Ripapa Island for Year 11 History

In our Year 11 history class we’ve spent the term studying the tragic plunder of Parihaka and the passive resistant methods of Te Whiti and Tohu. On Tuesday 26 March we visited Ripapa Island. We explored the historical remains of the prison in which 150 innocent Parihaka Māori men were incarcerated without trial, a result of the ploughing protests concerning confiscated Taranaki land back in the 1800s.

We set out from school in two separate vans, arriving in Lyttelton around 10:00-10:30 am. After a confusing few rounds of circling along the maze-like roads of Rapaki, we finally found a place to park. The teachers rounded us into one group and we all followed them to the chapel. In Rapaki’s urupa we learned about the unmarked graves surrounding us and the Parihaka memorial dedicated to the aggrieved women left behind after the invasion.

Then we ventured to the dock and took a boat across to Ripapa Island. Once there we were allowed around forty minutes to explore the abandoned prisons and experience the place we’d been learning so much about. Fifty minutes of shenanigans and hide and seek in the underground fort (Ripapa was also a military defence fort with disappearing armstrong guns), we all sat down in the historical building adjacent to the tunnels. There we did a quick revision of all the facts we knew, and the winning team got lollipops.

The boat to the mainland eventually pulled up to Ripapa’s dock and we all piled back onboard, excited to pick up McDonalds on the way home.

When we finally pulled back into school, we had all shared a priceless day filled with education, laughter and Big Macs with fries. Thank you to the teachers who supported us on this journey, Mrs Lee and Ms Tregear.
Mele Bonner-Ofa’mo’oni