The Lilburne Rata Archive of New Zealand Education, 1870s – 1970s
The Lilburne Rata Archive of New Zealand Education is a collection of school syllabus
documents and associated classroom material from the 1870s to the 1970s. Our main aim in
compiling the Archive was to address the lack of historical records available to curriculum
researchers. We wanted to know exactly what was taught in New Zealand schools and to
capture the daily lives of teachers and pupils. Feeding that aim was our desire to provide
material that will enable contemporary oral accounts, many passed down the generations and
accepted uncritically as true, to be independently verified by historical documents. It is for
private study, research and teaching.
Overall, the documents do show that a society’s memory of the past may not always be as the
records show. That collective memory may often include the exceptional, the dramatic and
the disturbing. In contrast the Archive provides a more settled picture of life in the classroom
for generations of teachers and pupils since the 1870s. It reveals the many dedicated teachers
who used teaching methods such as ‘praise’ that we would consider progressive today.
Significantly too, despite the hardships experienced by families, especially on the 19 th century
and during the 1930s’ Depression, New Zealand children reached a high standard of literacy
and numeracy. What does stand out from reading the huge range of material in the Archive is
the national commitment to education, a commitment from Māori and non-Māori alike and
clearly visible from as early as the 1870s.
The material was collected by Katie Lilburne under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Rata.
Katie was a Bachelor of Education student at the University of Auckland and a University
Summer Scholar. In the summer of 2021/2022 she travelled to many parts of New Zealand
visiting libraries, museums, historical villages and archive offices in the search for historical
syllabus documents. These covered a wide range of material, from official syllabus
documents to teacher lesson plans as well as fascinating personal accounts of life in the
classroom. We wish to thank the librarians and archivists, many of whom are volunteers, for
their practical assistance in locating the material but in particular for their enthusiasm for our
project. Without their generous help we would not have such a range and quality of
curriculum records.
The Archive has been compiled in digital form in order to make it easily accessible for
academic researchers, students and the general public.
You can locate documents and information from the 1870s-1980s through the Archive Drive
itself. Alternatively you can use the Spreadsheet to help you narrow down some more
specific options.
https://sites.google.com/view/lilburne-rata-archive-nz/home
We are keen to continue building the Archive and welcome any contributions.
If you have anything you would like to add to the archive don't hesitate to email Katie
Lilburne at lilburnearchivenzed@gmail.com or Elizabeth Rata at e.rata@auckland.ac.nz