| St Peter's College | |
|---|---|
| St Peter's College, Bro O'Driscoll Building (1939, additions 1944)
To Love and To Serve
(Amare et Servire) |
|
| Location | |
| 23 Mountain Road, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand |
|
| Information | |
| Type | State Integrated Catholic Boys Secondary (Year 7-13) |
| Established | 1939 |
| Ministry of Education Institution no. | 62 |
| Headmaster | K. F. Fouhy |
| School roll | 1230[1] |
| Socio-economic decile | 8[2] |
| Website | st-peters.school.nz |
St Peter's College ("SPC") is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys (ages 11-18 years). The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland (as the proprietor of the college) and the Government of New Zealand in 1982.[3] St Peter's is located in the central Auckland suburb of Epsom, on the northern slopes of Mount Eden.
St Peter's College draws enrolments from throughout the city, reflecting its central, convenient location.[4] The roll as at 24 May 2011 was 1230.[1] St Peter's College has a diverse, multicultural roll and its ethnic composition in 2010 was (generally): European/Pākehā 58%; Māori 5%; Polynesian 13% (including Samoan 9% and Tongan 3%); Asian 22% (including Chinese 4%, Indian 11% and Filipino 3%).[5] There are approximately 134 paid staff (teaching and support staff).[5] The school offers for senior years both the National Certificate of Educational Achievement assessment system (NCEA) and the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).
Auckland's first school of any sort [6] was established under the patronage of St Peter and known as St Peter's School, St Peter's Boy's School or St Peter's Select School.[7][8] It was established in 1841 by the Catholic laymen of Auckland following the first visit of Bishop Pompallier.[7] The first teacher was Mr. E. Powell, and probably classes were held in his own residence in Shortland Crescent (later renamed Shortland Street).[7] St Peter's School continued to provide education for boys mainly under lay teachers until 1885[9] when the Marist Brothers established a school on the corner of Pitt and Wellington Streets.
Walter Herman Jacobus Steins S.J., third Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1879–1881) thought, that as they were a French congregation, the Marist Brothers might not be welcome in Auckland and that it would be better to invite the Irish Christian Brothers as most of the Catholics in Auckland were Irish. Stein's successor, John Edmund Luck OSB, fourth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1881–1896), had no such qualms and invited the Marist Brothers to establish their school.[10] An unsuccesful move may have been made in 1885 to open a Christian Brothers School.[11]
Nearly 40 years later, in 1923, Henry William Cleary, the sixth Catholic Bishop of Auckland, issued an invitation to the Christian Brothers to found a school.[12] The Marist Brothers, well established at Sacred Heart College (then located in Richmond Road, Ponsonby), objected strongly and Cleary wrote to the Provincial of the Christian Brothers, Brother Barron, changing his offer to a primary school.[12] As a result, the Christian Brothers lost interest.[12]
Shortly after he became seventh Catholic Bishop of Auckland in 1929, James Michael Liston renewed the invitation to the Christian Brothers, whose pupil he had been in Dunedin.[13] This again aroused the opposition of the Marist Brothers.[13] They were concerned that a new boys' Form I to VI school would take enrolments from Sacred Heart College and would diminish their revenue.[13] Unmoved by the Marist Brothers' opposition, Liston requested his old Dunedin classmate, Brother Michael James Benignus Hanrahan (Brother Benignus), the Provincial of the Australian province of the Christian Brothers, to provide brothers to staff the school.[13] This was agreed to.[14]
A contractor cleared the Mountain Road site in 1931 and it was expected that the school would open in 1933.[13] But financial problems caused delays.[13] The Marist Brothers appealed to the Apostolic Delegate to Australia and New Zealand, resident in Sydney, and to the Sacred Congregation of Religious in Rome.[13] They believed that Cleary had promised them the St Peter's School site but as no written record could be found, the Bishop was informed by the Sacred Congregation that he could invite the Christian Brothers[12] and the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Giovanni Panico, ruled "that the Bishop is free to make whatever provision he may decide in the matter".[13] The Marist Brothers accepted this ruling, but unhappily.[15][16]
The school was constructed on the corner of Khyber Pass and Mountain Road,[17][18] a site which had been given to the church for educational purposes by the Outhwaite family a pioneering family of Auckland. Isa Outhwaite, the last surviving member of that family, bequeathed the site of the college and also a part of the fund required for its erection.[19] The dedication of the college to St Peter not only referred to the earlier St Peter's School in Auckland, but also to the first Catholic school in New Zealand opened in Kororareka in 1840 and dedicated to St Peter. The foundation also commemorated the founder of the Catholic church in New Zealand, Bishop Pompallier, who arrived in New Zealand in 1838, set up the Marist Mission in the Bay of Islands and built there the historic printery now known as Pompallier.[20] The college was therefore a mark of the centennial of the Catholic church in New Zealand.
