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The Otago Boys' High School Foundation
PO Box 11,
Dunedin, New Zealand
Tel +64 3 477 2546
Fax +64 3 477 5468
May newsletter –
Beijing, Vancouver & Wall of Fame
* The August Olympic Games in Beijing, China, will hold special interest for past and present pupils of Otago Boys’.
Among the athletes named in the New Zealand team are three recent former pupils.
Champion cyclist Greg Henderson (1990-94), the 2002 Commonwealth Games points race gold medallist and the 2004 world scratch race champion, will compete on the track as part of a powerful looking men’s line-up.
Greg has won numerous World Cup races throughout his professional road racing career in the United States and comes off a very successful Tour de Georgia where he clearly emerged as the sprint category champion. He is equally adept on the track.
Joining Greg in Beijing will be rowers Carl Meyer (1995-99) and Hamish Bond (1999-2003).
Carl and Hamish are current world champions, having formed half of the crew to take the gold medal in the coxless fours at last September’s regatta in Munich. The coxless four is seen as a very real medal prospect in Beijing.
They’re a little way off but the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada may also feature an Otago Boys’ Old Boy.
Tom Davie (1999-2003) has been selected to trial for New Zealand’s four-man bobsleigh team with an exhaustive series of training camps and an overseas competition schedule being put together to find a team capable of finishing in the top five in Vancouver. Tom is the national junior long jump and triple jump record holder.
And current school master and hostel manager Mike McGarry has also been in the news of late, being admitted to the Otago University’s Wall of Fame.
Mike was a brilliant football (soccer) player for New Zealand, representing the national side from 1986 to 1997, scoring 24 goals in 86 internationals. The Wall of Fame inductees were announced at the recent 60th anniversary of the Otago University’s School of Physical Education.
Foundation members
* Since the April newsletter, the following Old Boys and connections with the school have made pledges or donations and have been registered as Members of the Foundation –
Pledges and donations have now passed $1 million, which represents the first of many milestones to be reached in the years ahead.
Reunions
* The Foundation is delighted to announce it will be hosting a reunion of Old Boys who attended school in the 1920s.
We currently have contact with 26 alumni from this decade and such has been the response to the idea of staging a reunion that plans are now well advanced for a gathering later this year.
Also later this year with be a reunion of the intake of 1958. This will be held in Dunedin over the weekend of 12th to 14th September this year and further details are available from Bob McKillop (rmmck@xtra.co.nz or at 04/3849800).
And there are plans for a reunion of the intake of 1959.
Duncan Boswell and a group of Wanaka-based enthusiasts have taken up the cudgels with initial energy being invested in tracking the whereabouts of the 95 boys of the 187 who entered school that year for whom we currently have no contact details.
Congratulations
* Dr Jim Salinger (1961-65) is the recipient of an extremely rare if not unique honour for alumni of Otago Boys’.
Jim, principal scientist on climate at NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) and a world-renowned authority in climate change and variability in New Zealand and the southwest Pacific, was one of a handful of New Zealanders on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
The IPCC, which works closely with the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme, combined the expertise of 500 weather and climate specialists from around the globe with the work completed forming a blueprint for the ways needed to slash gas emissions in the years ahead to prevent disastrous consequences.
Jim notes the signs are that, without change, temperatures will increase up to 4 degrees during the 21st century. That warming, he says, will result in dire and potentially irreversible changes for the planet.
His certificate, which denotes Jim’s contribution to the IPCC receiving the peace prize and which is signed by the IPCC chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri and secretary Renate Christ will soon be framed and hung proudly in his NIWA office in Auckland.
The first pictorial record of Otago Boys?
* One of the early ambitions for the Otago Boys’ High School Foundation is to assist with the establishment of a purpose-built archival area within the school’s grounds.
And one of the treasures to be housed in that facility will be a coloured engraving completed in 1886.
The engraving - by North American artist William Crother Fitler - shows the school in just its second year at Arthur Street and was recently presented to Rector Clive Rennie (1958-61) by Ron Dohig (1943-46).
Ron was an Arthur Street School pupil who received a Brough Scholarship to attend Otago Boys’ and who went on to forge a brilliant career as an award-winning architect. His career took him throughout the South Island and also to Townsville, Far North Queensland, where he worked on several significant projects. Among the many notable buildings designed during his days as head of Dohig Design in Timaru are the South Canterbury Museum, Aigantighe Art Gallery (for which he received a national award), the Timaru Bridge Club, South Canterbury Farming House, Strahallan Country Council Chambers and the Salvation Army Fortress.
