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From reporter Hamish McNeilly:
A small Dunedin school with links to a saint is set to close amid falling student numbers.
Bishop of Dunedin Michael Dooley confirmed St Joseph’s School, in Port Chalmers, would close on January 27 next year.
The school, which began in 1882, had a roll of … View moreFrom reporter Hamish McNeilly:
A small Dunedin school with links to a saint is set to close amid falling student numbers.
Bishop of Dunedin Michael Dooley confirmed St Joseph’s School, in Port Chalmers, would close on January 27 next year.
The school, which began in 1882, had a roll of seven children in 2021, down from 16 in 2017.
The closure comes after a consultation process, which was initiated last year and approved by the associate minister of education.
“I acknowledge that the uncertainty around closure has been challenging for the pupils, staff, board, families, parish and wider community of St Joseph’s Port Chalmers,” Dooley said in a statement to the school community.
“I thank you for your patience and understanding as we have worked through the process with the added complication of the Covid crisis adding to the extended time frame.”
Dooley acknowledged the staff who had worked at the school over its 140 years, including Mother Mary MacKillop, who “left a lasting contribution to the charisma of the school when she was head teacher in the early years”.
MacKillop was recognised as a saint – Australia’s first – by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2010, and is known as Saint Mary MacKillop, or St Mary of the Cross.
MacKillop arrived in Dunedin in 1898 and was the first head of the refurbished St Joseph’s, which was previously called St Mary’s School.
With the impending closure, Dooley said: “It is important that we document and celebrate the many achievements of the school as the final chapter in its history draws to an end.
“I am committed to supporting the community at this challenging time and working with them to explore options for the future use of the facilities.
In 2019 the property had a capital valuation of $905,000.
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From reporter Debbie Jamieson:
June Baptista has spent three years singing the praises of Queenstown’s bus services. Six weeks ago that stopped.
The retired teacher doesn’t have a car so relies on buses to get to appointments and to the local high school to do relief teaching. But … View moreFrom reporter Debbie Jamieson:
June Baptista has spent three years singing the praises of Queenstown’s bus services. Six weeks ago that stopped.
The retired teacher doesn’t have a car so relies on buses to get to appointments and to the local high school to do relief teaching. But suddenly the buses stopped turning up.
“One evening I waited for more than an hour at the bus stop.
“Later I was told there was a reduced timetable, so I looked at the new timetable when I had to get a booster shot in town. It still didn’t come for an hour and I missed the appointment.”
Baptista is among the many bus users complaining about changes that have led to less frequent services, irregular arrivals and sometimes no buses not turning up at all.
Those affected include school children, workers, tourists and Otago regional councillor Alexa Forbes.
The regional council is responsible for providing bus services and Forbes, who lives in Queenstown and is a regular bus user, is chairperson of the Otago regional transport committee.
She said she was “nice and early” to catch a bus to an event in Arrowtown from the Frankton bus hub, but it never arrived.
“Despite the website saying it was 10 minutes away, nothing happened.”
The next bus was running 40 minutes late because of congestion from skiers coming down from Coronet Peak, and she ended up getting a ride with a friend.
Bus driver shortages are being felt across the country. In mid-July, the Otago Regional Council introduced a temporarily reduced timetable for Queenstown and Dunedin services.
This week, it said it was short 39 public transport bus drivers.
A full timetable would not be reinstated “in the short term”, transport manager Doug Rodgers said.
Queenstown Lakes mayor Jim Boult put the problem down to wages, which were about $23 an hour.
“A cleaner around here can get $27 to $28 an hour these days – no wonder they are having trouble getting drivers.”
In Auckland, bus drivers’ pay was bumped up in July to an average of about $25.62 an hour. In Wellington in December, the rate went up to $27 an hour.
The regional council and Waka Kotahi provide the bulk of bus driver wages, but bus contractor Ritchies sets the pay rate in Queenstown.
The company manager could not be reached for comment.
On Wednesday, the regional council agreed on an unbudgeted increase to ensure all drivers are paid at least the living wage as of September 1 – $23.65.
It was an increase of 90 cents, according to Rodgers, and would cost the council almost $500,000 a year.