The Christian Brothers arrived in Auckland from Australia and the South Island for the 1939 school year. They were accommodated by the parish priest of Remuera, Monsignor J. J. Bradley, in his presbytery until the Brothers residence was habitable.[21] Bradley, who had been a pupil of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, was responsible for the laying out of the grounds of the school - work which took ten months to complete.[21] However, work continued until 1941 on the development of Reeves Road (a street that has now disappeared as it has been incorporated as the entrance to St. Peter's College),[22] the building of stone walls, and the very significant soil transfer from the netball courts to level the playing fields. The year 1941 " ... saw the end of a familiar sight at the College when workers on the Government Relief scheme finished working on the grounds on 1 November. These men spent three years working on the grounds at a very small cost, as the Government paid their wages in an effort to lessen hardship in the difficult post-depression years. Without their work and the guiding hand of Monsignor Bradley, the grounds with their three different levels [i.e. the netball court level[23] (from 2010, the site of the school gymnasium), the old tennis court level (now filled in under the playing field level) and the playing field level, called the "St Peter's College oval"] could not have been developed as they were".[24] Originally, the quadrangle of the college was not paved but was covered in heavy ash from the Auckland Gas works in Freemans Bay.
The school was opened on Sunday, 29 January 1939 by Bishop Liston and in the presence of Hon H. G. R. Mason, Attorney-General and local MP, standing in for Rt Hon Peter Fraser, the Minister of Education (who became Prime Minister on the death of Michael Joseph Savage in 1940), the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, and Mr Justice Callan of the Supreme Court (who had been a pupil of the Christian Brothers in Dunedin and had also been a classmate of Liston's). Br Keniry represented the Provincial of the Christian Brothers, Brother Hanrahan, at the opening. The opening took place on a wet afternoon and, as he read his speech, Bishop Liston was sheltered under an umbrella held by the foundation headmaster of the college, Brother F.P. O'Driscoll.[25] In spite of the rain, a large number of friends and well-wishers participated in the opening.[25]
It is noteworthy that, in view of the difficult history with the Marist Brothers, Liston said, "this is a fitting occasion to pay tribute to the Marist Brothers for their long, honourable and fruitful record of service in the cause of education in the Diocese of Auckland and throughout New Zealand: 'by their fruits ye know them' ". He also said later in his speech, "We welcome today the Christian Brothers, who are here at the invitation of the Bishop to take charge of St Peter's school and to have their part, along with the Marist Brothers and other religious communities, in our Catholic education system. They have their own traditions to give us, formed in the society's work of teaching since 1802, and the fruit of the experience gathered, to speak only of Australia and New Zealand, of over 500 Brothers teaching more than 20,000 boys". Liston added, " ... if I know the Brothers at all, the boys under their care will be put to hard work - an excellent thing - and teachers will not do for them what they should do for themselves. The thought of the years ahead and of the eternal life will be regarded as of first importance. Teachers will feel it their daily duty to fit the boys to bear life's burdens with a spirit of nobility and to meet life's problems with unfaltering courage". At the conclusion of his speech, Bishop Liston said, "This is a very happy day for me indeed for I owe much more than I can say to the training I received at the hands of the Christian Brothers in Dunedin long years ago".[25]
The original school buildings opened in 1939 on the 4-acre (16,000 m2) Outhwaite site consisted of an incomplete two-storied class-block (now the Bro P. O'Driscoll Building) and an incomplete two-storied residence (the brother's residence). They were designed by William Henry Gummer (1884–1966), a student of Sir Edward Lutyens and architect of some notable Auckland buildings such as the Dilworth Building in Queen Street and the old Auckland railway station in Beach Road. He also designed the National War Memorial and carillon and National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum buildings in Wellington.[26] The two original school buildings were fully completed in 1944.[27]
On Monday, 6 February 1939, St Peter's College opened its doors[28] with a roll of 183 pupils,[11] aged from 11 to 14 (i.e. from Form I to Form IV).[29] Five brothers comprised the original staff - Brothers O'Driscoll.[30][31], Killian, Rapp, Skehan and Carroll.[29][32] Brother Skehan had been at St. Kevin's College, Oamaru and the others had been in Sydney.
