History – Head teacher’s house – Waipu Museum

Education in Waipu began in private homes in 1857. In 1871, the Waipu Central School was built on the land which runs from the site of the Waipu Scottish Migration Museum to the river which surrounds Waihoihoi Park. In 1889, the house, now The Opportunity Shop, was built alongside the school to accommodate the head teacher.

Julian Brooks and his family were the first people to live in this house, and the story of this family and their oldest son who lost his life is told on the World War I storyboard in the car park.

The house continued to provide accommodation for the head teacher when the Central School moved to St Mary’s Road in 1928 and later, in 1940, when all the district’s surrounding schools consolidated and became Waipu District High School.

In 1953, it was decided to buy a more spacious house for the head teacher at 19 The Braigh and the former head teacher’s house was turned into a teachers’ hostel for women. The reason for this was to provide accommodation to attract city teachers to Waipu, who up to that stage had to find private boarding. Some of the teachers who lived here later married local men including Jeanette Barton, now Bryham, Ann Jackson who became Mrs Brian Challenger and Paul Steven’s mother the former Pat Turner.

In 1958, the school bought the recently restored house at 3 The Braigh for a hostel and, for many years, the head teacher’s house became the residence for the school’s woodwork teacher Ivan Wright and his family. The last teacher to reside here was Peter Jane and his wife Sandy.

By the mid-seventies, ownership of the house was handed over to the Whangarei County Council, and it was under threat of demolition. A group of residents new to Waipu sought to save this old house and made a submission to the council to run a non-profit craft shop, which was called The Old House. This was set up and run for three years by volunteers who used the profits for house maintenance.

The building was briefly used commercially by potter Paul Norris, and Kerry Francis, architect and, in 1983, under the auspices of Reverend Gary Blundell, it was leased to the Anglican church to serve as The Opportunity Shop. For the last 42 years its doors have been kept open by an army of volunteers who have provided the community with this valuable service.