Kaiwarra School Centenary

Note: The term 'Kaiwarra' was commonly used by Wellingtonians as the colloquial form of the correct and full name of 'Kaiwharawhara' , a small settlement located around the bottom of the Ngaio Gorge. Following the near-complete collapse of the local residential population in the 1970s, the use of the term 'Kaiwarra'  declined and Kaiwhararawhara returned as the name for the area which is generally used today.

Once one of the smallest school in Wellington, Kaiwarra School serviced the working-class population which once lived around the Kaiwharawhara area. The area grew as an industrial zone from the 1870s, often specialising in the storage of dangerous goods (e.g. fuels, explosives and chemicals) or in what were termed 'offensive'  trades (e.g. fellmongery, leather tanning and soap manufacture). These businesses had gradually been forced to relocate beyond the urban boundaries of Wellington City due to increasing regulations following the establishment of the City Council in 1870. In the 1920s the Railways Department also created a railway workers settlement on the eastern side of the Ngaio Gorge. This led to a rise in the population and the school was moved from School Road and rebuilt on a new site in Fore Street (believed to be the steepest street in Wellington). 

In the 1960s, the changing nature of the industries based in the area (less manufacturing and more warehousing) and the abandonment of the railway settlement led to a collapse in the residential population. As a result of this, the Wellington Education Board decided to close the school at the end of 1977 though they retained ownership of the site and buildings. In the early 1990s the school reopened as Te Ara, a small secondary school for students with special needs.

You can read more about the original school and the history of the area at the link below.