"The first day of school was unique - one of reconnaissance on both sides. The Brothers were new and unknown, even by repute!" "It is on record that at least two "first-day" pupils came, saw - and were never seen again after opening day. Form IV was the senior class the first year and comprised a select group ... ."[29]
The average size of the four classes in the first year of the college was thirty boys. But Form IV commenced with fourteen pupils. These had come from ten different schools. There had been no unity in the textbooks used in these schools but also the boys had studied different subjects. By the end of the first term it was evident to the Brothers that there was quite a teaching problem and it was decided to start the second term of Form IV with Theorem One in Geometry and Lesson One in French, Latin, Algebra, etc. - all the start of Form III work. The object was to get through two complete years' work (Form III and Form IV - Years 9 and 10) in two terms (i.e. the second and third terms - from May to December). Many of the fourteen pupils transferred down to Form III. For the senior class, play or recreation time was cut in half. School was conducted on Saturday mornings, when the week's theoretical study of Chemistry was tested by practical experiments. "No text books were allowed on Saturdays, and woe betide any student who didn't know the properties and tests for various gases and metals and their respective weights". "Time was precious, the pace was hot; these Christian Brothers, newly come to Auckland, had to try to establish some academic standards, and Brother O'Driscoll in endeavouring to penetrate the boys' thick skulls with gems of academic knowledge, used, in desperation, to thump or pound the blackboard to drive home important points. Being a solidly built man of no mean stature, he made quite an impression. It is recorded in the first year in his classroom at least half a dozen new blackboards were necessary". By the third term only four students were left - Bill Aitkin, Max Denize, Des and John Rosser. The following year (1940) Brother O'Driscoll allowed three to sit for Matriculation (University Entrance) and one for the Public Service Examination. All four passed. The first Dux of the college was Des Rosser, who with his twin brother John subsequently donated the Rosser Cup, presented each year for Dux of St Peter's College.[33]
The transformation of the grounds, the development of Reeves Road, the planting of lawns, garden plots and the front stone wall on Reeves Road continued over the next few years. "At the same time, tons of soil and rock were brought up from the site of the present [netball] courts to make the playing field. But the masterpiece of all the constructional work was the huge stone wall below the tennis courts [(and above the netball courts)]. The first pupils daily eagerly visited it as if it were some modern Great Wall of China, and watched in wonder as it took shape".[34]
After the end of the Second World War, significant developments were: the opening of the College chapel in 1953 (see below); the building of the first prefabricated classroom block; and the conversion of the old bungalow used as a shelter shed and of a classroom to a library in the 1950s.[35][36]
In 1961, St Peter's had the largest roll of any Catholic school in New Zealand,[37] having 834 pupils. More building projects became necessary.
In the 1960s, the Brother's residence was extended and a new science block consisting of science laboratories, classrooms and a demonstration room was built. This building was upgraded in the 1990s and is now called the Brother J. B. Lynch Science Laboratories. A large three-story set of classrooms plus assembly hall and squash courts were opened in the early 1970s.[38]
In 1959, Archbishop[39] Liston purchased 2.5 acres (10,000 m2) on Mountain Road opposite the school.[40] This land was owned by New Zealand Breweries and had been part of the Great Northern Brewery, later called Lion Brewery, which stretched from Khyber Pass along Mountain Rd up as far as Seccombes Rd. Part of the land purchased had been used as tennis courts for the staff. The land became available because, from 1950, New Zealand Breweries was concentrating its beer production at the Captain Cook Brewery further down Khyber Pass towards Newmarket. The Lion Brewery site was therefore sold off, part to the New Zealand Distillary Company and part, which included the tennis courts, to the Bishop of Auckland for St Peter's College. The site was purchased from New Zealand Breweries for £11,000 per acre.[41][42] and is used as a rugby field (at first called "the Far Field" or "the New Field" and now, "the Cage"). Located on it is a sports pavilion (called Brother P. C. Ryan Sports Pavilion) replacing an earlier pavilion opened in 1960 - see below).
