Photo mysteries

Tags

1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, capping, Christchurch, food science, Helensburgh, languages, Maori, medicine, microbiology, physical education, recreation, St Margaret's

This is a plea for help! Today’s post is rather different from previous ones. I’m posting some photographs I’d like to know more about. Some have appeared on the blog previously, while others are new. They’re all interesting images that I’m thinking of including in the University of Otago history book, and it would be great to have more details before they appear in print. Do you recognise any of the people or places or activities, or can you help with missing dates? If so, I’d love to hear from you, either by a comment on this post, or by email or letter (the ‘about’ page has a link to my university staff page with contact details).

I’ve gathered lots of images from archival, personal and departmental collections over the last few years, but I’m still short in some areas. In particular, I’m keen to locate photos relating to activities involving the commerce division/school of business and the humanities division (though I have a good supply of photos for the languages departments). Zoology, maths and psychology are other departments I’d like to find more images for. Where more general images of student life are concerned, I’d love to find a few photos relating to life in student flats and to lodgings and landladies. I have plenty of capping parade photos, but some other photos of student activities would be great. Overall, the 1980s are a bit of a gap in my lists of potential illustrations, so I’m on the lookout especially for anything from that decade, and to a lesser extent the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s. Another major gap is for images relating to the Christchurch, Wellington and Invercargill campuses. If you have any interesting photos you would be willing to lend to the project, please do get in touch!

Now, on with the mystery photos …

1. Gentlemen dining

Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, Irvine family papers, MS-4207/006, S16-669a.

These gentlemen, about to indulge in a little fine dining at the Christchurch Club, have connections to the early years of the Christchurch Clinical School (now the University of Otago, Christchurch). Those I have identified so far were either senior Christchurch medical men or Otago administrators and members of the Christchurch Clinical School Council. That council was organised in 1971 and met for the first time in 1972. Max Panckhurst, an Otago chemistry professor who was on the council, died in 1976, so the photo must date from before that, and since it also features Robin Williams, who completed his term as Otago Vice-Chancellor in 1973, it probably comes from the early 1970s. Do you know the exact occasion or year?

The men I have identified are, starting from Max Panckhurst, who is closest to the camera with fair curly hair, and working clockwise: LM Berry, Carl Perkins, George Rolleston, Robin Williams, Leslie Averill, Alan Burdekin (Christchurch Club manager,standing), Bill Adams, LA Bennett, Robin Irvine, unknown, unknown, Pat Cotter (partly obscured), D Horne, Don Beaven, unknown, Fred Shannon, Athol Mann, JL Laurenson. Do you recognise anybody else? Or have I got any of these wrong? Some other potential candidates, who were also on the Clinical School Council, are EA Crothall, DP Girvan, TC Grigg and CF Whitty.

2. Burgers

Were you a Burger? After I published a story about Helensburgh House, a student hall of residence in the former Wakari nurses’ home, I met up with Glenys Roome, who had been its warden. She kindly shared some photos, including these three. Helensburgh House ran from 1984 to 1991 – I’d love to identify which year these were taken, and perhaps some names!

 

3. The missing singer

Photo courtesy of Michael Shackleton.

All but one of the members of the 1952 sextet in this photo are identified – can you help with the full name of the young man third from left? His first name was John. The lineup was, from left: Linley Ellis, Richard Bush, John ?, Keith Monagan, Michael Shackleton, Brian McMahon. The story of the sextet featured in an earlier post.

4. On the rocks

Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, Otago University Tramping Club records, 96-063/036, S15-592b.

This is one of my favourite photos – it’s already featured on the blog a couple of times and is sure to end up in the book! In the original tramping club album it is identified as being at Mihiwaka, but somebody kindly pointed out when I posted about the tramping club that this is most likely taken from Mount Cargill. Do you recognise this spot? And can you identify any of the 1946 trampers?

5. Phys-eders

The School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences has kindly shared some of their photo collection. The photograph on the beams was taken in the 1970s – were you there, and do you know the exact year? How about the others – any ideas where and when they were taken, or who the people are? I published a post about the early years of the phys ed school in an earlier post, and there are photos on that I’d love to have more information about too, so please take a look!

6. Te Huka Mātauraka

Photo courtesy of the Māori Centre

This photo was taken outside the Māori Centre, Te Huka Mātauraka, in 2002 and featured in a post about the centre. Can you identify anybody?

7. Microbiologists

Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, Department of Physiology records, r.6681, S16-521c.

