A recent research enquiry had us looking through some of the Te Aute College class photographs, in the hopes that we could identify the researcher’s relative. We found the relative in this great photograph from 1910 featuring a dog in the front row, which, in turn, had us uncovering more tidbits of knowledge about the life and times of the students at Te Aute College during this time.
Uniforms, Scholarships and ‘Friday’ Paraire Hēnare Tomoana
The photograph above shows the boys at Te Aute College all dressed in smart matching uniforms. According to The Story of Te Aute College by R R Alexander, 1910 was the year the school adopted a school uniform.
Other significant events that year noted by Alexander were the establishment of Buller scholarships from a legacy left by Sir Walter Buller and that ‘Friday won the Māori Tennis Championship’.
Who was Friday? A student or a teacher, perhaps? Was this tennis championship an inter-school competition or a national event?
These questions led us down a rabbit hole of further research. Skimming through the book, reference was found to Mr Friday Tomoana sharing a teachers’ study and the lists of student admissions recorded that F Tomoana started at Te Aute College in 1887.
A search of Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand revealed an entry for Friday Tomoana. It turns out Friday’s full name was Paraire Hēnare Tomoana. Besides being a prefect and school captain, he was a talented athlete who later represented the Hawke’s Bay in tennis, cricket, hockey, golf, and rugby (photo above).
In 1910, he was the Māori singles tennis champion and won the doubles with Reverend T H Kātene. Friday was also a gifted composer and was responsible for one of our most well-known songs, Pōkarekare Ana, which he had written for his second wife, Kuini Rīpeka Raerena.
To learn more about Paraire Hēnare Tomoana, this remarkable Te Aute College old boy, you can read his biography here on the Te Ara website.
More on Te Aute College
Te Kura O Te Aute/Te Aute College, located in Pukehou, Hawkes Bay, was opened with 12 students in 1854 as the Ahuriri Native Industrial School under the leadership of Anglican missionary, Samuel Williams.
On Pūmotmoto, you will find more photographs from the Te Aute Collection. The School’s archival records are held on behalf of the Te Aute Trust Board in the Anglican Archives at the John Kinder Theological Library.