Nor'West News: February 13, 2018

8 Tuesday February 13 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
NOR’WEST NEWS
Your Local Views
History group revived
St Albans
History Group
chairman
David Spear
writes
about the
regeneration
of the group
following the earthquakes
The St Albans History Group
grew out of a bus trip around the
suburb in 1998 organised by the
late Muriel Soanes.
She had been a leader in the
movement to oppose the planned
motorway through the area and
had an extensive knowledge of
the history of the suburb.
Mrs Soanes lived in St Albans
all her life and, in fact, at that
time was living in the house in
which she was born some 100
years earlier.
A number of those who enjoyed
the bus trip and were interested
in the history experience felt that
there was a need to establish a
history group in the area.
A public meeting was called
and from a considerable attendance,
a small committee was
formed and a group of interested
members began meeting on a
monthly basis.
Initially these meetings were
held in private homes, but once
the St Albans Resource Centre
at the former St Albans library
came into being, we used this as
a base.
Of course members aged, they
moved from the district and
numbers declined.
The earthquakes shook the
life out of much of our work and
regular meetings ceased.
The remaining members kept
in touch and did their best to not
only record the history of the
area, publish articles of general
interest in the community news,
and act as a point of reference for
those wishing to preserve the history
of the suburb.
More recently, meetings have
been revived and the group again
meets monthly to discuss recent
discoveries and share knowledge
of the area.
The book Swamp to Suburb
TIME: The St Albans History Group meets monthly to share
stories about the area.
published in 1989 by the Federation
of University Women
provides a wealth of information
and it has always been our aim
to extend this information and
record further topics not fully
covered.
Over the years topics researched
have included notable
identities, local natural features,
prominent buildings and local
industries.News sheets have been
produced recording the information
and they have provided the
basis for articles in the community
news.
The group had hoped to
obtain copies of photos of early
St Albans but these have proved
elusive. A collection of portraits
of the mayors of the borough
remains incomplete with two also
eluding us.
Archaeology is rather thin on,
or rather under the ground, in St
Albans. In general terms the area
has been subjected to not much
over 160 years of human activity.
Unlike the United Kingdom,
NOSTALGIA: Papanui Rd at
St Albans in 1906. PHOTO:
CHRISTCHURCH CITY
LIBRARIES
we don’t have layers of Stone
Age, Iron Age, Roman, Medieval
and Tudor occupation evident in
excavations.
However, the history of St Albans
is rich in human affairs.
The people who lived there and
the many who still do, provide an
insight into what was going on in
our city.
Recent natural disasters may
have damaged and destroyed
buildings and we may have lost
forever the bricks and mortar but
the history of St Albans remains
intact. The history of the area is
the story of the residents.
•The history group can be
reached through Sandra
Wilson at the temporary
Community Centre at the
St Albans Tennis Club in
Dover St or by email to
briangspear@hotmail.com.
Chairman of the Papanui
Heritage Group Murray
Williams writes about
the establishment of the
Papanui Primary School
dental clinic
The first official indicator of
the sorry state of New Zealanders’
dental health was revealed
when a significant number of
men were turned down for
military service in World War 1
because of the poor condition of
their teeth.
Eventually the Government
realised that any improvement
would have to start with better
care of children’s teeth and in
1921 a commitment was made to
provide for Government funding
of the training of young women
as dental nurses who then were
deemed competent to care for
primary school children’s teeth
The Papanui School clinic was
opened in May 1930 and the services
of the dental nurse were to
be shared with Waimairi School.
Parents were obviously keen
to have their children’s dental
needs attended to but were not
impressed when it was revealed
that they were expected to pay
some of the expenses.
In October 1933, the Papanui
School committee determined
that parents would be charged
2/6 (25 cents) per child or five
shillings (50 cents) per family as
an annual levy.
It was pointed out that this was
still much cheaper that the cost
of private dental care.
Parents who could not afford
MURDER
HOUSE: A
historical
shot of
what the
Papanui
Primary
School
dental
clinic
would
have
looked
like.
Murder house memories
the school charge could apply
to the school committee to have
the fees waived but by 1935 even
better-off parents were refusing
to pay the charge.
In 1934, the Waimairi County
Council had offered to supply
electric power to the clinic at no
cost to the school, thus reducing
running expenses.
In August 1934, the Papanui
school dental nurse offered an
annual prize to the child with
the cleanest teeth but even this
inducement probably did little
to change juvenile attitudes to
attending the ‘murder house.’
It was not unknown for pupils
summoned for their turn in the
chair to take an unscheduled but
speedy trip home.
Instruments were sterilised
with boiling water. Wall posters
exhorted children to clean their
teeth regularly. The chair was
wooden with little scope for adjustment
for patient comfort.
However, the most feared feature
was the drill operated by the
nurse via a foot-operated treadle,
thus the speed of the procedure
was a direct function of the
energy applied.
By the end of the day a weary
nurse could have inadvertently
slowed the drill to create an even
more painful experience for the
young patient undergoing preparation
for a filling.
Reference: Transcript of
the Papanui Primary School
Committee minutes ex the
Mollie Chalklen papers.
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