Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 7, May 1967
Mrs E.G. LOCKINGTON writes:- The small building beside the Waihi School pictured opposite page 34 in Journal 5 [see Journal 5: Images from Journal No.5 - E] is the original school which was opened with 16 children in 1890. When I began my school career in Waihi, there were two large rooms but the primers were taught in the small building called "The little school". For some time this was the only hall in the town, weddings and concerts being held in it. I can remember seeing one wedding there, I think it was that of a Mr Dance and a Miss Toomey. Once I went with my mother to hear a gramophone demonstration. The gramophone, with its big black horn-speaker, stood on a table, sending forth a speech of some sort, and afterwards all the people were saying to each other, "Wasn't it wonderful"?
Later on, three other large rooms were added to the school and the little hall was either demolished or removed. Once a ceremony was held, when a number of wattle trees were planted. Just in front of the school with three bridges over it, a railway ran, carrying quartz from a mine in the side of the Martha Hill. To commemorate its 75th year, an outline story of the school was told by Mr Dan McPherson in Journal 4.
I was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and came with my parents to Thames, and then Waihi, at the age of two, living in Waihi for eight years. We then went to Katikati, and I was married in 1911 to a farmer, a son of Katikati pioneers, and we farmed at Aongatete for 30 years. Now widowed, I live in Katikati town, and have 18 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.