This photograph is a good example of the value of this blog. In the original, the man is identified as Franz Bielschowsky, of the cancer research laboratory. When I included it in a story featuring Bielschowsky, people informed me that the man here is actually Leopold Kirschner, a microbiologist working in the Medical Research Council Microbiology Unit. It was probably taken in 1949. Typically for that period, the female assistant is not named – do you know who she is? What, exactly, are they doing? I suspect health and safety procedures have changed since then!

Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Photographic Unit records, MS-4185/042, S15-500d.

Here’s another microbiology-related photo, taken during the first hands-on science camp in 1990 – it featured in an earlier post about hands-on science. Can you identify any of these high school students? I’m curious to know if any of them ended up as University of Otago students!

8. The St Margaret’s ball

Image courtesy of Peter Chin.

This photograph, taken at an early 1960s St Margaret’s ball, featured in a story about Chinese students at Otago. At centre front are Jocelyn Wong and Peter Chin – can you identify anybody else? Exactly which year was it?

9. Picnickers

 

Image courtesy of Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: 1/2-166716-F. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22884184

The Latin picnic was a popular event in the early twentieth century. This photo was taken at Whare Flat in 1932 – it featured in an earlier post about writers at the university. People identified so far include Dan Davin, on the far right, with Angus Ross in front of him and Christopher Johnson to Davin’s right. Other students include Frank Hall (back left), Winnie McQuilkan (centre front) and Ida Lawson (in dark jacket behind her). The Classics staff, Prof Thomas Dagger Adams and Mary Turnbull, are at front left. Can you identify anybody else?

10. In the food science lab

I featured these mystery photos quite some time ago on the blog, and people have identified Rachel Noble, a 1980s student, as the woman in the centre of the bottom image. The food scientists tell me these students were in the yellow lab, possibly working on an experimental foods course or the product development course run by Richard Beyer. Can you help with the date, or identify any of the other students?

Images courtesy of the Hocken Collections, from the archives of the Association of Home Science Alumnae of NZ, MS-1516/082, S13-556b (above) and S13-556c (below).

 

I have quite a few other photograph puzzles, but will save those for future posts!

Update

Thanks very much to those of you who have identified some of the mystery people already – yay! And thanks for the kind offers of further photographs. For those with photographs, here are a few instructions. If they’re already digital, that’s great. If you are scanning them, it would help if you make them high resolution (say 300dpi), preferably in TIFF format, but JPEGs are okay. If they are hard copy, I’m happy to scan them for you if you’re willing to lend them to me – I promise to return them promptly. I can pick up items if you’re in Dunedin, otherwise you can post them to me (it’s probably easiest if you send them to Ali Clarke, c/o Hocken Collections, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054). Remember if you’re sending images that you need to be willing for them to appear, potentially, in the new university history book (due out 2019) or on this blog! I’ll send you a form to sign granting permission for their use in university publications. Any published photos will be attributed to you; do let me know if there’s a photographer I should clear copyright with as well. Thanks 🙂

 

From Italian to Arabic

Tags

1870s, 1910s, 1930s, 1960s, 1990s, 2000s, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, languages, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, war

The language laboratory, once a familiar venue to every language student, in 1990. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Photographic Unit records, MS-4185/030, S15-500c.

Various modern languages have come and gone from the Otago curriculum over the years and their fortunes show a fascinating link with world geopolitics. While Latin and Greek were there from the beginning, modern languages started in 1875, with classes in German, French and Italian. Italian didn’t make it far – there was just one student in that first class and it was never repeated! French and German had the advantage through the years of being taught widely at high schools, always an important factor in recruiting students at university level. They were also useful for anybody with scholarly interests, since much scholarly publishing, from sciences to theology, was in German or French until English became more dominant in the mid-twentieth century. This was one of the rationales for compulsory languages in all university degrees.

Apart from a two-year suspension in the 1870s while the university sought a replacement lecturer, French has remained on the Otago syllabus throughout, but the German programme became a victim of World War I. Early in 1915 Frank Campbell, the German lecturer, had no choice but to resign, for he had no students; Otago students in the grip of patriotic fervour were not prepared to learn the language of their enemy. The university council regretted ‘the removal, even for a time, of so important a study as that of German from the subjects of instruction within the University.’ German classes commenced again in 1918, catering for science students who now had to demonstrate a reading knowledge of foreign languages to complete their degree.

The German programme slowly rebuilt and was boosted by the arrival of new lecturer Felix Grayeff in 1939. By contrast with World War I, German classes actually expanded during World War II. New Zealand society had obviously matured a little, and it presumably helped, also, that Grayeff was a Prussian Jew who might earn some sympathy from the most patriotic supporter of the allied cause. He was a classicist who had difficulty obtaining teaching work in Germany due to his religion.