Henry Cooper, the Headmaster of nearby Auckland Grammar School, was also interested in this land for his school but the price New Zealand Breweries required for it (£30,000) was considered too high. Cooper was "particularly annoyed" that he failed to obtain the site as St Peter's got it for somewhat less than the price quoted to Grammar and which had been considered prohibitive by the Ministry of Works (which would have had to purchase the land for Grammar, a State school).[43] However Cooper attended the official opening of the resulting new St Peter's College pavilion and field and he " ... offered the congratulations of the other schools of Auckland and expressed great pleasure that his friendly neighbours had obtained such a handsome new playing field".[41]
An influential shareholder in New Zealand Breweries was the company Campbell & Ehrenfried. Devon Hern,[44] a St Peter's College old boy, held an important position in the latter company and it is likely that he played some part in the purchase of the land for St Peter's College on favourable terms.
Henry Cooper used the episode in his argument for the transfer of the Mt Eden Prison quarries to Auckland Grammar for the creation of new sports fields for that school. He pointed out that the brewery site would have been very suitable for Grammar and that Grammar had been beaten to it by a "private school". An aspect of all this was the fact that the new North/South motorway development was projected to take the main Grammar rugby field which lay between the two schools.[45] Although St Peter's was to be less affected, Auckland Grammar was supported by Archbishop Liston and the school in its opposition to the motorway and the projected route. Auckland Grammar argued that the motorway was going to adversely affect "two great schools" and should either be abandoned or re-routed. However, one of Grammar's suggested alternative routes was to be "further down" Mountain Road, which would have taken the motorway either through St Peter's College or through the Catholic netball courts which were used by the College and are now part of it. Either of these proposed alternative routes would also have taken out the newly-acquired and developed rugby field.
In the event, Grammar lost its rugby field in 1964 (but was later more than compensated by the Mt Eden Prison quarries) and St Peter's lost a small section of land on its south west extremity (by the Br Lynch Science Laboratories) to provide for the motorway on-ramp at Khyber Pass Rd. St Peter's College was compensated by being sold Reeves Road and some prison houses at a concessional price. Reeves Rd disappeared as a street and much of the subsequent expansion of the school has taken place on its site.[46] However both Auckland Grammar and St Peter's have had to endure the adjacent motorway since 1965.[41][47]
From its opening in 1939, the Christian Brothers had a small "but handsome" chapel upstairs in the Brothers' House. It was equipped by past pupils of the Christian Brothers, one of whom, Father J Mansfield, who sixty years previously had been a pupil of the Christian Brothers in Dublin, donated the altar. The chapel was furnished in oak. The altar was walnut and primavera wood, backed by a rich blue and gold hanging.[48] On 14 November 1953 a larger chapel was blessed and opened by Archbishop Liston. This was built mainly on the initiative of the Chaplain of the School, Father Reginald Delargey.[49] Funds were raised by the Old Boys, Men's and Ladies' Committees and the pupils. The chapel cost £3,300. £3,000 was raised by an appeal (£1,400 from parents, friends and Old Boys, and £750 from the pupils including £200 as a result of "self-denial" days).[50] "The opening of the chapel was all the more satisfying" because of the involvement of the pupils."[51] This chapel was located between the Brothers' House and the main school building (now called the "Br O'Driscoll Building"). The chapel was rectangular in shape. It had two aisles between which there were approximately ten pews which could accommodate a class or two for Mass or Benediction. On the other side of each aisle were the Brothers' chairs and prie-dieus at which they recited their office each day, heard Mass and kept their own devotional books. The chapel was dominated by a crucifix and a large altar fixed against the south end wall in those pre-Vatican II days. A free-standing altar later replaced this so that Mass could be said facing the congregation. On the left was also a shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Soccour, a devotion much encouraged by the Christian Brothers. On the South side of this icon was the door to a small sacristy which also served as a confessional for the school, where the school chaplain was available regularly. This sacristy issued onto a small cloister which connected the Brother's House with the school building. On the North side of the icon a door led from the chapel to the Brother's Common room and library in the Brothers' House. This also served as the general staff room for the college which was most useful to the lay teachers. There were folding doors along the northern or entrance end of the chapel. These doors could be opened so that extra congregants could be accommodated outside. From time to time Masses were celebrated al fresco there. "The chapel became a focal point and the good habit of a visit to the Blessed Sacrament before and after school [was] maintained over 60 years".