By Roselyn Fauth
According to the Pleasant Point District Schools Archives, coordinated by Pleasant Point Primary School, local volunteers have been creating and unveiling history boards for the district’s former schools, including Hazelburn. https://pointprimary.school.nz/a/34PpqMN. The small rural primary schools around the area – Cave, Sutherlands, Opihi, Totara Valley, Hazelwood, Taiko, Upper Waitohi, Kakahu Bush and Rockwood – gradually closed and their pupils travelled by bus into Pleasant Point. In 1970 the District High School was separated into Pleasant Point Primary School and Pleasant Point High School, but the closure of the High School in 2004 means that PPPS is now the only state school in the Pleasant Point area.
I love history hunting. Sometimes it means poring over archives or following whispers through cemeteries, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, the history has already been beautifully hunted out for you. That was the case with Hazelburn School, a place I only knew existed because of a sign we happened to drive past one golden afternoon. We pulled over, curious, and found ourselves standing on the edge of a paddock, reading a story that someone else had already taken great care to preserve...
Hazelburn School began life as the Mt Gay School in July 1879, perched high enough that snow often blocked access in winter. In 1890 the entire school was moved by traction engine! I ca njust picture this, the sound and the smoke of the machine moving the building from Mt Gay to a five-acre section donated by Mr and Mrs Jessie Blackler. Hazelnut trees were planted around the new schoolhouse, and with that, a new name and identity took root. The little school became the heart of a small rural community.
By 1902 the roll had grown to fifty-four pupils with two teachers, but as farming patterns shifted and families moved on, numbers fell again. By 1937 only eleven children remained, and Hazelburn was merged with Pleasant Point District High School. The names of those who once filled its playground still echo through the district: Fenwick, O’Connell, Carter, Cassidy, Watkins, Blackler, Shires, Foote, Gould, Woods, Mowat, Bryant and Farr. Each one is a thread in South Canterbury’s fabric.
According to NZ History (Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage), the name Hazelburn may have come from the Scottish whisky distillery of the same name in Campbeltown, Scotland. I learned that many South Canterbury districts were named by homesick settlers who carried fragments of their homeland into this new landscape, scattering echoes of Scotland across the plains. It makes sense that someone who donated land, planted hazelnut trees, and built a school would choose a name that felt both rooted and remembered.
What I really like about this roadside sign, is that as well as sharing facts, it shares the memories of those who lived them. Wilfred Foote, the teacher’s son, remembered “Little Play” breaks so short that there was barely time for anything “but to chase the girls.” He described mud marbles, “kick the tin,” and the pride of a pocket knife. One boy even split an apple from twenty yards before the adult world banned knives altogether.
Margaret Glennie recalled her first teacher, Miss S. F. Roscoe, who ran a one-room school of about thirty pupils. They sat at long desks with ink wells down the front and backless benches to perch on. She remembered the boys dipping the ends of girls’ plaits into the ink and the day the chimney smoked so badly that Miss Roscoe spent all morning drying socks by the fire. Miss Roscoe later married local farmer Harold Blackler and remained in the district, much loved and respected.
Margaret Carswell, née Blackler, remembered Miss Hindle’s Christmas party, her garage turned into a wonderland of balloons, streamers, crackers, jelly and ice cream. For a child of the 1930s, that simple act of kindness became a lifelong memory.
The children were taught to read and write and learned many practical skills too.
The boys tended the vegetable garden while the girls grew and tidied the flower beds. In a world before buses and broadband, the school was the beating heart of the district. From South Canterbury Museum records, I learned that families like the Carters helped run the school committee from 1895, and that by 1919 the Hazelburn Ladies’ Guild was still active. The community kept its rhythm long after the last bell, even building the Hazelburn District War Memorial to honour those who served in two world wars.
Teachers came and went, from Mr Bellemin in 1879 to Mr Hill in 1937, each one shaping a generation of children on the edge of the foothills. The old H.P.S. Merit Board, which once gleamed with names like Marion Verity in 1904 and Hazel Blackler in 1923, now lives only in memory, but the pride behind it still shines through the words on that sign.
The roll closed when the children joined Pleasant Point District High School, but the fate of the little timber building is unclear. According to the South Canterbury Genealogists’ Schools Register, Hazelburn was officially listed among rural schools active from 1889 to 1937, yet no record confirms whether the building was moved, sold, or simply left to weather away in the paddock where it once stood. Some archives suggest that the school’s papers and committee records may rest with the South Canterbury Museum or the local genealogical society.
