Story: Daily life in Māori communities – te noho a te hapori

Mission school, late 1850s

Mission school, late 1850s

Pupils of various ages, along with at least one baby, are assembled outside Benjamin Ashwell's mission school at Taupiri, in Waikato. Their education included learning a new system for measuring time, then carrying out assigned tasks at regular hours. This was a very different routine than those their parents had grown up with. It marked a transition from daily rhythms based on the sun and seasons, to one determined by the clock, calendar and school timetable. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PUBL-0153-1865-189
Engraving after a photograph by Bruno L. Hamel

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Photograph reference: PA1-o-207-06

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How to cite this page:

Mark Derby, 'Daily life in Māori communities – te noho a te hapori - Changes in daily life after European arrival', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/40900/mission-school-late-1850s (accessed 26 April 2024)

Story by Mark Derby, published 5 Sep 2013