[52] This chapel was demolished to free up access to the Brother L. H. Wilkes Technology Block which was opened in 2001. The present school chapel ("the Chapel of St Peter") is a temporary pre-fabricated building. This is located near the northern end of the quadrangle of the College (known as the "Top Yard"). The college is planning "for a more permanent College Chapel in the centre of the school".[53] Mass is celebrated in the School Chapel by the chaplain of the school and or by other visiting priests every Friday at lunchtime and all students are invited to attend. The chapel is open to all for prayer and guidance throughout the day. Since 1939, large school liturgical events take place at nearby churches such as St Michael's Church, Remuera, St Benedict's Church, Newton, or St Patrick's Cathedral. The Cathedral is the scene of the important annual school celebration of St Peter's Day.
The Christian Brothers provided staff for St Peter's College from its opening until 2007. However, the numbers of brothers teaching at St Peter's College gradually declined from the 1970s. In 1975 there were 15 brothers teaching. In 1982 this number had reduced to eight. In 1988 it was 7, 4 in 1991, 2 in 1993, and 1 from 1994.[54] From 1994 until July 2007, Brother Paul Robertson was the only Christian Brother teaching at St Peter's College. He was the Associate Principal of the college.[55]
The integration of St Peter's College into the state education system also " ... caused a 'church/state' separation of the [Christian Brothers] community from the institution".[56] This was demonstrated particularly in the formal splitting of authority in the school between the school Board of Trustees and the Principal of the College and the new role of the former in staffing matters. In 1992 the Christian Brothers shifted from the college to a new community house in Queen Mary Avenue, Epsom, acquired because it was near St Peter's College.[57] Brother L. H. Wilkes wrote about what this meant for the Christian Brothers community. "For years the dread of leaving St Peter's house hung over the community at St Peter's. In 1991 it was down to months and in early 1992 it was down to weeks and to days. Nobody actually spoke definitely about leaving but everyone knew it was inevitable. I could just not imagine the community in an ordinary house in an ordinary street ...".[58] Some of the brothers teaching at St Peter's College in the late 1980s moved to another community house in Mangere which soon closed.[59] Apart from Brother Paul Robertson, the last Christian Brother to retain particular involvement with St Peter's College into the late 1990s was Brother V. N. Cusack.[60]
In his Annual principal's report for 1988, Brother Prendergast expressed in effect a eulogy for St Peter's as a Christian Brother's school and perhaps a mandate for the school's future. Brother Prendergast said: "It is my pleasure to present to you the forty-ninth annual report. I do so as a proud past pupil, past teacher, and almost, past Principal of this school. In a sense I see my position in this school as completing a cycle which is a model of the church right through the world. In 1939 the Brothers first came to St Peter's and they came from the southern parts of New Zealand and from Australia. From that time the seeds of vocations were sown. The first Old Boy priest was ordained in 1950 and the first Old Boy Christian Brother was professed in 1954. The first old boy Christian Brother returned to teach in this school in 1965 [(Br Terry Felix Hunter)]. I was the first old boy Christian Brother appointed to the position of Principal and that was in 1980.
"In my first report at the end of 1980 I said that 'the time is fast approaching when the Brothers may no longer be able to maintain a presence in this school. Perhaps one of the more valuable endeavours of the Principals of recent years has been to prepare the school for that eventuality. There is no doubt that we are on the threshold of a new cycle of development'. The brothers have maintained their presence over those nine years, mainly the same ones as it happens and I can tell you that those who are around in other schools are just as old. You can draw your own conclusions.
