Karangahake School and District 70th Jubilee 1889-1959
Just fancy! Fifty years ago I started school at Karangahake and I remember as well as though it were yesterday. We had come, my father, mother, three brothers and three sisters and myself from Waihi to live in Karangahake.
The house we came to live in was around the railway line, half-way between Karangahake and Mackaytown railway stations. On our way to school the first day I was terrified of crossing the railway bridge as the train was crossing overhead at the same time. My cousins said sparks fell down on the people below and set fire to them. How afraid I was and yet it was not very long before I was rushing with other children to be there just to hear and see the train go over us. Such is youth!
When I arrived at school that first day, I found my teacher was Miss Benge, whose father had been the school master at the Waihi school.
— J.E.M.