Auckland Student Wins Young Historian Award

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Information release
5 December 2005

Paying attention during a class trip has paid off big time for Howick College student Ryan Tatnell.

The Year 13 student recently won the New Zealand Young Historian of the Year Award for an in-depth research project on the Historic Places Trust's property Pompallier Mission at Russell in the Bay of Islands.

According to Ryan's history teacher, Sharyn Meffin, the award is a reflection of the engaging nature of Pompallier Mission, and - of course - Ryan's hard work.

"Pompallier Mission, the Kerikeri Mission Station, Te Waimate Mission and the Treaty House are all important places to visit - particularly for students studying New Zealand history," says Sharyn.

"Students particularly love the hands-on nature of Pompallier Mission, and as a living museum it is excellent."

Sharyn has been taking field trips from the Auckland school to these Historic Places Trust properties every year for the past 10 years. She has been leading research projects on various aspects of New Zealand history - most recently for the 'covering the change and continuity in New Zealand's early history' section of NCEA, and focusing on a specific Bay of Islands historic building.

"It's part of a three-day field trip, and we stay on a marae at Moerewa, which gives students a great experience in Tikanga Maori. Because we are welcomed onto the marae in the traditional way we also learn waiata and have speakers in Maori as well."

The award is a particular encouragement to Pompallier Mission's Manager, Kate Martin, who has worked hard over the years to encourage schools from all over the country to experience the living history of Pompallier Mission for themselves.

"Kids of all ages love coming here - and we try to make their hands-on experiences of history serious fun!" she says.

Students often get the grand tour - and personal attention from Kate - which includes stories of the fascinating history of the French Catholic mission and its people who were participants in the crucial events that founded New Zealand as we know it today.

"The building people see today is how it really was. It's actually New Zealand's oldest surviving factory, and one of the key early 19th Century centres for publishing literature in M?ori," says Kate.

A growing number of students over the past few years have been interviewing Pompallier Mission staff during their visits, and later corresponding with Kate.

"It's great to see the growing interest of these students, to enable them to tap into the knowledge accumulated over the years of Historic Places management, and to direct them on to libraries, archives and other research sources. Our congratulations go to Ryan Tatnell!"

Hands-on demonstrations of pre-Industrial Revolution printing techniques used by the French Marist Missionaries during the eight years they were printing on the site - and the stories that bring this extraordinary building to life - make this a great place for students to visit. Experiences like these are important for young people to put what they have studied into a real context according to Sharyn Meffin. And to challenge them to study more.

"Students get exposed to New Zealand history at one level in Year 9 and 10, and I suspect many history students get the feeling that they've 'been there, done that' as far as New Zealand history is concerned, and opt to study other history topics instead," says Sharyn.

"In actual fact students' knowledge is often fairly superficial, and there is a real need for more students to study New Zealand history at a senior level to get the most out of it."

Experiencing key historic buildings and their landscapes - and getting a feel for the historical impact of these places - is an important tool available to teachers wanting to encourage young people to develop an interest, and hopefully passion for their own heritage.

"This country has an extraordinary history - and I'm hoping programmes like Frontier of Dreams will increasingly highlight this to people more and more - but when it comes to building appreciation of our stories, it's hard to beat visiting the places that have influenced us as a nation."

Ryan Tatnell goes on to study medicine next year, clearly with a proven record of successful research abilities, and a deeper understanding of who he is as a New Zealander.

For more information:

Contact Kate Martin, Ph 09-403-9015 or Sharyn Meffin, Ph 09-534-4492