Perhaps, like so many rural schools, Hazelburn was dismantled for timber or quietly absorbed into a nearby farm? I would love to know if the school was re purposed.
Standing there, I felt grateful. Not just for the children who once sang their times tables or planted the garden, but for the people who made sure their story wouldn’t disappear. That’s the real heart of heritage, not only discovering what’s been forgotten, but pausing to notice what’s already been remembered.
This sign taught me to slow down. It reminded me that history isn’t only found in archives or buildings. Sometimes its on the side of a country road, sharing the story of those who came before us. All we have to do is pull over and read.
Thank you to the archivists and volunteers who are working on these history signs, they are fantastic! We can't wait to find more.
Sources
Hazelburn School (Mt Gay) 1879–1937 interpretive sign
NZ History (Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage): Hazelburn District War Memorial
South Canterbury Museum – Carter family and Hazelburn community record: https://museum.timaru.govt.nz/explore/scroll/profile?id=1186
South Canterbury Genealogical Society – Schools of South Canterbury Register: https://scgenealogy.nz/resources/Schools-book.pdf
DigitalNZ – Hazelburn, South Canterbury collection search: https://digitalnz.org/records?i%5Bplacename%5D=Hazelburn%2C+South+Canterbury%2C+New+Zealand
Sources: Pleasant Point History Website: https://pointprimary.school.nz/a/34PpqMN
These sites provide general information about Pleasant Point and/or Pleasant Point District:
https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc03Cycl-t1-body1-d6-d106.html
This is a digital copy of The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (Canterbury Provincial District) published in 1903. It provides information, not just about what buildings and businesses there were in Pleasant Point at this time, but also about some of the prominent businessmen, farmers and early settlers (after whom some of the streets in the township are named, such as William Halstead, Edward Acton and John Greig). Note that almost all of the business owners featured in The Cyclopedia paid to be in it and supplied the details, so the information is historically biased and not representative of the society of the time. In the Pleasant Point section, for example, there are no women or non-Europeans profiled. Nevertheless, it does provide an idea of what the township was like in the early 1900s.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/pleasant-point
This is part of a section on South Canterbury places from Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, written by John Wilson, published 28 February 2007 (updated 17 August 2015). This very reputable site has only a small section on Pleasant Point and its surroundings, but contains some excellent links to other aspects of New Zealand’s history.
https://www.pointhistory.org.nz/
This website is a digital copy of the book Pleasant Point - A History by O.P. Oliver, published in 1989. Coverage of the township’s history is thorough, with sections including businesses, schools, farming, transport and community services. Although material is not referenced the book is clearly written and has some fine photographs. Mrs Olwyn Oliver (1926-2013) was a teacher at Pleasant Point Primary School and also wrote Pleasant Point 1868-1968: A Centenary of Schooling (Pleasant Point, N.Z.: Centennial Committee, 1968). Copies of this are available in the South Canterbury Museum and Timaru District Libraries. The latter also holds copies of two publications about Pleasant Point High School: Pleasant Days : A History of Public Education in the Pleasant Point District by A.J. Pike(Timaru, N.Z.: Herald Communications, 1993) and New Pathways: A History of Pleasant Point High School 1970-2004, A.J. Pike(Pleasant Point, N.Z.: Pleasant Point High School, 2004).
https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/
The Timaru District Libraries Online Heritage collection includes digitised copies of Pleasant Point High School’s Yearbook The Pointer. Although incomplete the collection is being added to.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/464801096948100/
Pleasant Point High School Revisited is a Facebook page for former students and their parents, former staff and their families, PTA members, and BOT members of PPHS.
[plus PPDS archives f/b page??]
Sources: General
https://www.archives.govt.nz/research-guidance/research-guides/education
Archives New Zealand holds material from official sources such as government departments. These include the Department of Education and Education Boards. Examples of material held by the Christchurch branch of Archives New Zealand are student attendance and progress records, school inspection reports, and lists of teachers. However, the records are very incomplete.
https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/papers-past
Papers Past is the National Library’s online archive of New Zealand (and Pacific) newspapers, magazines, parliamentary papers and other material. The three newspapers most relevant to Pleasant Point are South Canterbury Times, Timaru Herald and the Press. The Papers Past website has information about each newspaper, and guidelines on how to search.
Maps