Geopolitics also played a role in the next major development in languages at Otago, as the prolonged Cold War heightened local interest in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; this coincided with an increase in scientific publications in Russian. In 1960 the Department of Modern Languages began offering Russian tutorials as an option for those who had to pass a compulsory foreign language reading test, and a year later a degree programme in Russian commenced. In 1969 the expanding Department of Modern Languages divided into three: the German, French and Russian departments.

New Zealand’s growing economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Asia prompted the next additions to the language programme. A 1991 working party set up by vice-chancellor Robin Irvine reported that Asian studies were critical to the future of both university and nation. Though Otago offered papers relating to Asia in various departments, there were no Asian languages taught. Other than Lincoln, all other New Zealand universities had Asian language programmes, and Otago ‘would find itself at a steadily worsening competitive disadvantage if corrective measures are not taken urgently.’ Undergraduate language courses in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese commenced in 1993, with classes of 26 and 132 respectively. The greater popularity of Japanese reflected New Zealand’s closer trade and tourism ties with that country than with Chinese-speaking nations in that period, together with the widespread teaching of Japanese in secondary schools.

Despite the encouraging introduction of Japanese and Chinese, the 1990s was a troubled decade for Otago’s language programmes. Tighter funding, closely linked to student enrolments, placed small departments like those of the languages in jeopardy. Russian, which had evolved from the Department of Russian and Soviet Studies into the the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies following the collapse of the Soviet Union, was the smallest department in the humanities with very few students and large budget blowouts; it closed at the end of 1997. This prompted wide protests, for the department, renowned for its eccentricity, was held in much affection around the university. The closure reflected a declining local interest in things Russian as world politics evolved – as one-time lecturer Peter Stupples comments, Russian ‘came in because of politics and went out because of politics’.

Meanwhile, a 1997 report noted that Spanish was ‘important as a Pacific Rim language. South and Central America are likely to become of greater significance to the future of New Zealand, both commercially and culturally, in the coming decade.’ Otago was developing exchange agreements with universities in Chile and Peru, short courses in Spanish were proving popular at Otago Polytechnic, and Auckland and several Australian universities had introduced very successful Spanish programmes. Otago commenced Spanish courses in 2001 and they proved popular from the very start, attracting 340 students to the first paper offered. By 2003 there were 394 students enrolled in undergraduate Spanish papers, making it the most popular language on offer (te reo Maori excluded – for the history of Maori language teaching at Otago, see this earlier post).

The success of the Spanish programme prompted Otago into a new language venture: in 2003 it became the only New Zealand university to offer teaching in Portuguese. This was a strategic decision to strengthen the university’s Latin American and European offerings and aid its exchange programmes with two Brazilian universities. Classes carried on for a few years, but did not attract sufficient interest to survive.

The most recent language added to the schedule reflects New Zealand’s growing involvement with the Middle East. Introductory Arabic language was first taught as a Summer School paper in 2005, following requests from students. This was a convenient way for the university to introduce a new language, since it could be taught, like many Summer School papers, by a visiting lecturer. Arabic has since appeared several times on the Summer School programme, attracting both local and international students. It has not, however, progressed beyond first-year level.

Otago’s Department of Languages and Cultures, created in 2003 by combining the departments of French and German and the other language programmes, now teaches five core languages at both undergraduate and postgraduate level – Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. I wonder where our ever-changing world will lead us next!

The German play, a popular annual event since 1954. This production was in 2002. Image courtesy of Alyth Grant.

Off to war

Tags

1910s, classics, dentistry, languages, medicine, mining, war, women

Alexander Trotter, who graduated MB ChB from Otago in 1913, took this snapshot of some of his colleagues from the NZ Medical Corps in Jericho. They include Capt Warren Young (an Otago medical graduate of 1916), Capt Martin Ryan (a dentist) and Col Robert Walton (an Edinburgh medical graduate). Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, AM Trotter papers, MS-3397/008, S14-589a.

The barrage of World War I centenary events is now upon us, and this month Dunedin commemorates the embarkation of the first troops who departed here for the war in Europe. It seems an appropriate time to think about the impact of the war on the University of Otago.

