Story: Primary and secondary education

Children and their bowler-hatted teacher stand outside Puketiro School, South Otago, in 1910. This tiny, remote school was typical of many built in rural areas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was situated near a railway that was being extended, and the children who attended were the offspring of mill and railway workers. Made of corrugated iron, the building stands among the stumps of trees felled to clear more land for farming.