Turakina Māori Girls' College (1905 to 2016) was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for young

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

women. The school was founded in

Turakina, New Zealand } Turakina is an old Māori people, Māori settlement situated southeast of Whanganui city on the North Island of New Zealand. Turakina village derives its name from the Turakina River, which cut its passage to the sea from a source south of Waio ...

, in 1905, by A. G. Hamilton.. It was relocated to Marton in 1927, but retained its previous name. The Hamilton Memorial Library of the college was dedicated to its founder in 1939. At the time Māori girls' colleges such as this one were founded, the New Zealand government had no state colleges for Māori girls, but rather funded the education of girls selected as the best from their village schools at denominational schools such as the one at Turakina. At the colleges, they learned domestic skills with the object of turning them into "good women, good wives and good mothers". In 1931, 45 students were in residence at the school. The school closed in January 2016, having had financial and other problems over the previous ten years and with the roll dropping from 152 in 2003 to 47 in 2015. The minister

Hekia Parata Patricia Hekia Parata (born 1 November 1958) is a former New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2008 general election as a member of the New Zealand Nationa ...

said that the college had several problems, and had received nearly $9 million of taxpayer funding in the last five years.

References

Schools in Manawatū-Whanganui Boarding schools in New Zealand Presbyterian schools in New Zealand Girls' schools in New Zealand Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia Māori schools in New Zealand Defunct schools in New Zealand 1905 establishments in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1905 {{NewZealand-school-stub