Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter and deputy principal Rie Morris in front of photographs of the colonial explorers that the school's houses are named after. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter and deputy principal Rie Morris in front of photographs of the colonial explorers that the school's houses are named after. Photo / Andrew Warner
For 93 years the names of four colonial explorers have proudly rung out through the halls of Rotorua Boys' High School.
But the pride in those names has this year been questioned. Now the school has taken a bold step and scrapped them.
Principal Chris Grinter said they did some research into the actions of Sir Walter Raleigh/Ralegh, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir Francis Drake - and found they had been involved and implicated in slavery as they worked to spread the colonial movement worldwide.
Grinter told the Rotorua Daily Post those actions did not fit with the school.
"We have come to the decision that we will leave those four explorers behind."
He said the school hadn't been fully aware of the four men's pasts as they hadn't researched them before. But the Black Lives Matter movement had seen the school look into all aspects of the school's cultural awareness.
In consultation with Ngāti Whakaue, the new house names have come from the school's pepeha (places and people you are connected to) and were revealed to the school this week at the senior prizegiving.
"This pepeha defines us as a school and a place ... Combined they are unique to us," Grinter told the senior prizegiving this week.
Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter and deputy principal Rie Morris in front of photographs of the colonial explorers that the school's houses are named after. Photo / Andrew Warner
The new houses are Ngongotahā (red), which was formerly Drake, Utuhina (green) which was formerly Raleigh, Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe (blue) which was formerly Nelson and Te Akitu a Raukura (yellow) which was formerly Frobisher.
When the names were read out, there was a rousing round of applause from staff and students - which Grinter admitted he was relieved about.
"I wasn't sure what the reaction would be like. I thought some of the old boys might be 'hey hey hey' ... But it's time, it's the right time.
"Even though these explorers might have served us proud for some 93 years, we will formally lay them to rest through whakamoea at our junior prizegiving this year."
Deputy principal Rie Morris said the whakamoea would involve several karakia and a presenting of the house flags to the archivist of the school.
Morris said they thanked Ngāti Whakaue koeke for their help and guidance during the process.
The school's move comes after Tauranga Girls' College last month dropped two of its house names because they were named after men, kept from the pre-1958 co-educational Tauranga College era.
The school has dropped physicist Lord Ernest Rutherford and war hero Lord Bernard Freyberg and has established three new houses named after women.
"The days of these four colonial explorers and their relationship to the slave trade, need now to reside in the archives of the history of our school."
The club said while they had only flown the Confederate flag to acknowledge the battles that come with teams racing and to recognise the courageous efforts of their drivers, events in America reignited the original meaning.