At the beginning of 1914 there were just over 600 students enrolled at Otago, 70 per cent of them male; a considerable number were part-timers. Numbers attending dropped off rapidly as young men headed off for the front. The chancellor reported at the end of March 1915 that “at least a hundred students are wearing their King’s uniform, and small detachments are constantly leaving to join the reinforcements.” The March 1915 annual reports of the “special schools” revealed the large impact of war. Of the 29 students in the School of Mines, 9 left in August 1914 to become part of the main expeditionary force, and by March a further 5 had joined them on active service. The tiny dental school, which had just 8 students enrolled in 1914, provided 3 of those to the armed forces. The medical school, too, contributed significantly. Like the dental and mining schools, it allowed students who had nearly completed their degrees to finish early, expediting their departure: “In consequence of the demand for surgeons a special final examination was held last August [1914], and sixteen of the fifth-year students who passed either joined the Expeditionary Force or replaced others who did so.”

The university council took great pride in the contribution being made by its students and former students to the war effort. It had been horrified by news of the “wanton and lawless destruction” of the “ancient and honoured University of Louvain” by German troops invading Belgium; many irreplacable books and manuscripts were lost along with buildings. In an October 1914 letter of sympathy to Louvain, the council noted its pride “that many of its own alumni have gone forth to serve as comrades in arms of the Belgians in the cause of freedom and humanity.” An early sign of the tragedy of war can be seen in the minutes of the following month’s council meeting, which record sympathy at the “cruel death of Dr Angus McNab on the battlefield. While in the act of rendering surgical aid to wounded soldiers it has been reported that he was bayoneted by the Germans, although he was wearing the red-cross badge on his arm.” McNab completed a BSc and BA at Otago in the 1890s, and went on to become a medical specialist in London.

In May 1915 the university council recorded its last sympathy motion for war-related deaths, noting its “mingled feelings of sorrow and pride” at “news of the death at the Dardanelles of three students of the University of Otago – Lieutenants R. Duthie, J.S. Reid, and E.M. Burnard.” All three died at Gallipoli. Death at war, it would appear, then became so common that it no longer warranted a special mention: by the end of the war nearly 100 staff and students had been killed. Their names were recorded in the University of Otago Calendar and photographs of “fallen comrades” appeared in the student publication, the Otago University Review, but there was no longer space for recording them in the council minutes. The council did, however, continue to record military honours awarded to university people, sending congratulations to the families of those concerned.

Putting aside the personal tragedies of the many deaths and injuries, the biggest headache the war created for the university authorities was retaining sufficient staff to keep its normal activities going. Of course, they had no idea how long the war would last, and nobody suspected in 1914 that it still had four years to run. When William Phillipps, a demonstrator in biology about to leave on military service, requested 3 years of leave in February 1915, the council resolved “to grant Mr Phillipps leave for twelve months or until the end of the war should the war terminate in less than twelve months.” Deciding whether or not to grant leave, and how long for, was tricky, and once conscription was introduced in 1916 the council also had to decide whether or not to appeal against the calling up of its employees.

There was a particular demand for people with medical expertise, and replacements for medical school staff could be difficult to find. When Percy Gowland, Professor of Anatomy, asked the council in February 1917 if he might proceed to the front, it sympathised, but informed him that “his services are indispensable to the Medical School.” When Gowland was called up in the ballot in 1918, the university appealed. At the same October meeting of the Military Service Board, it appealed against the calling up of William Carswell, surgical tutor and assistant lecturer, and Alexander Kidd, who worked in the anatomy laboratory. Kidd had asked the council for leave to proceed to war, but Gowland stated he was “essential for the proper working of the Anatomical Department.”

A familiar wartime sight. This unidentified photograph is from the papers of Roland Fulton, one of many Otago medical graduates to serve in World War I. After qualifying in 1914 he headed to England for further training in surgery; he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the war. Image courtesy of Hocken Collections, RAH Fulton papers, MS-1667/008, S14-589b.

Some senior staff did head overseas to the war, often for long periods. Daniel Waters, Professor of Metallurgy and Assaying in the School of Mines, served as an officer in the New Zealand Tunnelling Company for a couple of years; he returned to the university after being discharged no longer fit for service at the end of 1917. Henry Pickerill, Dean of the Dental School, served from 1916 to 1919 with the New Zealand Medical Corps, becoming famous for his pioneering work reconstructing the jaws and faces of those injured by war. The Professor of Surgery, Louis Barnett, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in Malta early in 1915 and was transferred to the New Zealand Medical Corps in Egypt in October 1915. He returned to New Zealand early in 1917, after the university had convinced the military authorities he was essential to the training of the country’s future surgeons. Thomas Adams, Professor of Classics, enlisted early in 1917 and did not return to New Zealand until 1920, having been seconded for army educational duties in England.