"St Peter's has been a Christian Brothers school for forty-nine years. I don't know if you can say it is going to be a Christian Brothers' school next year. That is up to those of you who are here next year to maintain if you want to. I am going to put before you some of the characteristics of Christian Brothers schools. Christian Brothers' schools throughout the world have a remarkable similarity of purpose, spirit and tone. Allowing for culture change a boy from St Peter's College in Auckland will fit in easily in Cardinal Newman College, Buenos Aires[61] or Waverley College, Sydney, or St Columba's School, New Delhi, or St Edward's College, Liverpool, or in schools in twenty other countries.
"All these schools reveal characteristics that help identify them as inheritors of the spirit and traditions of Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers. These characteristics are not unique but they are distinctive". Brother Prendendergast listed these characteristics as being: the encouragement given to pupils in Christian Brothers schools to strive for scholastic excellence in a disciplined atmosphere; a religious dimension that permeates the entire education available to students; the cultivation of a strong devotion to Mary, the Mother of God; the emphasis given to the care and concern for each individual in the school community; and a particular concern for the poor.
"These then are five distinctive characteristics of Christian Brothers' schools today. They are part of our heritage. Remaining faithful to that heritage is the challenge of the future. I believe St Peter's college exhibits these characteristics some more clearly than others. The challenge I put to you tonight is to maintain and build on those characteristics."[62]
When he left the school in July 2007, the last Christian Brother at St Peter's implied that this challenge had been met. Brother Robertson said that the St Peter's College community had " ... a great heart - a heart that listens and is compassionate, that looks outward"; "a heart that nurtures balanced, humble, quality people, real gentlemen"; "a heart that sees and acts"; "a heart that reflects the face of God". Brother Robertson said that the Christian Brothers were very proud of the school. "St Peter's will always be in a special place within my heart".[63]
The Christian Brothers and St Peter's College held Archbishop Liston in high regard as the founder, proprietor, funder, special friend, ally and protector of the college. He presided over all of the school prize-giving ceremonies from the first until his retirement in 1970. At the 1970 ceremony, in Liston's presence and in recognising his retirement, Brother B E Ryan, the Headmaster of the college said: "His Grace has had his critics of course, as all men in similar positions have - he was even criticised for founding St Peter's College - but his achievements are sufficient answer in themselves. We of St Peter's in a certain sense owe him everything. Without His Grace's decision to open the new school in 1938, we humanly speaking, might not be here tonight to represent the thousands of boys and parents that have been influenced by the school in the past 32 years".[64]
Liston felt a lifelong debt to the Christian Brothers' School in Dunedin where he was a pupil and he often expressed that gratitude publicly on occasions involving Christian Brothers Institutions.[65] However, Liston's gratitude did have its limits. There is a well-known story at St Peter's College concerning the large Christian Brothers emblem above the main northern entrance to the original school building. In the course of the creation of that emblem in 1938 or 1939, Bishop Liston arrived to survey progress on the building of the school. He ordered work to stop on the emblem because the school was "his" and did not belong to the Christian Brothers. The emblem remains unfinished to this day. The college really was "his" as it was (and is) owned directly by the Bishop of Auckland.
Liston was, however, very grateful to the Christian Brothers for establishing St Peter's College. In January 1943, Liston wrote to his old classmate Br Michael James Benignus Hanrahan, the Provincial of the Christian Brothers when the college was established, on the occasion of the latter's Golden Jubilee, saying: " ... Auckland has its special reason for gratitude. Perhaps I can put that simply by saying that from the first day the school has been all that you or I would wish it to be".[66] He showed his love in his annual presentation of prizes. With the passage of years, the prize list got longer so that eventually over 100 individual prizes were presented. "When it was suggested to His Grace that it would be less demanding if he remained seated during the marathon presentation he would have none of it; he would bestow full dignity on the recipient."[67] When the Archbishop died in 1976 the college formed a guard of honour for his funeral cortege from the Town Hall to Grafton Bridge. The students' " ... dignified bearing and respectful tribute evoked many expressions of commendation."[68]
When the school adopted a new motto, it adopted the English version of Liston's personal motto "Amare et Servire", "To Love and to Serve".
