Heritage Education focus for Melanesian Mission

The Heritage of Education is the theme of this year’s International Day for Monuments and Sites on April 18 – a day that highlights and celebrates different aspects of heritage, organised by ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites).

And according to the NZ Historic Places Trust’s Heritage Adviser Registration, Martin Jones, one iconic building in Auckland’s Eastern suburbs fits the education heritage criteria perfectly.

“Most people are aware of the Melanesian Mission building at Mission Bay, but its long and diverse history of education may not be quite so well known,” says Martin.

Built in 1859 of basalt quarried from Rangitoto Island, the mission building was originally part of St Andrew’s College – an Anglican institution for the Christian education of boys from Melanesia.

The distinctive building was once part of a larger complex of structures including a church and schoolhouse, which were arranged in a quadrangle.

The steep-pitched roofs and square headed windows of the Tudor Revival-styled Melanesian Mission Building recalled the architecture of late medieval and early modern educational institutions.

“Tudor Revival design was frequently used for mid-19th Century schools in Britain, harking back to a major expansion of the educational system in 16th Century England, which was in turn connected with the creation of the Anglican Church. The same building style is found in the iconic building at Mission Bay.”

Following the relocation of the Melanesian Mission to Norfolk Island in 1867, the building continued to be used for educational purposes – though in very different ways.

The Melanesian Mission building initially formed part of a naval training school, then an industrial school teaching work skills to ‘neglected and destitute boys’. It was subsequently used for Anglican services and Sunday school teaching, before being occupied from 1915 until the early 1920s by the Walsh Brothers flying school, whose staff trained over a third of the airborne New Zealand personnel in the First World War.

From 1928 it became the Melanesian Mission Museum, and was eventually acquired by the NZ Historic Places Trust in 1974. Today it is leased as a restaurant.

“The Melanesian Mission building has great value for its connection with changing forms of education during the 19th and 20th Centuries,” says Martin.

“Its use reflects prevailing attitudes to race, class and gender within education, including an emphasis on boys’ schooling.”

According to Jenny May, the Chair of ICOMOS New Zealand, the International Day for Monuments and Sites seeks to encourage local communities and individuals around the world to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives, identities and communities.

“Education in New Zealand was practised in a wide range of places and in many different ways. Buildings and sites associated with early education initiatives – like the Melanesian Mission building – are a significant part of our social and cultural heritage,” she says.

“The International Day for Monuments and Sites provides a good opportunity for us to reflect on the very important part education has played in the evolution of our cultural and built heritage.”

ENDS

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