Some subject areas struggled in the war years due to a lack of students. With its dean away and very few students, the Dental School was under threat of closure, but managed to survive the war years before expanding greatly in the post-war period. One casualty of the war was the university’s German language programme. In 1915 lecturer Frank Campbell resigned because he had no students. The council regretted “the loss of a teacher of his experience and the removal, even for a time, of so important a study as that of German from the subjects of instruction within the University.”

A more common difficulty, though, was finding substitutes for staff serving overseas. One solution was to appoint women, who were more readily available and not liable to conscription into the military. Isabel Turnbull became assistant to Adams in 1915; for the three years he served overseas she took on full responsibility for Otago’s teaching of Latin. Gladys Cameron was appointed to teach in bacteriology and public health in 1917, and Phyllis Turnbull as assistant in French in 1918; other women became demonstrators. Outside the School of Home Science, women academics had been non-existent at Otago prior to the war. Now new opportunities were opening to them, though sometimes these were temporary. Women also became more prominent as students during the war years, accounting for almost half of students in 1918 before men took over again in 1919.

The ‘Great War’ clearly had an enormous impact on the university, its staff and its students. It is also clear that the university made an enormous contribution to New Zealand’s war effort, with the council  minutes recording numerous students, staff and alumni mentioned in despatches and awarded military honours. For more information about the university and World War I, see this recent article in the alumni magazine, which also features on article about the war commemorations by Professor Tom Brooking.

Building for the arts

Tags

1960s, art history, classics, economics, education, English, geography, history, languages, music, philosophy, politics, religion, teacher education, theology

The new Arts Building, photographed around 1970 by Arthur Campbell. The open area at the northern end was later built in to create more teaching spaces. Image courtesy of Arthur Campbell.

“We hope to give the people of Dunedin an arts building they can be proud of,” commented vice-chancellor Arthur Beacham in 1964. Fifty years later, that building is listed for replacement as part of the university’s 15-year building development plan. A new arts building – indeed a whole new humanities precinct – is planned, with construction scheduled to commence late in 2019. It seems timely, then, to look back to the beginnings of the original Arts Building.

Beacham made his 1964 comment as he welcomed the news that the government had granted approval for the University of Otago to obtain sketch plans for a new building to house some of the Faculty of Arts. This was a period of strong central government control over university development. The national University Grants Committee juggled requests for new buildings from the various institutions and made recommendations, which were then approved and funded by the government.

Otago arts student numbers were growing steadily, having doubled to reach nearly 1000 over a decade; they were predicted – fairly accurately as it turned out – to double again by the early 1980s. “Students are being taught in every basement, attic and old house we can bring into use,” noted Beacham. The English department was based in Cameron House, a grand old house which would later make way for Unicol; it also shared space in Lower Studholme, a neighbouring house, with the geography and education departments. Education, one of the largest university departments, also used Marama Hall, while geography had space in Mellor House. Political science and history occupied St Anne’s, yet another old house, once part of Studholme Hall’s accommodation, which would be demolished to create the Unicol site. Classics and modern languages had their home in the old professorial houses, while music, economics and philosophy were in the houses at 403, 411 and 421 Castle Street. Some classes took place in the revealingly named “arts hut”.

A new library was under construction and would open in 1965. Plans were for this to house some of the arts departments – political science, English and geography – until the library expanded to fill the whole building. The new Arts Building would supply teaching space and offices for most of the remaining arts departments. Its site, which had been set aside for a proposed building by the university council as early as 1960, expanded the campus in a new direction.

The site of the new Arts Building is marked ‘Phase I’ in this plan from the 1964 Design Report. The Student Union building is under construction at front left, while in this photo work on the library is yet to commence. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, Angus Ross papers, MS-1050/014.

The new building was designed by J.O. Aimers of old Dunedin architectural firm Mason and Wales. His design report of 1964 noted that the long narrow building of six floors would allow for future developments nearby while providing well for “Staff Studies, Seminar Rooms and Research Rooms requiring good daylighting and aspect”. Larger lecture rooms would take up the ground floor space: “This avoids problems in vertical circulation.” Seminar rooms for smaller classes and tutorials were located at the centre portion of each floor, meaning staff offices were in “quiet cul-de-sacs which are desirable in a Faculty of Arts.” Those “cul-de-sacs” would not always be as quiet as the architect anticipated. Ninian Smart, a distinguished religious studies scholar who visited Otago in 1971, recalled “the former dean of arts, reprimanded by the registrar for playing cricket on the matted corridors of the new arts building” (please tell me if you know who that was!). The long corridors would prove a temptation to cricketers of later generations as well – I recall corridor cricket taking place in the history department early in the 21st century.

