26-05-2025
Remembering the days in the old school yard
Joss Miller finds himself looking back to where life's exploration began.
There is a commonly used saying that your school days are the happiest days of your life, although not everyone would agree with that.
These early experiences, however, are clearly imprinted in our memories and easily recalled. This being an important early step on life's long road.
Decades later at reunions, many former pupils gather to reminisce on these distant times being then able to bring a greater maturity and perspective.
I was among the first entrants to the newly built Rosebank primary school at Balclutha in 1957.
There was a leaden sky overhead as we embarked on a journey that would last seven years. We were quickly absorbed into our classrooms, seated behind small compact desks replete with ink wells and blotting paper.
Our lunch boxes were stored in the space under the desktop, a place too where obscure notes and messages were often left. Those of more mischievous inclination would occasionally flick ink from their nib pens on to the shirts of those in front.
The three R's were to be our daily diet with frequent and repetitive recitations of the times table.
Teachers appeared large and all-knowing through our youthful gaze. Misbehaviour could result in a pupil being struck a number of times with a leather strap on the palm of their hand.
Written detentions in the form of "I must not ..." being repeated at least 100 times, normally took place after school.
A mid-morning ritual required each pupil to consume a quarter pint of invariably warm government-sponsored milk, aimed at building strong and healthy bodies.
When the end of period bells rang, a notable jubilation was evident as classroom doors were flung open and everyone dispersed on to the ample playgrounds and sports fields beyond.
Apart from the usual sporting activities, we often engaged in highly competitive games of marbles where there was always considerable noise and controversy.
Polio vaccines were administered orally in the school playground, with most of us too young to know how important this was.
The dental clinic affectionately known as the murder house, was located on a small mound to which we unwillingly, and in trepidation ventured. The smell from foot-operated drills still lingers in memory.
School inspectors came at regular intervals with their arrival always ensuring attentive classrooms.
One day octogenarian long-distance walker A H Reed took time to visit on his way south.
We knew he was a legend, having walked extraordinarily long distances in New Zealand and Australia. I recall a tall, gaunt and somewhat mystical figure.
Seasons came and went. Blossoms gave way to winter chill. Summers seemed to stretch forever. We grew and matured.
Then, in a flash, those halcyon days at Rosebank primary school came to an end. A new journey was about to begin over the road at South Otago High School. But that is another story.
The words of poet T S Eliot well capture the story of life and its circular nature, in which our early days at school are an important ingredient: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
— Joss Miller is a retired Dunedin lawyer.