Ron is also an accomplished singer and an enthusiast for Italian cars. He has a collection of Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia vehicles and in 2006 represented New Zealand at the Lancia celebrations in Turin.
The print includes a large wooden building, partly obscured by a tree, which was a former psychiatric facility (‘‘The Asylum’’). The building was demolished to make way for the school’s Shand building, which opened in 1913 and which is still use today.
Ron and his wife Wendy had found the engraving in a Sydney art dealership in the early 1990s.William Fitler (1857-1915), was a North American artist who visited New Zealand after centenary celebrations in Australia in the mid-1880s.
Otago Boys’ was housed in Tennyson Street from 1863 to 1884 on the grounds currently occupied by Otago Girls’. Known then as the Otago High School, the boys shared facilities with the girls’ high school which opened in 1871 before moving to the Arthur Street site in 1884.
Where are they now?
* Dr Stanley Paris (1952-55) is a man who thrives on a challenge.
On July 26, the 70-year old former Dunedin physiotherapist hopes to become the oldest person to swim the English Channel. If he fails, he will try again during the first week in September, but if he succeeds at the second attempt, he plans to attempt a double crossing, by which time he’ll be 71.
An Otago representative swimmer in his youth, Stanley is no stranger to the channel swim. But he had to pull out of his first attempt in 1983 after 29 kilometres because he was “not mentally prepared”.
In 1986, aged 49, he tried again but an organisational glitch found him being advised he had made it when he was still about 300m from shore. He could have appealed the decision to disallow the swim but decided, instead, to have another go three weeks later.
A tussle with a jellyfish had caused paralysis in the neck, rendering him speechless and in hospital, which meant he was only allowed one swim before the successful attempt, which he completed in 12 hours and 59 minutes. He felt so good after that swim that he wishes he had attempted the return leg then.
The oldest person to swim the 37 kilometre channel was aged 70 years and eight days while Stanley will be close to 71 if he succeeds on his first attempt.
His desire to swim the channel was inspired by former Governor General Lord Freyberg, whom a 12-year-old Stanley had heard speak of his failures during an address to Otago Boys’ High School pupils in 1952. Although Lord Freyberg had accomplished plenty in his life time, he spoke of his two failed attempts to swim the English Channel telling the boys that ‘failure is important. How you handle it is what matters.’
Stanley was in Dunedin last month to address the New Zealand Society of Physiotherapists Conference and suggests there is too much emphasis on winning and succeeding the first time.
His love of a challenge exhibited itself early. He remembers cycling from Dunedin to Christchurch to visit a girlfriend when he was 17 in 21 hours, 15 minutes on a three-speed bike. That trip was prompted by her father commenting that the youth of the day were not up to the youth of his time.
‘‘I couldn’t stand up for 24 hours,’’ he said.
He can’t remember if the father was impressed by his endeavour, but the girlfriend, a fellow swimmer, certainly was.
Other challenges have included setting a point-to-point speed record across the Indian subcontinent in a Volkswagen Beetle, sailing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in yachts, and undertaking the Ironman championships in Hawaii.
Stanley followed his father, Stanley Paris senior, into physiotherapy, graduating from the University of Otago in 1958. He left New Zealand in 1966 to further his studies into the spine and has a world reputation in orthopaedic physical therapy. During the early part of his career, he also served as physiotherapist to New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams.
He founded his own university, in Florida, the University of St Augustine, which specialises in physiotherapy.
* Former bowls international Mike Kernaghan (1969-73) has recently been appointed general manager of Badminton New Zealand.
Mike replaces Peter Dunne, who has resigned after five years in the role.
He was formerly the deputy chief executive for New Zealand Football, where he had responsibility for all domestic soccer. He has also worked in varying roles for Triathlon New Zealand, Sport Otago and Bowls New Zealand.
Mike won a bowls bronze medal at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and is the holder of numerous national titles.
He also played national league soccer from 1976 to 1987.
A very full life
* George Claridge (1921-23), an astute businessman and a talented sportsman who possessed an inquiring mind leading to the invention of a number of devices which remain in production today, died recently in Tauranga, aged 101.
George’s legacy can be seen around Dunedin, with houses in Ravensbourne, Mosgiel and Kew, all coming about thanks to his entrepreneurial skills.
George Henry Claridge was born on December 4, 1906, in Auckland, the third child of George and Benita Claridge. When he was young, the family moved to Hastings, then settled in Dunedin in 1918. He attended Musselburgh School and then Otago Boys’ High School, where he was an accomplished sportsman.