Building, noted the Otago Daily Times, was “dogged  by Government delays at each stage of planning,” but in 1966 the university received the good news that cabinet had approved a tender from Dunedin firm Mitchell Brothers Ltd for construction of the new building. The total cost, when equipped, would be around £550,000. Occupation was scheduled for 1969, but in September 1968 the builders made an “all-out effort” over two weeks to complete two of the larger ground floor lecture theatres so they could be used by the Dunedin Teachers College. The college’s buildings were destroyed by a large fire on 3 September 1968 and the university – then a separate institution – offered this, along with some other accommodation, as “rescue aid.”

The Minister of Education, Arthur Kinsella, formally opened the Arts Building on 5 March 1969. He noted that the building “was a particularly fine one. The planning had been done economically, and he felt it was good value for money.” These comments were presumably a reaction to the criticism of Prof Eric Herd, dean of the arts faculty, who informed him that the building was “already too small …. Surely it is less expensive in the long run to design a building which will last for 20 years instead of three.” In 1972 the government approved preliminary planning of another larger “arts-library block” – the future Hocken/Richardson Building – which would house several arts departments, allowing others to expand within the 1969 Arts Building.

People sometimes refer to the Arts Building as the Burns Building, as its larger teaching areas are known as the Burns lecture theatres. I was asked recently if these are named after Reverend Thomas Burns, the spiritual leader of the Otago colony and first chancellor of the university, or his nephew Robbie Burns, the poet. I haven’t managed to find the answer yet, but either – or both! – would be appropriate for a building which is now home to the Department of English and the Robert Burns Fellow as well as the Department of Theology and Religion. Others who call the Arts Building home at present are the Departments of Politics, Classics, Languages and Cultures, History and Art History, and the administrative staff of the Division of Humanities.

Like all parts of the university, the Arts Building has seen many interesting people come and go through its history. Though few of its current occupants seem to regret its planned future replacement, it does hold many memories. Do you have any to share?

Beginnings of te reo Maori

Tags

1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, languages, Maori, teacher education, university extension

Tarewai Wesley, standing on the right, was probably the university’s first te reo Maori tutor. This photograph was taken by the Otago Daily Times in 1948 at Otakou Marae, during the celebrations marking the centenary of Bishop Selwyn’s first visit to Otakou. The official party also included (left to right): George Karetai, Margaret and Thomas Bragg (of Stewart Island) and Bishop William Fitchett. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, S14-184.

Kia ora koutou! In honour of Te Wiki o te Reo Maori – Maori language week – this post takes a look back at the beginnings of te reo Maori at the University of Otago. It is perhaps unsurprising, in view of the distribution of the Maori population, that Otago was the last New Zealand university to establish courses in Maori studies. It wasn’t until 1981 that a limited number of Otago students could take an introductory Stage I course in Maori language, taught by linguist Ray Harlow. After Godfrey Pohatu was appointed in 1986 a full programme in Maori studies gradually developed, proving very popular.

But there is an interesting and little known pre-history to the development of undergraduate Maori language courses at Otago. The first courses in te reo began more than twenty years earlier, through the Department of University Extension, which offered community programmes designed to reach out to the general adult population, particularly the many people who had not received any higher education. The Otago extension department’s annual report for 1957 noted: “For the first time a course was offered in the Maori language; this was well attended by members of the local Maori community.” Fifty-one people, two-thirds of them women, enrolled for the 12-class course. The tutor was Mr H. Wesley. This was almost certainly Harold Tarewai Wesley, a respected kaumatua of the Kai Tahu community at Otakou. He was renowned as a native speaker of Maori in a community where the language seemed to be dying.

After this successful beginning, the university extension department continued to offer evening courses in te reo Maori. Mr Rua Bristowe, a public servant whose iwi links were to Ngati Porou, took over as class tutor in 1958, and was himself succeeded by Mr Te P. Tawhai in 1960. As the 1961 prospectus made clear, the classes had a strong oral focus: “The aim of the course is to equip a student with a framework on which to build a speaking use of the language.” Enrolments in the late 1950s and early 1960s were not as impressive as in that first 1957 class, but varied between 10 and 30 people per year.

