a.m. to heat the pies for the day." Brother Cusack ceased his involvement with St Peter's College in 1997 and died in 2004 at the age of 91. He is buried in Oamaru:Edmund Rice Network Brother Cusack was a popular and well-respected teacher at St Peter's College. He was known to many pupils over his more than 35 years at the college. Before he came to St Peter's College, he had spent many years in Australia. In 1938-1939 and 1943-1944 he was at Tardun Farm School in Western Australia and in 1940-1941, 1945-1948, and 1957-1960 he was at Clontarf Orphanage (latterly called Clontarf Boys' Town) also in Western Australia: Barry M. Coldrey, The Scheme: The Christian Brothers and Childcare in Western Australia, Argyle-Pacific Publishing, O'Connor, Western Australia, 1993, pp. 462 and 464. See also: Western Australia Legislative Assembly, Select Committee into Child Migration, Perth, 1996; House of Commons, Health Committee, The Welfare of Former British Child Migrants, Third Report, Session 1997 - 1998, HC 755-1 and HC 755-II, Volumes I and II, London, 1997; Senate Community Affairs References Committee, Lost Innocents: Righting the Record: Report on Child Migration, The Senate, Parliament House, Canberra, August 2001; and, in particular, Commonwealth of Australia, Official Committee Hansard, Senate Community Affairs References Committee, Reference: Child migration, hearing held in Melbourne on Thursday 15 March 2001, pp. CA192-CA201 and CA221-CA247.
  51. ^ http://www.cardenal-newman.edu/
  52. ^ Brother J. P. Prendergast, 49th Annual Principal's Report - 1988, St Peter's College Magazine 1988, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1988, p. 4
  53. ^ Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001, p. 12
  54. ^ Graham W.A. Bush, The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, p. 225; Architectus website
  55. ^ Graham W.A. Bush, The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006, p. 225.
  56. ^ Ibid.
  57. ^ Ibid.
  58. ^ Their Own Station, Auckland Star, Tuesday 15 September 1964, p. 4,
  59. ^ Our Railway Station, St Peter's College Magazine, 1964, St Peter's College, Page 39
  60. ^ John Kenneth McAlpine (1906-1984) (National) was Minister of Transport 12 December 1960 - 12 December 1966.
  61. ^ The School Train, St Peter's College Magazine, Auckland, 1968, pages 25 and 26.
  62. ^ Ibid.
  63. ^ Their Own Station, Auckland Star, Tuesday 15 September 1964, p. 4,
  64. ^ The School Train, St Peter's College Magazine, Auckland, 1968, pages 25 and 26.
  65. ^ Ibid.
  66. ^ Their Own Station, Auckland Star, Tuesday 15 September 1964, p. 4,
  67. ^ St Peter's College Silver Jubilee 1939 - 1964, Christian Brothers Old Boys Association, Auckland, 1964, p.5; Dinah Holman, Newmarket Lost and Found, The Bush Press of New Zealand, Auckland, 2001, p. 274.
  68. ^ A Glimpse at the Past, St Peter's College Magazine, 1964, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1964, Page 13
  69. ^ Ibid., Pages 12 and 16
  70. ^ Ibid., Pages 16 and 17
  71. ^ Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001, p. 10.
  72. ^ Ibid., p.11.
  73. ^ Ibid.
  74. ^ Ibid.