When George left school he joined the law offices of Smith and Loosley, intending to become a lawyer. But after a few years he abandoned his legal career, as he could not ignore his drive to become involved in business along with enjoying life, on and off the sports field.
George formed two dance bands in the early days, one of which featured in the Vedic Tea Rooms, which was a Dunedin institution in its day. He was also involved in the Dunedin Little Theatre and Repertory Society.
In the 1930s, he was chosen as the male lead in Down on the Farm, which was New Zealand’s first talking movie, filmed mostly at Outram.
George married Billie Robinson in 1936, at Knox Church and the couple lived in Norfolk St, St Clair, before purchasing the Lethbridge Estate in Middleton Road in Kew. He subdivided the house into flats, and also subdivided the land. Later he bought Middleton Lodge in Middleton Road and subdivided the surrounding property and then opened subdivisions in Ravensbourne, Mosgiel, and Kew.
One of George’s business interests was the English Import Company, which imported such luxuries as canteens of cutlery and grandfather clocks.
An inquisitive mind led to many long nights working on inventions. Though he had no formal engineering training, he had an eye for details and patience to improve everyday implements and machines. One of his major inventions was the design and manufacture of one of the early spin-dry washing machines, when only wringer-washers were available. He also designed several toilet systems, which saved water and were relatively quiet compared to others. The latest of these is still in production in Brazil.
George bought the old Brown Ewings building in the Exchange when a department store closed, and converted it to shops and a reception lounge.
He had a partnership in the Criterion Hotel in Moray Place, in the 1970s. Also in the 1970s, he helped build the Mornington Tavern and in this period, he purchased the old Waipiata Sanatorium near Ranfurly, selling it about 10 years later.
George enjoyed a successful sporting career, taking part in boxing, cricket, table tennis, and hockey in his early days. As he got older, he turned to lawn bowls, where he achieved major success. He was a long-standing member of the St Kilda Bowling Club, and was the driving force behind the club’s development of an indoor green. He achieved gold star status at bowls and became an Otago coach.
Never one to be idle, he wrote a book How to play Lawn Bowls, and wrote a weekly column in the Evening Star on technique. He was later awarded life membership of the Mt Maunganui Bowling Club.
With a lifelong interest in politics, George was a staunch admirer of John A. Lee, after Mr Lee’s expulsion from the Labour Party. At that time he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. He later became aligned with the National party, when Sir Keith Holyoake was its leader, and was on the national executive for some years.
Despite being 80 when he moved from Dunedin to Mt Maunganui to retire, within a couple of years George formed a syndicate to develop a 40 hectare farm, into 330 sections, which occupied him for the next decade.
George is survived by his wife Billie, two daughters and a son.
Anzac Day memories
* Among the many stories to emerge at last month’s 93rd Anzac Day commemorations, one held special significance for Otago Boys’ High School …
Visitors to the old Waipori cemetery near Lake Mahinerangi in Otago’s hinterland will be intrigued to find a monument to the first New Zealander killed in the battle of Gallipoli, Private Wilfred Victor Knight (1903-06).
Waipori was Private Knight’s birthplace, making the old cemetery an entirely appropriate place for a monument to his memory.
While Private Knight is recorded as the first New Zealander reported killed in action at Gallipoli, he was serving with the Australian army, having left New Zealand to seek his fortune in Australia.
He attended Waipori Public School and Lawrence District High School before spending four years at Otago Boys’.
He left New Zealand when he was 21 and went to live in Junee, a small town in New South Wales, where he worked as a railway locomotive fireman, before enlisting on August 22, 1914. His regimental number was 710, and he was in 1st Battalion, F Company.
The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war and embarked just two months later on the 18th of October. The battalion had a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, before heading to Egypt and eventually to the landing at Anzac Cove.
The landing took place at 7.30am on April 25, 1915, as part of the second and third waves of soldiers to land on the beaches.
What happened next is not completely clear, but it seems Private Knight was killed in the initial skirmishes. One record says he died of wounds sustained at Anzac Cove on April 27, 1915, with the date of his death recorded as that same day, while a second version of events, written by a soldier who knew him, says that he was killed outright on landing, which should have put the date of his death as April 25.
Private Knight was only 25, and was one of nearly 5000 soldiers killed in the first two days of fighting. He was buried at sea.
The ship on which he sailed to Gallipoli , the Transport A19 Africa, was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on February 12, 1917.