It appears that there were no Maori evening classes in 1963. Perhaps there was no teacher available that year, because in 1964 they resumed under a new tutor, Reverend J.N.A. Smith. Jack Smith was the minister of Kaikorai Presbyterian Church, but had previously served for over ten years in various North Island stations of the Presbyterian Maori Mission, where he presumably developed some fluency in te reo Maori. The extension department was responsible for coordinating adult education throughout Otago and Southland, and their report for 1964 also notes what may have been their first course in te reo Maori beyond Dunedin: 11 people enrolled in a language course at Balclutha, where the tutor was Mrs Kaye O’Connell.

As the Maori renaissance gathered momentum through the 1960s, demand for language classes was clearly increasing. In 1967, 45 people enrolled for the Dunedin class, 29 in Invercargill, 24 in Oamaru, and 11 in the small settlement of Otematata. Tutoring was taken over by some of the permanent lecturing staff of the Department of University Extension, Alexander Skinner and Pieter de Bres. De Bres was a Dutchman who had recently completed an anthropology thesis at the University of Auckland on Maori and religion, while Skinner was a linguist (he took leave one year to lecture on African languages at the University of California). Technology became increasingly important: “tape recordings will be used to improve spoken Maori,” noted the 1966 prospectus. Textbooks used in the late 1960s included Lessons in the Maori Language by W.H. Wills and Te Rangatahi 1 and 2.

As more people completed a first course in te reo, the department began offering level 2 and level 3 classes. In 1971 they introduced an “extension certificate,” which provided a formal qualification to those who passed an examination after three years of classes. The first six people successfully completed their certificates in 1973. The certificate course boosted enrolments, though, as ever, many people did not move past a first year of introductory language classes. The mid-1970s saw a return to a native speaker of te reo Maori as tutor in Dunedin. This was thanks to the Dunedin Teachers College, which was ahead of the university in offering Maori language courses to its students. Muru Walters of Te Rarawa became lecturer in Maori at the college in 1974, and the Department of University Extension employed him as a tutor for their Maori evening classes. Walters was a qualified teacher with expertise in Maori arts and crafts (he taught in the teachers college art department before taking on the Maori language role). He had also gained fame as a Maori All Black; he later became an Anglican priest and is now Bishop of Te Upoko o te Ika. Another 1970s tutor was Reverend Jim Irwin, Dean of Maori and Polynesian Studies at the Presbyterian Theological Hall, Knox College. English-born Irwin had worked for many years in the Maori Mission and was fluent in te reo Maori.

Enrolment forms for the occasional year have survived in the archives of the Department of University Extension to provide a little insight into the Maori evening class students. The earliest, for 1967, only give names, but those reveal that quite a few of those enrolling were Maori, particularly in the classes outside Dunedin (of course people of Maori descent did not necessarily have identifiably Maori names). The 1975 enrolment forms for Dunedin also include occupations. These varied from typist and mother to boilermaker and journalist. Quite a number worked in the civil service or “helping” professions – police officer, nurse aide, pharmacist, librarian, teacher, university lecturer. But the largest group by far were students, who accounted for 26 of the 48 enrolments. Some gave details of their studies – two were divinity students, one was a dental student and three were student teachers. But the rest were simply “students”, presumably at university. The failure of the university to provide undergraduate classes in te reo Maori had forced them to enrol in the extension department’s evening classes.

Do you have any memories to share of the Department of University Extension’s classes in te reo Maori? I’d love to hear more about them!

 

 

Compulsory languages

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1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, chemistry, classics, French, German, Greek, languages, Latin, law, Maori, medicine, Russian

Proving an ability to understand a text like this, from a 1907 physics journal, was compulsory for science students until the mid-twentieth century. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Do you have a science degree? And can you read and understand a foreign language? We are accustomed these days to compulsory tests for competency in English, largely directed at students whose first language is not English. Some degrees also require or recommend learning te reo Maori; for instance, Otago PhD students in history have to complete a Maori paper. But for earlier generations of Otago students language tests meant proving they could read French or German.

The rationale behind this was that much academic work was published in German and French, so a good scholar needed to read these languages to keep up with the latest research. In 1899 Thomas Gilray, Otago’s English Professor and Chair of the Professorial Board, wrote of his regret that German was not being taught in more Otago schools: “A number of our ablest young men after passing through our University Colleges, now go to Europe to pursue their studies and it is a great disadvantage to them that they have no opportunity here of learning German. Every Student knows that it is impossible to get to the bottom of almost any subject without a knowledge of German.”