  75. ^ Ibid; Dinah Holman, Newmarket Lost and Found, The Bush Press of New Zealand, Auckland, 2001, p. 274
  76. ^ St Peter's College Magazines, 1963 and 1964, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1963 and 1964 contain Sam Hunt's earliest published poems and the 1964 magazine mentions Hunt as the winner of the "Mr K. Arvidson Poetry Prize" for that year (but it was only ever awarded that once). 1963 was Sam Hunt's last year at St Peter's College. He left at the end of his lower sixth form year (see below). Peter Smart, Introducing Sam Hunt, Longman Paul, Auckland, 1981, pp. 8 - 14 includes an extensive description of Sam Hunt's experiences at St Peter's College and their influence on the development of his poetry. In Sam Hunt, Selected Poems, Penguin Books, 1987, p. 63 there is "Brother Lynch", a poem about an important and influential teacher at St Peter's College, Brother J. B. Lynch. Sam Hunt and Gary McCormick, Roaring Forties, Hodder Moa Beckett, Auckland, 1995 pp. 51 and 52 contains a pretty negative view of St Peter's College mentioning, in particular Brother P. C. Ryan, the fifth principal of the college, and several very interesting anecdotes, but Sam Hunt does finish up by saying: "I left school when I was 16. Left is a polite word for being asked to leave. At the age of 49 I still have nightmares about being back at that place. People talk to me about their happy days at school, well that wasn't the case. I've had happy days since then but I didn't find those days happy at all. I found the teachers, the school thoroughly claustrophobic, bog Irish Catholicism. In a way you know, a bit of pain a bit of grain, that stutter gave me the impetus to get over it, get out there and say what I wanted to say in the way that I wanted to say it. So I could look at St Peter's College and say, 'Well if it wasn't for you I may have ended up with a different job ... . It's hard to say. Whatever turn you take at the cabbage tree you end up at a totally different place. Maybe it's Newton's Law of action and reaction. School didn't suit me but that conflict - I'm not trying to equate myself to a pearl thank you very much - but that's created by friction, isn't it?". Jim Sullivan, Catholic Boys: New Zealand Men Talk to Jim Sullivan, Penguin, 1996, pages 34 - 46, contains much more detail and comment by Sam Hunt concerning his time at St Peter's College and shows a more considered assessment of his experiences there. Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pages 249 and 250 summarise this assessment very succinctly: "[Sam Hunt] attended St Peter's College Auckland, from 1958 - 1963; a period during which his individualism came into conflict with the Christian Brother's authoritarianism. (He has said that he was strapped at the age of 14 for reciting a poem by James K. Baxter which had sexual imagery, in the classroom.) Life was not made easier by a bad stutter, and poems working through the tensions and fantasies of adolescence became a form of release. Despite school's problems, Hunt, who was a good sprinter and diver, did not leave until asked to. He benefited, in his final year, from having poet Ken Arvidson as his English master, and he obtained University Entrance." Ibid., p. 249. As a footnote, Sam Hunt was invited back to the school when the revamped and named Brother J. B. Lynch Science Laboratories were opened in the late 1990s and he read his eponymous poem, "Brother Lynch" at that opening. Bronwyn Sell, From black sheep to honoured guest, New Zealand Herald, 20 October 1999 contains the following vindication for Sam Hunt: "A disenchanted Sam Hunt left St Peter's College in 1962 [sic] with university entrance and a request from the principal not to return. Yesterday the poet broke that edict, not for nostalgia or revenge, but for the students - to present Sam Hunt Writers' Scholarships to two budding writers. Hunt said it was often difficult for writers to get accolades at schools where sports players were the heroes, and he was happy to be associated with a celebration of the individual voice. He said the inaugral scholarship winners, 16-year -old Nick Jensen-Carey and 11-year-old Shanil Singh, could be the Neil Finns and Dave Dobbyns of the future. Hunt himself won a writing prize at the Catholic boys' school in Epsom at the age of 14, and said the recognition made a hard school life a little less lonely. Nick Jensen-Carey, who wants to pursue a writing career, said it was an honour to get his prize, a term's fees from Hunt. 'He was the first poet I read. My dad had an old Sam Hunt book lying around that I picked up one day.' The principal, Kieran Fouhy, said the award was designed to help improve boys' literacy skills. 'It's all about unleashing creativity. Often schools are about conformity.' English teacher Jim Whelan said Hunt was a role model and showed the boys a career path based on original thought and individuality. 'There have been so many reports around about boys under-achieving in education, particularly in English.' "
  77. ^ New Zealand Who's Who, Aotearoa 2001 New Millennium Edition, entry for Morrisey, Michael Brian Lewis; Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pages 380 and 381
  78. ^ Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pp. 589 and 590; Mark Williams (ed), The Source of the Song; New Zealand Writers on Catholicism, Victoria University Press, 1995, pp. 9 and 10: Mark Williams describes his reaction to St Peter's after his Christadelphian background. " I can recall how strange the world of a Catholic school seemed to me as a twelve-year old boy. I felt as violently displaced as those 'savages' taken to London in the eighteenth century and presented to the English 'quality' must have felt." "To me, on coming from a radically iconoclastic Protestant sect, the holy pictures and statues the Christian Brothers had crammed on every wall seemed utterly bizarre". "At midday we all knelt for the Angelus. Mass involved long periods of kneeling. In those days the liturgy was in Latin ... and there were statues, candles, robes, incense to cope with." "Because I came to Catholicism from the outside I was able to scoff before my schoolmates and became at fourteen a public atheist. At one level I think I really did escape the deep imprinting on the psyche of Catholic guilt, yet in ways I could not acknowledge even to myself, I was captivated by those gothic images and rigid doctrines. Once exposed to Catholicism it seems to me one can never wholly abandon the double vision it effects in the self, in which the world we inhabit is seen in the light of a world we might inhabit. An absolute scale of values and vision is insinuated into one's mind so that life as it is a continual disappointment. Perhaps this double vision accounts for the number of Catholics who become writers or artists. In a world passionately devoted to making us this-worldly and hence better consumers, the Catholic way of seeing provides the necessary irritant that troubles some individuals sufficiently to wish to produce something as useless as art."