New Zealand’s most decorated soldier
* In recent weeks one of the great military stories of New Zealand has emerged, with several newspapers reporting on the deed of one of Otago Boys’ High School’s 19th century pupils.
James Waddell (1888-90) is a New Zealand war hero who died without his deeds being acknowledged at home.
New Zealand's most highly decorated soldier went to his grave unsung. James Waddell received the highest honours of any Kiwi for military service. He lies in a simple grave in a Levin cemetery, his name largely unknown, his deeds barely told.
The former Dunedin man received an honour equivalent to Knight of the Garter (Sir Edmund Hillary's top honour) and eight awards akin to Victoria Crosses (of which Charles Upham received two).
But because most of his army career was with French forces, his achievements were scarcely celebrated in New Zealand. Only the French tricolour painted on his headstone distinguishes it from dozens of others in the graveyard.
Waddell joined the British Army from Christchurch in 1896. Four years later he swapped his officer's commission for one with the French Foreign Legion. He served with the legion until 1918, then with the French Army, until retiring in 1926. He attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Among the honours showered on him, Waddell was appointed a Chevalier, later upgraded to Commander, of the Legion of Honour. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, and then seven Palmes, akin to the VC and seven Bars.
His fighting career took him from South Africa's Boer War to China's Boxer Rebellion, then from Gallipoli to the Western Front, including the battles of the Somme and Verdun, in World War 1.
After his investiture in the Legion of Honour, he stood on the dais with the official party to take the salute of the French Army marching past in the 1918 victory parade on the Champs Elysee in Paris.
Waddell later held command positions with post-war occupation forces in Germany and colonial forces in North Africa. He returned to New Zealand in 1950, to be near his son, who had settled in Levin. There he lived in obscurity and there, in 1954, he died in obscurity. He was 81.
Waddell, the bright young son of a Dunedin saddler, moved to Christchurch in the early-1890s to work and study part-time at Canterbury University College. While there, he applied for admission to the British Army as an officer cadet. He sat the entry examination in Christchurch and became the first New Zealander to pass. He was commissioned as a second-lieutenant in 1896 and posted to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment in South Africa.
Tensions between British and Boer settlers were at flashpoint but Waddell's main troubles came from his fellow officers. They resented this under-sized (Waddell was short and thin) "Colonial" from the lower classes being among their privileged circle. They bullied him so severely that, when word of it reached New Zealand, bellicose Premier Richard "King Dick" Seddon protested to the Colonial Office in London. An inquiry was held and the pack leaders who had been making Waddell's life miserable were court-martialled.
The regiment was transferred to India in 1898. There Waddell met and married a French woman. She persuaded him to quit his post and join the French Foreign Legion. She had a close relative with influence who engineered the switch without Waddell losing rank.
His first action with the legion was with international troops that crushed the 1900 Boxer Rebellion and freed besieged foreigners, in Peking. The popular uprising had aimed to break the increasing control of China by foreign imperialists.
Waddell became a French citizen in 1904. He served with the legion in French colonial territories in North Africa and Indo-China (Vietnam) until the outbreak of World War 1, in 1914.
By then Waddell was a senior officer and held command positions. He won his first two Croix de Guerre at Gallipoli but also received a bullet wound in the chest. He returned to service on the Western Front, in 1916. Bravery in action at The Somme and Verdun brought further awards and his appointment as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Citations for the medals referred to "great qualities of bravery" and "most brilliant conduct" in the face of the enemy.
The citation to his second Croix said: "Grievously wounded, and wishing to bring his work to a perfect finish, (Waddell) refused to be taken from the field and remained at the head of his battalion and commanded the firing line until the next morning."
Further exemplary leadership brought promotion to the highest honour of Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1920.
Waddell spent most of his retirement in Morocco and Tunisia. His wife died shortly before his return to New Zealand. One of his two daughters travelled with him.
The dawning of public recognition for Waddell began with a newspaper article in 1989. It prompted New Zealand military historian Christopher Pugsley to examine Waddell's record, which led to a wreath-laying on Waddell's grave on Armistice Day, 2000.
Pugsley described Waddell's story as "a tale beyond belief" and his string of decorations as "incredible".
Milestone birthdays
* Celebrating a milestone birthday this month is Dave Henry (1951-54), a Friend of the Foundation, who will mark his 70th birthday this Saturday, the 17th.
Old Boys’ bowls
* The annual Otago Boys’ versus King’s Old Boys’ bowls match was keenly contested on the Balmacewen greens last month with King’s again emerging with the honours.
