Maori Settlement
Maori had settlements in Central Otago, associated with early occupation. Six were known on Lake Hawea (Te Taweha o Hawea, Mahaea, O tu Purupuru, Turihuka, Te Taumanu o Taki and Pakituhi) and one near Cromwell (Wairere). The moa-rich area was known for camps where moa were butchered and cooked (for example there were large sites in the Hawksburn and Happy Valley areas, as well as the Nevis Valley), and there were quarries used for stone tools in the region of Tiger Hills and Mount Benger. The swampy plains in the Maniototo provided eels and other food resources. Though Maori are known to have joined the gold rushes, little is known about their participation in the rush at St Bathans. There are no recorded Maori archaeological sites in St Bathans.
Goldfields Towns
The history of gold mining in Central Otago began with Gabriel Read’s discovery of gold in Gabriel’s Gully, near present-day Lawrence, in 1861. Gold was quickly discovered in other parts of the region, including places such as Arrowtown and Queenstown, and in 1863, at St Bathans, leading to the birth of the town. First known as Dunstan Creek, the name was changed to St Bathans in 1866, after St Bathans in the islands of Iona in Scotland, famous from the time of early Christians. At the height of the rush, the population in the area numbered around 2,000, with thirteen hotels catering to local demands during the 1860s.
There were an estimated 78 goldfields in Central Otago, boom towns sprung up to service the gold diggings, and disappeared just as quickly as the gold returns for the itinerant miners. Little remains of these places. Historian John Angus writes ‘[w]hen the miners decamped so too did the commercial section of many of the early towns. This pattern was repeated many times, often at remote locations in Central Otago. But some settlements remained, undergoing a sort of metamorphosis to become service centres for the subsequent stages of more stable mining.’
Education in St Bathans
With the growing settled population came families, and with families the need for education. The educational scheme imagined by Otago’s Free Church colonists aimed at providing a public school in every parish, from which there would be access to high school and university. Though very little progress had been made by the foundation of the Education Board by the Provincial Government in 1856, education in Otago was growing steadily. In settled districts with a population of forty or more ‘main’ schools were established, and ‘side’ schools were provided whether the future of the settlement was less certain.
By the 1870s the population of St Bathans was relatively stable, and with the settled population came families and the need to provide for the education of local children. The first public school (which also served as a church) opened on the main street in 1866, on the site of the later teacher’s residence. In 1872, the school inspector described it as ‘large and tolerably suitable.’
The Right Rev. Dr. Moran, Bishop of Dunedin, visiting St Bathans in 1872 was concerned about the lack of education of Catholic youngsters. Given the apparent lack of provision of education by parents, recommended the establishment of a Catholic school. Members of the Catholic community raised money by subscription for the school which was held in a combined church/school building. When this building was blown down in 1877 a school was erected on a new site.
The New School
By 1874 the St Bathans’ community was pushing for a new school building. In August of that year the St Bathans’ School Committee applied to the Otago Education Board for a £90 grant to aid in the construction of a stone school building.
Education was a priority for central government too. The Education Act 1877 provided for free, secular, and compulsory education for all children aged between seven and thirteen, establishing schools for New Zealand children, and the administrative structure for education. The Department of Education was responsible for distributing grant funding to education boards. Twelve education boards (made up of nine members elected by school committees) defined school districts within their areas, and established and maintained schools within their districts. School committees were elected by a ballot of local householders, and had management of educational matters in their area.
As the population in Otago became more settled so the Otago Education Board had a building programme for schools. In May 1879 school buildings were nearing completion at Taieri Ferry, Taieri Beach, Circle Hill, Stirling, Tuapeka Mouth, Moa Flat, Cromwell, St Bathans, Kyeburn, Sandymount, Highcliff and St Leonards. Records show that the building programme was based around some standard designs with variations according to local circumstances where necessary. The form of the building reflected the teaching methods, where children were ‘often taught in relays in order to accommodate as many as possible in the small space available.’
St Bathans’ School was designed by the Otago Education Board architect John Somerville (1834-1905). Scottish born Somerville arrived in Dunedin in 1858, and began business as a carpenter and joiner, doing his own design work. He was appointed architect to the Otago Education Board by the Provincial Council, a position he held for until around 1900. The school buildings in Otago were designed by him and he supervised their construction. The contractor was Richard Wheeler.
In April 1875 the new stone building, located on a rise behind the town, was opened, a ‘Grand Ball’ marking the occasion.
During the 1890s the School Inspector was continually complaining about the irregular attendance of pupils whose parents ‘treated these duties too lightly.’ The Inspector had also complained about dances being held in the building, and in November 1891 the committee resolved that the school should not be ‘let for any entertainments or any other purposes except school work’. The School was also used for public meetings.
Although the Inspector was concerned about irregular attendance, by 1895 the roll had increased to the point where the committee requested an assistant teacher and an addition to the single roomed school. This room for the infant school was completed in the same year.
Only three years later, articles in the Mt Ida Chronicle continued to berate parents for the irregular attendance of their children, and the lower roll numbers meant that the second teacher was likely to be lost. In 1899, the paper reported that ‘nearly every child from 6 years old and upward’ was irregular in their attendance, absent trapping rabbits for payment from the Rabbit Board.
In February 1900, the Mt Ida Chronicle reported that the St. Bathans Catholic School was closed, while the public school was ‘still poorly attended’. In the same year, the paper reported that the committee considered the public school ‘unfit for human habitation during winter months’. The open fireplace was useless, and ink froze in the inkwells on the desks. Huge snowfalls piled up beside the school, and many children could not get there, so, for several years there was a six week mid winter break. Later heating methods seem to have improved with a hot stove in the schoolroom with a high overhead pipe that heated the room, but the ink still froze overnight.
By the 1930s only the smaller room was needed as a schoolroom, with the roll only up to about thirty. The larger room was still useful, for playing cricket and hockey and other physical activities as well as serving as a small theatre. By the early 1940s the roll had dropped further, to fewer than twenty pupils. The final blow came for the school building itself in 1943 when it was damaged during an earthquake. Teaching was transferred to the vacant two-storied post office, but in 1949 the school was finally closed when the roll numbers were reduced to seven. After the closure, St Bathans’ children travelled to Cambrians to attend school.
After Closure
In 1951 the old school buildings and land was leased to the Dunstan Rabbit Board, and four years later the lease was transferred to the Downs Rabbit Board. Twenty years later the name of the leasee was changed to the Hawkdun Pest Destruction Board. In 1979 the current owner obtained a freehold title to the ruins of the former school, and the land has been subdivided.
In 2011 the St Bathans’ School Ruins remain a picturesque memorial to the children of this once bustling gold mining town. The School Ruins are identified as local attraction and are included on a walking tour by the local promotions groups.