The Year 11 and 12 Drama students went on an exciting day outing to The Waterfront Theatre in Auckland to see a special school’s matinee performance of ‘Dawn Raids’ written by Oscar Kightley. This was a collaboration between Auckland Theatre Company and the Pacific Underground.

The Dawn Raids of 1974–76. was a time when the New Zealand police were instructed to stop people on the street and enter their homes checking for visas and passports to prove they had a right to be in the country. Dr Melani Anae describes these raids as ‘the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand’s history’. This play was especially poignant this year as the Prime Minister Jacinda Adern apologised to Pacific people's for the Dawn Raids and acknowledged the actions of the New Zealand government as "wrong, unjust and racist".

We began our journey to Auckland at 6am sharp as traffic can be an issue and arrived with plenty of time to spare. The show was amazing, well received with superb acting, a great set, lighting and live music. After the show the cast and directors did a Question and Answer session with our students.

Unfortunately, we had a delay before we left Auckland. With this however the students got to also experience true Auckland traffic as that 2 minute stop resulted in a 1.5 hour delay getting home! Overall, fun was had by all and I was surprised by the amazing music choices the students had on the bus on the way home.