Fourteen fours each played two games of eight ends with Otago Boys’ holding an eight point lead at the halfway mark.
However, their rivals powered home to take the title for another year 112 points to 96. Overall, King’s won seven matches with one drawn while Otago Boys’ won six matches with one drawn.
Recent deaths
* We extend our condolences to the families of the following Old Boys –
Peter (Alexander Peter) Allan (1942-44), died in Dunedin on 9th April 2008, aged 80. Peter was the father of Stuart Allan (1969-73).
Royse Macrae Sise (1940-43), died in Dunedin on 13th April 2008, aged 81. Royse, an Otago representative skier from the late-1940s to the mid-1950s, was the father of Greg Sise (1973-77) and the grandfather of current Year 12 pupil Andrew Sise. Royse’s brother, the late Bill (Gage Derwent) Sise attended Otago Boys’ 1931-34 and was a decorated fighter pilot with the RAF during World War II and the family connection goes back even further with Reginald (1887-94), Albert (1896-97) and George Sise (1888) all Old Boys.
Lindsay George Williams (1948), died in Christchurch on 18th April 2008. Lindsay was a former New Zealand Army officer assigned to the SAS. He was also a fine first-class cricketer, representing Wellington in the Plunket Shield competition from 1951 to 1953.
Allan Govan Russell (1931-35), died in Timaru on 19th April 2008, aged 89. Allan, a retired secondary school teacher, was the father of Colin Russell (1958-61) and Iain Russell (1961-62).
Corrie (Cornelius Charles) Donovan (1934-35), died in Auckland on 23rd April 2008, aged 88.
Malcolm Davidson (1950), died in Invercargill on 7th May 2008, aged 71.
Tom (Thomas Neil) Aitken (1941-45), died in Ranfurly on 10th May 2008, aged 81. Tom was a Friend of the Foundation.
Cliff (Clifford John) Foxton (1953-54), died in Picton on 10th May 2008, aged 68.
* We also extend our sympathies to –
John (1970-73), Owen (1973-76) and Russell Craig (1974-77) whose mother Margaret died in Dunedin on 11th April 2008.
Zane Kubala (1990) whose mother Sharon Winter died in Waimate on 13th April 2008. Sharon was the sister-in-law of Peter Egan (1955-58).
Graham Wardrop (1965-69) whose mother Eva died in Christchurch on 14th April 2008.
John Hewitson (1959-62) whose mother Muriel died in Dunedin on 15th April 2008, aged 101.
Stuart (1974-78) and Gavin Duthie (1976-80) whose father Robert died in Dunedin on 15th April 2008.
Len Griffiths (1934-38) whose wife Yvonne died in Dunedin on 15th April 2008.
Jordan Carvell (1999-2003) whose grandmother Margaret Abrahams died in Mosgiel on 16th April 2008.
Glen Pollard (1985-86) whose mother Lyn died in Christchurch on 16th April 2008.
Roy Griffiths (1944) whose wife Nancy died in Mosgiel on 18th April 2008.
Bill (1964-68), Chris (1966-70) and Martin Nichol (1972-74) who father Frank died in Dunedin on 19th April 2008.
Rowan (1963-65), Laurie (1965-68) and Blair Farmer (1969-71) whose mother Betty died in Oamaru on 19th April 2008.
Andrew Calvert (1961-65) whose mother Barbara died in Dunedin on 24th April 2008. Barbara was the widow of the late Richard Calvert (1934-38).
Timothy Berends (1995-99) whose grandmother Margaret died in Dunedin on 25th April 2008. Margaret was also the grandmother of the late Martin Berends (1999-2001).
Brodie (1989-93) and Heath Clucas (1992-96) whose grandfather Trevor Ede died in Dunedin on 26th April 2008.
Dominic Best (1989-93) whose father Lindsay died in Dunedin on 27th April 2008.
Chris Gaffaney (1991-93) whose mother Kathleen died in Auckland on 28th April 2008.
Andrew Wallace (1973-76) whose father Ross died in Dunedin on 29th April 2008. Ross was the brother-in-law of Tom Aitken (1941-45).
Ian Dickison (1965-69) whose son Andrew died in Brisbane on May 3rd 2008.
Ron McMurran (1945-48) whose sister-in-law Frances Camp died in Dunedin on May 5th 2008.
Nelson Cross (1957) whose mother respectively Dulcie died in Balclutha on 10th May 2008. Dulcie was the widow of Stanley Cross (1927-30) and grandmother of Richard Cross (1979-80).
Steve Davie
Chief Executive
