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From issue: November 2000

Experiencing History

A school kit based on the experience of children at Pompallier will bring history alive for children throughout the country.

The education goal in the Historic Places Trust's Strategic Plan is "To create a culture where heritage places are valued and respected by an informed public".

Photo: Kate Martin

Where better to begin than with today's young, tomorrow's adults? Pompallier, a key historic property in Russell, recently launched the Trust's first education kit, Pompallier - New Zealand's Oldest Factory. This is a curriculum-based publication aimed at primary and intermediate schools. It is a picture resource that follows a class from Karetu School as the children experience the technologies and stories of the 1840s Catholic mission while making books in the Maori language. The kit extends the experiences of school groups that come to Pompallier. At the same time, it provides access to this national heritage for the many schools that are simply too far away to contemplate visiting.

Photo: Kate Martin

The text is based on images of the Karetu children using and discussing the pioneer mission tools and equipment. Classroom-based activities introduce the topics and allow the children to show their control of the information in the pictures and the text. Lastly, there are projects for the students to summarise their interpretation of life and work at Pompallier in the eventful years 1838-50.

Photo: Kate Martin

Pompallier's manager, Kate Martin, was delighted to see the education resource published. "Hopefully it's only the first of a raft of similar resources. Pompallier alone is such a rich teaching tool and we've barely tapped into it." The education kit has been made possible only by a partnership between Pompallier and Kelvin Smythe of Developmental Publications Ltd. Kate Martin worked with Karetu School, took the photographs and drafted the main text. Kelvin Smythe published the kit and is distributing it to New Zealand schools.

Pornpallier - New Zealand's Oldest Factory is available from Pompallier, P.O. Box 140, Russell, Bay of Islands 0255, ( e-mail pompallier@historic.org.nz ) and from Developmental Publications, P.O. Box 4082, Hamilton.