I started school on 3 February in 1931.

275 people were killed that day. The school was Mahora, the town was Hastings. It was the day of one of New Zealand’s deadliest earthquakes.

          The women and children were evacuated. All the men had to stay to look for bodies, and to help clean up the mess.

          It was many days before I had my second day at school.

          My school days were not happy days. We were strapped (belted on the hand) for every spelling mistake we made. I can assure you this was no way to teach, and it didn’t work.

          My parents moved house so I was transferred to a new school, Hastings Central.

          Later I attended Hastings High School where I learnt to enjoy classical music. I remember getting into a fight with the class bully and breaking his nose. Having had some boxing lessons at the local gym gave me an advantage.

          My father was transferred to Hawera as the manager of the Savings Bank so I was schooled at the Hawera Technical High School.

          I did not do well at school but I made the 1st XV in their rugby team and this helped build my confidence.

          In both towns I enjoyed Baden Powell’s scouts. I suspect I learned more from scouts than at school, and I made many scouting friends.

          At 16 I left school to become a farming cadet. I had no qualifications. My scout master, Harry Schapper was a Farm Manager for the Hawera Farmers Co-op. He moved me from farm to farm to gain experience. Harry ended up a Professor at the University of Western Australia. 

          I wanted to apply to join the Fleet Air Arm, to travel to see the world. As I was under age I needed my father’s permission. He was happy to give it if I had a qualification, and a permanent job to come back to at the end of the war. He had seen too many people returning from a war looking for work.

          I was working on a farm at Waitotara at that time so I built a study table and a place to put a kerosene lamp as we had no power in our workers hut. I enrolled with the Correspondence School and started back with my studies.

          It wasn’t easy after a day’s hard manual work. Eventually I achieved my Public Service Entrance exam – the lowest qualification. I got a job with the Department of Agriculture as a clerical cadet, and was selected for training for the Fleet Air Arm as an NA 2 (Navel Airman 2nd class). I travelled by sea, around the world.

          After the war ended and I was discharged, I told the Personnel Manager at the Department of Agriculture that I wished to study for a field job. He said you do a degree, or we are not interested in you – that’s our policy now.

          My father thought I should give it a go and without the background, I set off and ended up with a B.Agr.Sc. from the University of New Zealand. It was not easy but somehow I sneaked through.

          In June 1993 I was asked to give the ‘keynote address’ at the New Zealand Primary Principals Federation Conference to a packed Dunedin Town Hall. I have no idea why I was invited to give this address.

          I told the Principals to stop ‘moaning’ about their profession and for them to set high standards, improve their qualifications, and recruit only the best. I said education was the ‘keystone’ of a successful nation.

          With hindsight it seems you don’t have to be an academic to be successful, just  a hard  ‘pig headed’ worker. People who dwell on past glories will lose the future, so look forward not backwards.

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

“Waste no time in vain regrets,”