The Marist Brothers opened their first school in Auckland on Pitt Street in 1885.
When Denis Gilmore MacDonnell died in 1908, Bishop Cleary purchased two acres of land on Vermont Street from his estate. The site was perfect for The Marist Brothers’ school because of purer air, a picturesque outlook and its proximity to the Sacred Heart Church on O’Neill Street.
Two long, one-storey brick buildings were erected, comprising a residence for the brothers and classrooms for the boys - in 1917 further land was purchased for girls’ classrooms. The school was named St Columba’s and was opened in 1913 by Bishop Cleary, which was timely because the original Pitt Street school had grown too small. The number of students was about 220 with classes ranging from Standard 1 to 6 under the tutelage of six brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.
Before the First World War ended, an influenza epidemic scourged New Zealand, Auckland suffering the most heavily. Between October and December one thousand Aucklanders died of the disease. The regular hospitals couldn’t cope with the continuous stream of admissions and desperate appeals were made for volunteer helpers. Bishop Cleary immediately offered the two Vermont Street schools as temporary hospitals, fully equipped by Auckland Catholics. The Health Department gladly accepted the Bishop’s offer because the buildings were able to accommodate 250 patients. Boarders from the convent schools were sent home, freeing the skilled Sisters to nurse the sick.
The hospital gave shelter and healing to scores of patients. In fact it came to light later that the Bishop had offered every school in the diocese for the same purpose. He himself was indefatigable, transporting the sick in his own car, assisting at their bedsides, taking a turn in the kitchen and reverently attending the dead. By November, when the epidemic was clearly on the wane, the Vermont Street hospital had admitted 254 patients, 85 of whom died. The Sisters of Mercy worked calmly and cheerfully as long as there were sick to care for and they were lauded by the secular press as an example to other women in a desperate request for volunteers. The Sisters weren’t concerned with public recognition, just continuing their work as long as they were needed then quietly returning to their convents to resume normal life.
By the 1920s the school expanded to such an extent that Standards 1 and 2 had to be dropped and by 1925 St Columba’s was one of the largest schools in Auckland, boasting a role of 328 boys. Due to further expansion, Standard 3 was dropped in 1934, leaving just Standard 4, Forms 1 and 2. In the school’s archives there is an account by a past pupil describing his part in a working bee during the Second World War, digging air raid shelters in the grounds. All pupils had to turn out for air raid drills with cotton wool to stuff in their ears, a large cork to bite on and a cardboard name-tag on a string around the neck. They took the drill seriously because a Japanese scout plane had been reported off the coast and a submarine detected in Sydney Harbour.
Also in the archives, a Standard 5 boy, William Bagley, describes the new school as “two separate brick buildings, one for the boys and the other for the girls. The hall is very large and the boys’ classrooms off the hall are each 25 feet square. Every room has a fireplace and there are hat and cloak pegs in profusion.” By 1995 it was ‘all over Rover’ when Lockwood Smith signed a notice for the New Zealand Gazette cancelling and annulling the integration agreement for Vermont Street school. He conveyed appreciation to the Catholic Education Office for valuable contributions made by the school, and its education of children over many years.
The building was restored in 2000 and opened by Bishop Patrick Dunn as a high-quality meeting centre. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)
ST COLUMBA CENTRE, 40 Vermont Street, T: 09 376 1195,
www.saintcolumba.org.nz