Latin was taught at Otago from its first year of classes, 1871, with modern languages – French, German and Italian – added to the syllabus in 1875. Italian only lasted a year, but French and German survived. The first compulsory language was Latin. A pass in a Latin paper was required for a BA until 1903, when students could chose between Latin and Greek. From 1918 this was replaced with a more general requirement to complete a paper in a language other than English as part of a BA. This lasted until 1971, though by then there were various exemptions (including for maths students). Latin remained compulsory as part of a law degree until 1953.

Science students did not have to complete a full language paper, but from 1919 they did have to pass a test proving they could understand a piece of scientific writing in French or German. This remained compulsory for a BSc until 1948; it then became compulsory for a MSc until 1959. Medical students who had taken a year out to complete the Bachelor of Medical Science research degree also had to pass a language test until 1962; it then became optional, depending on the field of research they had selected. By then the test could be in Russian instead of French or German.

For people who had studied languages at high school the language test was not too difficult, especially as they could use a dictionary. But for some science students without any flair for languages it was a big barrier; indeed, it could be the most difficult aspect of their degree. Ann Wylie already knew French when starting her BSc degree at Otago in the 1940s, but chemistry lecturer Stan Slater persuaded all his second year students to learn German. He had recently completed a doctorate at Oxford and knew that chemistry scholars who couldn’t read the German literature were severely handicapped. Ann felt considerable sympathy for the tutor who had to teach German to a bunch of reluctant science students! Alan Mark, who had no previous language experience, learned German to fulfill the requirements for his MSc in botany in the 1950s. When he went to Duke University in the USA to complete his PhD, he was dismayed to discover they required proof of competency to read two languages other than English! He had to add French to his repertoire. Language requirements were certainly common at universities beyond New Zealand; indeed, they were probably less stringent here than in many places.

Otago’s twenty-first century science students can be grateful that so much scholarly literature is now published in English, in part thanks to the strength of English on the internet. Could you read an article in your field in a second or third language? Do you have any memories to share of the dreaded language test?

The drama of French

Tags

1960s, 1970s, drama, French, languages, theatre studies

These days Allen Hall is full of drama – it is the home of the university’s theatre studies programme and venue for its weekly lunchtime theatre performances. But this building, which housed the student union until the current union building opened in 1974, also witnessed various drama performances long before theatre studies appeared on the scene. During the 1960s and 1970s the Department of Modern Languages (which split into separate French, German and Russian departments around 1970) staged plays in French and German. Some of the 1960s plays took place off-campus at the Globe Theatre, but by the 1970s Allen Hall had become the main venue.

Felicity Brown (Ismene) and Dorothy Page (Antigone) in ‘Antigone’, 1965. Photograph courtesy of Roger Collins.

The French play was not a formal part of the department’s teaching programme, but an extracurricular activity involving a lot of hard work and fun. Staff, students, former students and friends of the department all played roles. The productions revealed considerable talent, and not just for acting. The programme for Jean Anouilh’s Antigone, presented in 1965, was handsomely designed by John Brown and printed on a handpress by French lecturer Roger Collins, while William Southgate, destined to become a well-known conductor and composer, took charge of the music. The title role of Antigone went to Dorothy Page, later head of Otago’s Department of History.

Priscilla McQueen (Toinette), Malcolm Glenny (Thomas Diafoirus), Ray Stone (Argan) and Jack Thompson (Monsieur Diafoirus) in ‘Le Malade Imaginaire’, Allen Hall, 1971. Photograph courtesy of Roger Collins.

Works by the great comic playwright Molière (1622-1673) were always a popular choice. Those produced at Otago included Les Femmes Savantes (1964), Tartuffe (1966), Le Malade Imaginaire (1971) and Le Mariage Forcé/Les Précieuses Ridicules (1974). The Evening Star commented in its review of Le Malade Imaginaire that “the fact that the play is spoken in French did not deter a large audience; and by way of reward for facing a bleak, wet night, they were entertained by a piece for the theatre as lively and as enjoyable as when it was first presented in 1673.” The “lively, warm-hearted, completely entertaining” production ran for three performances. French lecturer Ray Stone played the hypochondriac Argan, but the best-known name on the programme today is that of poet Cilla McQueen, who graduated MA from Otago in 1971. She played the role of Argan’s servant Toinette.

Roger Collins (Clitandre) and Molly Anderson (Belise) in ‘Les Femmes Savantes’, Allen Hall, 1964. Photograph courtesy of Roger Collins.

I am grateful to Roger Collins for sharing with me his programmes and photographs of these productions. Did you ever perform in, or attend, one of Otago’s French or German plays?