Nor'West News: September 09, 2021

10
Thursday September 9 2021
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NOR’WEST NEWS
Retired teacher keeps up with the past
• By Fiona Ellis
A PASSION for history has
taken Paul O’Connor around the
world – but these days it takes
him to the Papanui RSA twice a
month.
Now retired from a history
teaching career that provided
him with opportunities to travel
everywhere from Antarctica
to Asia, he helps run a history
group at the RSA for his local
branch of the University of the
Third Age or U3A.
The organisation is for people
who, like him, are looking for an
alternative to swinging golf clubs
in their retirement, he said.
“It’s for people who wish to
keep their brains active.”
About 20 people belong to the
history group. If they want to,
the members take turns giving
presentations on events of the
past that pique their interest.
“For example, about a month
ago I gave a presentation on the
controversy which occurred after
World War 1 when it came to
the creation of war memorials in
Christchurch,” O’Connor said.
“The next presentation would
be on historical art heists.
“It’s a very eclectic group of
topics . . . as a former teacher, it’s
up my alley, really.”
The group also provides a good
opportunity for older people to
socialise.
“Essentially, it’s about not sitting
around, not waiting to die,
for people who feel their working
lives are over.”
O’Connor first became aware
of U3A when a member asked
him to give a guest lecture on
New Zealand society during
World War 1. “When he said ‘I
belong to U3A’, I actually, to be
honest, had to go and look it up.”
O’Connor joined in 2017,
the year after he finished up a
35-year term at Burnside High
School, where he headed the history
department.
His passion for the subject
started in his own school days at
HISTORICAL
VOICES:
Paul
O’Connor
digitises
old taped
interviews for
the Air Force
Museum of
New Zealand.
PHOTO:
AIR FORCE
MUSEUM
OF NEW
ZEALAND
St Thomas of Canterbury College.
“It was the influence of my old
school teacher, Emil Hall. He got
me interested in history.”
Armed with a masters degree
in history from Canterbury
University, he embarked on a 42-
year career in education.
As well as teaching, O’Connor
was also a chief examiner under
both the school certificate and
NCEA systems, and he was twice
chairman of the New Zealand
History Teachers’ Association.
When students were
enthusiastic, it can be a “magic”
profession, he said.
“I always thought of it as a
useful and important job to be
done. It’s hard work . . . but it’s
rewarding.”
Author Eleanor Catton, who
won the Man Booker Prize in
2013 for The Luminaries, was the
most well known of O’Connor’s
former students.
Sometimes he encounters past
students when they
join the ranks of the teaching
profession, and he has to insist
they call him Paul rather than
Mr O’Connor.
In 2005, a Royal Society
teaching fellowship enabled him
to step away from the classroom
for a year to carry out a research
project called From Papanui
to Passchendaele. He said New
Zealand military history is a
particular personal interest.
“I don’t think New Zealand
has really understood the often
decisive role that the New
Zealand division played in
battles.”
•Turn to page 12
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