Dilworth Rural Campus

Tihei mauri ora.  Rau rangatira mā, o Tainui Iwi o tēnei kura - Te Haerenga, mihi mai, karanga mai ki ahau ki tēnei hui.  Tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.  Distinguished guests and I acknowledge the people of Tainui and Dilworth School thank you for your welcome.  In return I offer my warm greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Rt Rev Ross Bay, Bishop of Auckland; Derek Firth, Chairman of the Dilworth School Trust Board and fellow trustees; Donald MacLean, Principal of Dilworth School and John Rice, Head of the Rural Campus; and Corey Anderson, Head Prefect— tēnā koutou.

Thank you for inviting me to the Dilworth School Rural Campus—Te Haerenga, at Mangatawhiri, to open this new campus.  Before unveiling a plaque to that end, I want to speak about the significance of this new campus.

This is not the first new facility I have opened at a school since I was appointed as the Governor-General six months ago.  In the last five weeks I have opened the Chapel Close at King’s College in south Auckland, a multi-purpose sports complex at Diocesan School for Girls in central Auckland and the Preparatory School Learning Centre at St Andrew’s College in Christchurch.

Opening those new school facilities was special, because it represented a commitment to the development young people — New Zealand’s greatest taonga — and our faith in the power of education to transform lives. 

Dilworth School has a proud history of transforming lives.  I salute today as Founders Day, the day the school celebrates its founder, James Dilworth, who had an impressive record of public service. He was an exceptional man who supported numerous public causes, including the kindergarten movement and the YMCA, and who had education close to his heart.  Having no children of their own, together with his wife Isabella, they decided to invest in the children of the future by bequeathing their significant wealth to the establishment of a school for boys from families that had suffered some family misfortune and who needed assistance to provide an education they wanted for their boys.

The lives transformed by this school are legion.  Its alumni include rugby player James Arlidge; former Prime Minister and head of the World Trade Organisation and now New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States, Mike Moore; and my predecessor as Governor-General, the late Sir David Beattie.  I particularly want to acknowledge his wife, Lady Beattie, who is here today.

While most people remember Sir David as a lawyer, judge, royal commissioner and Governor-General, few know that being accepted into Dilworth School provided a start that shaped his approach to life and instilled in him a compassion for others that marked his subsequent career.  His brother John was also a Dilworth student, who later lost his life with the RAF during the Second World War.  Sir David served as Chair of the School Trustees in the years immediately before he was appointed as Governor-General in 1980 and I look forward to congratulating the recipients of this year’s David Stuart Beattie Awards later in this ceremony.

This new rural campus takes the transformation of the lives of boys and young men to a new level.  Based on the concept of Te Haerenga, a waka journey, it will take all year 9 students out of their comfort zone.  The year will see them progress from manning the waka, casting off and then heading out to sea to explore new horizons by undertaking project and community-based work.  By combining academic studies with outdoor education and community life it offers the opportunity for the boys to develop knowledge and understanding of being independent, of mixing and socialising and of team work.

I want to congratulate the Board and management of Dilworth School for its innovative move in establishing this rural campus and the programme it offers. 

To the boys: this school wants to empower and equip you to be the best you can be.  This campus and programme offers year 9 students a unique opportunity to deliver on that mission in a new way.  It comes at a critical point in your lives as you change from being boys to young men, and from being dependent children to independent adults who  are fully fledged citizens of our society.

To close, I would like to quote Colin Quincey who, in 1977, became the first man to row the Tasman from New Zealand to Australia, and whose exploits resonate with the concept of Te Haerenga.  He scribbled the following words on the deck beams of his boat, Tasman Trespasser:

“Every man needs a little madness, or else he never dares to cut the rope—and be free! The day that mankind ceases to have the courage, the determination, the imagination, to cut that rope will be the saddest, most retrograde day of all for our civilisation, and I sincerely hope I’m not around if it occurs. We can only prevent it happening by allowing our young people access to the rope and giving them a knife, if they want it.”

It seems fitting that his son, Shaun, became the first person to row the other way, from Australia to New Zealand in 2010.  So I say to all who will study, learn and live here—keep cutting the ropes that hold you back and take every opportunity to explore new horizons, both here and in the future.  Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.