  79. ^ Felix Donnelly, One Priest's Life, Australia and New Zealand Book Company, Auckland, 1982, Pages 3 - 17, Chapter 2 ("To be a priest"). In that chapter, Father Donnelly describes his years at St Peter's College (1941 - 1946) providing a very interesting description of the life of the college in its early years and making particular (if rather acerbic) mention of Brother F.P. O'Driscoll (the foundation principal) and Brother Skehan. There is also some relevant material in Felix Donnelly, Big boys dont cry, Cassell New Zealand, Auckland 1978. Felix Donnelly, Father Forgive Them, GP Books, Wellington 1990: This is a novel which includes references to St Peter's College. The young hero of the novel Matthew Olive attends St Peter's from approximately 1952. The fictional Christian brothers in the novel are Brother Sharplin (who promotes boxing at the school), Brother Minders (Matthew's form teacher who interviews Matthew's parents about his lack of progress in his schoolwork), Brother Orange and the humourless strapper, Brother O'Keefe. One of the minor characters is Monsignor O'Halloran, parish priest of Remuera. Nicholas Reid sees Monsignor O'Halloran (in this "heavily didactic" novel) as a portrait of Monsignor Bradley, the actual parish priest of Remuera at the time, who was so important in the setting up of the college: Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006, pp. 18 and 19.
  80. ^ James Allen: Growing Up Gay: New Zealand Men Tell Their Stories, Godwit, Auckland, 1996, pp. 106 - 108 includes a description by Chris Carter of his time at St Peter's College: "At primary school I felt valued and successful. However, things changed dramatically at the end of standard four when I left Panmure and began seven very unhappy years at St Peter's... ." I arrived at the big boy's school good at school work, and at talking, but not good at sport. The Brothers maintained discipline with the strap. From the first day in form one I was strapped almost daily, mostly for talking at the wrong time. I had a very unhappy first year. In fact I ran away." "After a while I simply adjusted to St Peter's but was never happy there." "In the third form I, like 99 percent of my classmates started masterbating. This was difficult to cope with because the Brothers told us it was a mortal sin." "In 1971 I finished seventh form and left St Peter's ... ." "At university, for the first time, I met openly gay people. I had mixed with a group of gay friends at St Peter's, but none of us ever said we were gay. Eight of us, in my sixth form class, later came out as gay." As with Sam Hunt, there was a rapprochement between Chris Carter and St Peter's College. According to St Peter's College Newsletter No 08/2006, Friday 02 June 2006, in an item headed "Bro V. N. Cusack Tuckshop", "This excellent food facility was officially opened on 11 May by Hon L Dalzeil Minister of Commerce and grand niece of Br Cusack and Hon C Carter Minister of Conservation and old boy of St Peter's College. We made an occasion to welcome back these people who are part of our community and to help reinforce the excellent initiatives that are occurring with the problem of youth obesity."
  81. ^ John Tamihere and Helen Bain, John Tamihere Black and White, Reed, Auckland, 2004. Contains description of John Tamihere's time at St Peter's College (1973 - 1977), including reference to the teachers who most influenced him there, in particular Tom Weal: " ... Tom Weal had a big impact on me." "He tought Latin, social studies and English ... ." " ... if a kid was struggling with something, Mr Weal would skip his lunch hour to sit down and work it through with him. He always knew who needed extra support and assistance, and was very generous in giving it." " ... he made learning real so you could understand and identify with it. At one time he was the deputy leader of the Social Credit Party, and he would link things to politics and, in particular, to New Zealand's agricultural policies." Ibid. p. 36.

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  • Graeme W. A. Bush (ed), The History of Epsom, Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc, Auckland, 2006.
  • Nicholas Reid, James Michael Liston: A Life, Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2006.
  • "Bro V. N. Cusack Tuckshop", St Peter's College Newsletter No. 08/2006, Friday 02 June 2006.
  • "Roll", St Peter's College Newsletter No. 02/2007, 23 February 2007.
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