Skip to main content

Story: Marching teams and cheerleaders

Marching school children

Image
Marching school children

Dunedin school children march past royal visitors, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) at a reception in 1901. Marching displays were popular with young people in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and this tradition may have influenced the later rise of formation marching for young women.

Using this item

Auckland Council Libraries − Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Reference: AWNS-19010712-2-2

by J. R. Mann

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Charlotte Macdonald, Marching teams and cheerleaders – The beginnings of marching as a sport, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/38053/marching-school-children (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Charlotte Macdonald, published 17 May 2012.