By Roselyn Fauth
Timaru Girls High School - Papers Past news article and a photo by William Ferrier from 1915 of students in front of Timaru Girls' High School - South Canterbury Museum.
It began with a photograph. The South Canterbury Museum recently shared an early image of the Timaru High School building. Solid brick. Tall windows. A building that has watched generations pass through its doors. As I prepare to step into a new role at Timaru Girls’ High School as Community Builder, I found myself wanting to go back to the beginning. Not to memory, but to record. To see how the school’s first 50 years were described at the time. So I turned to Papers Past... and wrote about what I learned in this blog...
In the Timaru Herald of 25 March 1930, I found a full page feature titled “Timaru High Schools’ Jubilee.” It was written to mark fifty years since the school opened in 1880. What it records offers a clear summary of those early decades.
The story begins on 29 October 1878, when an Act of Parliament was passed to provide for the establishment and management of the Timaru High School. The first meeting of the Board of Governors was held on 27 January 1879. Plans were approved for a brick building to accommodate 200 scholars, boys and girls, at a total cost, including extras, of £4393/19/6.
Looking through the archives the timeline starts amid storm of violent opposition” an Act of Parliament was passed to provide for the establishment of a High School in Timaru. But belivers in the rights of education pushed forward and the school opened on 3 February 1880.
According to the article, 39 girls were admitted on the opening day, and 63 girls were enrolled during the first year. The qualification for entrance was the ability to read and work the first four rules of arithmetic.
The Jubilee feature continues through the decades. Scholarships were established. In August 1897, fire gutted the west classrooms. Temporary arrangements were made while repairs were completed.
Following that fire, the Board recommended reorganising the Timaru High School into two distinct schools, male and female. The separation took effect from the first term of 1898. The article states that February 1898 marks the beginning of the history of the Timaru Girls’ High School. Alterations were made to the building, including dividing the assembly room and converting the museum into a science laboratory.
Further milestones are recorded. In 1906, free education was introduced. In 1913, owing to increasing numbers, a new school was built for the boys, while the girls remained in the original building.
In 1916, a school hostel opened at “Croomlea” in North Street. In 1920, after receiving a Government grant, additional accommodation known as the School House was erected. Boarding numbers increased to 58. In 1924, Miss Barr was appointed headmistress. In 1926, a Preparatory Department was opened.
Reading the 1930 Jubilee article today gives us a snapshot of how the first fifty years were understood at that time. It records legislation, openings, fires, reorganisations, expansion, and growth.
The original Timaru Girls’ High School building, designed by architect Mr James Gore in 1879, opened with the school in 1880 and went on to serve generations of students for more than a century. Its brick walls witnessed growth, change and moments of crisis.
One such moment came on 24 August 1897 at 5.30 in the morning, when a fire broke out in the original Timaru High School building on the Cain Street site, destroying a substantial portion of the structure. At that time the school was still a combined boys’ and girls’ high school. In the aftermath, the Board resolved to reorganise the school into two distinct institutions on the same site. From the first term of 1898, the boys and girls were formally separated, marking a defining step in the history of what would become Timaru Girls’ High School.
Through war years, rising rolls and changing expectations of education, the building remained central to school life. By the early 1970s it had been declared an earthquake risk, and as curriculum needs evolved, plans were made for more modern facilities. Although it remained in use through the 1980 Centennial celebrations, it was finally demolished in 1982 to make way for the new Senior Studies block, with its updated laboratories, AV theatre and senior common areas.
Between the solid brick façade captured in Ferrier’s 1915 photograph and the modern building that stands there today lies a story of resilience and reinvention. The original structure may be gone, but the spirit of the school continued, reshaped yet undiminished.
The museum photograph captures the building and the newspaper article captures the milestones. Together, they preserve the foundation story as it was documented in 1930.
As I step into this new chapter at Timaru Girls’ High School, I am conscious that these first 50 years are only part of a much longer story. Many of you reading this are part of the decades that followed. Your classrooms, your teachers, your friendships, your moments of challenge and achievement — they sit beyond the 1930 account, but are just as much part of the school’s history.
If you are an alumna of Timaru Girls’ High School, I would love to hear from you. What year did you walk through those gates? What do you remember most clearly? Which changes did you witness?
The 1930 article recorded the first fifty years.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/timaru-herald/1930/03/25/1
TIMARU HIGH SCHOOLS’ JUBILEE
Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18526, 25 March 1930, Page 3