Much to See at the Auckland War Memorial Museum

On Sunday we decided to go to visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  I particularly wanted to take in the Maori Cultural show, and Val wanted to revisit the war section.

I have always loved Maori music and culture and when I was growing up I admired my Maori girlfriends their musical talent and dexterity with the poi.

So I booked my ticket and we filled in time by visiting the Polynesian, Maori and Early Childhood  exhibits.  The latter brought back many memories of school days.  When we were at school  in the 1950′s all children were given milk to drink at playtime.  The bottles of milk were delivered to the school in crates and sat in a large box structure until it was time to be given to the kids.  I hated milk and more so as it was generally warm, Val on the other hand loved milk and would often try to get more than his alloction of one bottle.

The school dental nurse was a free service provided for all children. The dental room was commonly referred to as “The Murder House” and the dental nurse that we had at Newton Central was none to gentle.  Everyone dreaded the time when they would be called up for a dental check up.

I am sure that she was simply practising because even if you didn’t have any problems you still ended up with a mouth full of dental amalgam which is  a silver colored material used to fill teeth that have cavities that is made up of equal parts of a powder containing silver, tin,copper, zinc and other metals and liquid mercury. 

Dental amalgam has been in use for  over a hundred years because not only is it strong and durable, it is also a relatively inexpensive material but there have been some concerns about its use and there is ongoing research into whether or not mercury fillings are a health hazard.

Once we left primary school we thought we were made. The dental clinic at Kowhai had an electric operated drill whereas the one at Newton Central had been  a pedal operated foot drill.  I was lucky my mother took me to a private dentist so I no longer had to endure the school dentist, and my wonderful dentist had all the very latest in equipment.

Enid Blyton was a popular author of childrens books although she has since fallen foul of the politically correct brigade.  Almost every child had a golliwog, another toy that has fallen from grace.  My father made me a golly out of sacking that he had hand knotted with in  wool.  it had a bright red waistcoat, blue pants and was stuffed with kapok to give a rounded shape. I treasured that golly which unfortunately was lost some years ago.  So it was with pleasure that we saw both the books and the golliwogs in the museum.

Here is another old time favourite, Little Black Sambo.

Once you left primary school and went to high school the girls had to wear the regulation gym slip with white blouse, school tie, black bloomers, black stockings and heavy black lace up shoes.

 Check out the size of those bloomers behind the cricket bat.

The boys wore the school uniform with a tie, knee high socks that had to be kept in place with an elastic band so they didn’t fall down and black lace up shoes.

Filed under: Auckland • New Zealand

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