Waikato Deaf Units Schools History

During my visit to Jacek N. last Sunday, the School for the Deaf in Auckland was a central topic. Jacek brought out a significant artifact, his 1964 book, School for the Deaf Kelston, from his collection. I informed him, ‘We will delve into this book on Tuesday afternoon, a task that aligns with my role as a deaf community support worker, not a historian.’

His book, a treasure trove of knowledge, was a bonus because I am waiting for more stories and answers to the questionnaires from ex-students, teachers, and parents/older siblings in the family. This year, I decided to move on by changing and reducing the stories, research, and photos in the book and this website.

Now, let’s delve deeper into the book to uncover more historical insights.
In 1964, there was a teacher of the Deaf named Miss J. Ross in one Deaf Unit at Hamilton West School, Waikato. In the principal’s note, Dr Darcy Dale wrote about installing another new classroom in Hamilton West in 1965. A visitor from Detroit, USA, will visit the schools in Auckland and Hamilton. This visitor was Dr. Harriet Kopp, who was a speech therapist. I will explore her life and role in Deaf Education here and in Detroit, USA. One of the ex-students – Julie C., told me about someone from overseas who came to New Zealand and spoke to the parents of the Deaf children. Julie’s mother told her about the questionnaires, and I had not seen the answers until we made time for an interview.

Moving on, we came across the drawings from the ex-D/deaf students, and the names of D/deaf students of Hamilton West popped into my eyes. These were not just names but individuals I had the privilege of knowing: Richard, Robert, Julie Clayton, Linda, Ellen, Meiana, and Steve. Let’s see their drawings here.

What is the connection between the School of the Deaf Kelston, Titirangi, and Hamilton West School? Before 1964, there were three Schools for the Deaf, and they were Sumner Institution for the Deaf (and Dumb), South Island in 1880, Titirangi School for the Deaf in 1942, Auckland, North Island, Island Bay, Wellington in 1944, North Island. Hamilton West School, Waikato, started in 1952, and several other schools followed. Today, there are two Deaf Education Centres based on the North Island and South Island: joint Education Schools for the Deaf. Between 1944 and 1970, there was an increasing number of classrooms in Kelston (1955) after Titirangi School for the Deaf/Boarding was too small to cope with a large number of new Deaf children and closed down and many students moved to Kelston, Auckland, Hamilton West from one classroom to three classrooms and St Dominics, Kawakawa (Fielding) in 1955 while Island Bay School for the Deaf was too small to coped many new Deaf children in the small classroom and closed down where many students attended to the new school in Kawakawa.

The epidemic outbreak between 1950s and 1970s and the highest number of rubella between 1964 and 1965 and Waikato was the higest rates between 1964 and 1970s according to the data from Waikato Hositpal through my research. I was one of the highest number of D/deaf children in 1964.

https://www.immune.org.nz/diseases/rubella#:~:text=The%20last%20such%20outbreak%20started,of%20immunisation%20in%20the%20community. The impact of this epidemic was profound, shaping the lives of many D/deaf children.

New Zealand had suspected rubella outbreaks in 1898-99, another in 1939, and in 1995, there was a rubella epidemic with 1600 confirmed cases. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/115538200/devastating-effects-of-polio-and-rubella-have-faded-from-our-collective-memory