The school has had a lay headmaster, Mr Kieran Fouhy, since 1989. Under his leadership, significant building projects have been completed. During the 1990s, as well as the renovation (and naming) of the Brother J. B. Lynch Science Laboratories, the Brother P. C Ryan sports pavilion replaced the original pavilion built in 1960 and which had been ruined by fire. The Brother W. R. Smith Music and Drama Suite was built. Brother Smith (1948–1953), the third headmaster of the college, had initiated the first school orchestra.[69]
Recent important buildings completed are the Brother L. H. Wilkes Technology Block (2001)[70] (awarded the NZIA Resene Supreme Award for Architecture 2002 and the NZIA Resene Branch Award for Architecture 2001), a dedicated building for the intermediate school ("the Middle School") on Mountain Road (2003) named after Brother V.A. Sullivan,[71][72] and a gymnasium/classroom block erected on the old netball courts in 2010.[73][74][75]
St Peter's still follows the objectives of the Christian Brothers' founder, eighteenth-century Irish merchant Blessed Edmund Rice.[71] to encourage its members to serve the community in a positive manner, such as participation in Edmund Rice Camps], and commiting themselves to Rice's objective of bringing social justice. . The school has supported Christian Brothers missions in Polynesia and organises regular trips to India for senior students"[71] In supporting students' sporting and cultural aspirations, St Peter's has established music,[76] football and softball academies.
The St Peter's College Houses and their colours are:
The Houses are named after particular Christian brothers. Brothers Fursey Bodkin, Barnabus Lynch, Joseph Nolan, and their leader, Patrick Ambrose Treacy arrived from Ireland in Melbourne on 15 November 1868 to establish the order in Australia. In 1875 Brother Treacy visited Bishop Patrick Moran, First Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, and promised him a community of Christian Brothers. In 1876 Brother Bodkin was the leader of the new Dunedin community, the first Christian Brothers community in New Zealand.[77] Bodkin, Lynch, Nolan and Treacy Houses date from the foundation of the college. O'Driscoll and Rice Houses were set up in 2011. Edmund Ignatius Rice was the founder of the Christian Brothers and Brother O'Driscoll was the foundation Headmaster of the College.[78] Each year level has six house classes and each House class is the unit of attendance, pastoral care, competitive activity and many daily activities. There are House leaders (students) and House leaders (staff) assigned to each.[78]
St Peter's College has a strong and successful sporting tradition.[79] Amongst the highlights have been in Rugby Union, the winning by the school First XV of the New Zealand Secondary School's Top Four Championship as well as the Auckland Secondary Schools Premiership in 1987. The latter feat was repeated in 1988. The best achievement in rugby was to win the Auckland Championship and the New Zealand First XV Knock out competition undefeated in 2000. The college has held the Moascar Cup (national school 1st XV rugby honour) twice, in 1977 and 2000.[80] In 1980 St Peter's College won the inaugural national Secondary School's Softball Championship and has won the Auckland Softball Premiership every year from 1994 until the present (as at 2008).[38][81]
In 2008 the following sports were played competitively by St Peter's College: Archery; Athletics; Badminton; Basketball; Bowls; Cricket; Cross country running; Cycling; Golf; Hockey; Road running; Rowing; Rugby; Soccer; Softball; Squash; Swimming; Table Tennis; Tennis; Touch Rugby; Triathlon; and Waterpolo.[82] One sport promoted in the early days of the college but which is no longer provided, is boxing.[83] The school boxing championships were held annually, usually at the Municipal Hall, Newmarket.[84]
Something of the college's sporting spirit, at least as it was in the 1970s when Rugby Union was even more dominant in New Zealand than it is now, is described by John Tamihere. He wrote that if the Christian Brothers wanted a boy for the First XV, the boy didn't have much say in the matter. "They would walk around the school grounds at lunchtime sizing up" likely candidates to see if they might be any good. They picked out one boy because he looked usefully tall. "I'd rather play soccer", the boy protested, " ... but next minute there he was in the lineout, leaping." Under such pressure, Tamihere played for the college First XV (in 1975 and 1976) although he would have preferred to play Rugby League for the Point Chevalier Pirates and later for the Glenora Bears as his brothers did. He said that the college First XV at that time was composed of " ... not bad players", and they were " ... always competitive". "We didn't win a lot, but on the other hand we never really got hammered". "St Peter's used to play St Kentigern's, who were led out onto the field by their pipe band. When we played Anglican King's College there was no doubt this was a Catholics versus Proddies battle, though some of our toughest games were against other Catholic schools like St Paul's and Sacred Heart. If you think Māori society was tribal, you should have seen those Catholics".[85]
In 1980(?), Hugh McGahan, captain of the New Zealand National Rugby League side, "the Kiwis" from 1986 to 1990, also played for the college First XV, under similar pressure to that exerted on John Tamihere. However, McGahan has said that, in spite of the pressure, it "was a pleasure pulling on the school jersey" to represent the college.[86] Although it has made a significant contribution to the sport, St Peter's College does not field Rugby League teams. However, many students play Soccer.
The Auckland western railway running along the western boundary of St Peter's has played an important part in the history of the school. From the time the school opened many students came from the western suburbs of Auckland along the route of the train and they used the train service (known at that time at St Peter's College as the "North train") to attend the school. Until 1964 the nearest station to the school was Mt Eden station, a ten minute walk to or from the school. By 1964 about 250 St Peter's boys[87] were using the train and walking between Mt Eden station and the school.[88]
Brother T. A. Monagle, who supervised the train boys and who travelled on the train each day for that purpose, approached the Railways Department to request that the train stop at the school. The college had several reasons for asking that the trains should stop there. "The traffic in Mt Eden Road had become very heavy, and was a constant danger to the younger and more thoughtless of our pupils, and another source of considerable danger existed at Mt Eden station where supervision was necessary to prevent accidents when the boys were boarding the train. Again, the train would disgorge its pupils at Mt Eden and then chug merrily past the school almost empty, leaving the boys to walk half a mile, often in heavy rain."[89]
Brother Monagle persuaded the Minister of Railways, Mr John McAlpine, to come and see for himself. In fact the Minister volunteered to walk up to the Mt Eden station from the school. "Well, somebody must have been pulling some strings up above, because on the day of the Minister's visit it rained cats and dogs, and even the odd pink elephant ..."[90] and Brother Monagle's request was granted.[90] The North train stopped at St Peter's College for the first time at 8.30am on Tuesday 15 September 1964 for the 250 St Peter's College boys and a dozen from Auckland Grammar.[87]
Another noteworthy event occurred in November 1965, when, for the last time, the North train was pulled by a steam engine. It was the last passenger train in the North Island to be pulled by a steam locomotive.[90]
In relation to Brother Monagle, " ... it is generally agreed that he deserved the rank of Railway Employee. Surely no single person has ever held down so many positions at once - stationmaster, signalman, ticket inspector and guard, not to mention construction engineer, traffic officer and the occasional shot at engine-driving! During the many years that he was associated with the train, Brother Monagle became friends with most of the railway employees along the line as he made his trip each afternoon as far as Mt Albert".[90] Initially, only the "school" trains stopped at St Peter's College, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.[87]
The station, called the Boston Road Station, attained full station status from 1993. In 2010 the station was moved 200 metres further east beneath Khyber Pass Rd and renamed Grafton Station. A station entrance is beside the college and students have direct access without having to cross intervening roads.[91] Up to a third of the school's enrolment (i.e. 400 students) commute to the college by train and use the Grafton station.[92]
Old Boys include the Honourable Chris Carter, former Member of Parliament for Te Atatu (1993–1996; 1999–2011) and former Cabinet Minister (2002–2008), and Major General Martyn Dunne who, as Brigadier, commanded New Zealand and international forces in East Timor (1999–2000) and was Commander Joint Forces New Zealand in the New Zealand Defence Force (2001–2004). Sir Michael Fay, New Zealand Merchant banker, chair of the campaigns for three New Zealand challenges for the America's Cup in 1987, 1988 and 1992, attended the school in the early 1960s. Other old boys are the poet Sam Hunt and six All Blacks including Bernie McCahill, second five-eighth and centre three-quarter (1987–1991). Two Catholic Bishops, Edward Russell Gaines (1926–1994), the first Bishop of Hamilton (1980–1994) and Denis George Browne (b. 1937), tenth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1983–1994) and second Catholic Bishop of Hamilton (1994–present) attended the school, as did nearly 100 Catholic priests, deacons and religious.
See: List of former staff of St Peter's College, Auckland and Congregation of Christian Brothers in New Zealand
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