Rodgers said the driver shortage was the sole reason for the reduced timetable, but Boult and Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins saw wider problems and wanted their councils to have more control of local bus services.
Control of bus services currently sits with regional councils.
Last week, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced a new “sustainable public transport framework” would replace that model, opening the door for more involvement from district and city councils.
This was welcomed by Boult, who provided much of the momentum behind the new, cheaper and more frequent Queenstown $2 bus service, which started in 2017.
“I’d have to say that I’m disappointed, particularly post-Covid ... that the ball has been dropped and we’re seeing services curtailed and I’m getting complaints.
“When the $2 bus was introduced we probably had a public transport system that was envied by every council. That has been eroded.”
After months of waiting, the mayors have secured an informal meeting with Otago Regional Council officials later this week.
However, Forbes warned that there would not be a quick fix.
A new governance structure would be needed, then funding would have to be considered.
“There won’t be more money in the public pot. Somehow or other the councils involved are going to figure out how this will be funded,” she said.
In Wellington and Auckland, driver pay rises were achieved by increasing rates.
Baptista hoped changes would be made soon, so she would no longer have to wait an hour for a bus that may never come.
“Can you imagine wasting all that energy and time waiting when you could have done something more productive?”
A pair behind a food truck offering $4 takeaway meals were surprised on their opening night to see a queue stretching down the street.
The Dunedin Bowling Club officially opened for business in South Dunedin on Matariki, June 24, and since then have regularly sold out of food – and even won an … View moreA pair behind a food truck offering $4 takeaway meals were surprised on their opening night to see a queue stretching down the street.
The Dunedin Bowling Club officially opened for business in South Dunedin on Matariki, June 24, and since then have regularly sold out of food – and even won an award for best sustainable business.
“It was a very steep learning curve,” said Liam Arthur of the opening night where he and co-owner Jackie Bannon served 300 meals. Many of those were free to customers who had shared their Facebook post.
“It was pretty stressful, I don’t like to think about it,” Bannon said.
The food truck, which offers $4 meals to those who bring their own bowl, was now even busier, but the work was getting easier for the pair.
They regularly sold out, serving between 300 and 350 meals a night.
It was pleasing to see how many donations the social enterprise business had received so others could enjoy free meals, Bannon said.
“We don’t ask any questions, we assume that people aren’t going to abuse the system.”
A charity had already been in contact wanting to distribute some free food vouchers, which had been purchased by others.
“We trust our community members to know who really needs it, as opposed to us,” Arthur said.
The menu at The Bowling Club, so named because of the bowls people bring, varied depending on what day it was, but Friday was “curry night”.
The business operated in the car park of the South Dunedin Community Network on King Edward St between 3.30pm to 8pm every Monday and Friday.
Originally the truck started with four main meals on rotation, but after conducting a poll, Bannon and Arthur decided to cut one of the meals.
Instead, they introduced a new system where a new menu item was added on Monday.
This week featured BBQ beans and grits in homage to Bannon, who came from the United States.
One eye-opening part of the business was seeing the type of bowls or containers people would bring. They ranged from former margarine tubs to a cut-down Just Juice plastic bottle.
Bannon said the only major issue they had encountered was capacity.
“We don’t have any more physical space to make any more food than what we are doing,” she said.
A physical space, rather than the food truck, was one possible idea to remedy the problem, but the pair preferred to remain in South Dunedin.
Arthur said they were able to keep costs down by buying wholesale, and decided early on to move away from chicken and pork on the menu to vegetarian options.
Bannon said the business, which earlier this month won the best sustainable award from Keep Dunedin Beautiful, were hoping to expand and employ others to work at the food truck.
“We are really stoked with how it has gone, we are excited with how much people have got behind it... It feels great to serve really nice food which is mainly plant-based, and is really cheap and delicious,” Arthur said.
Please drop off to 53 Bond Street. We really appreciate your support. We are open 10-4pm today and Saturday 10-3pm
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Original Graphite drawing. I spent a lot of hours on this lovely drawing. Its all been treated with a fixative and will last a lifetime.
Frame measures 60cm x 40cm. This is an original drawing, not a copy.
Acrylic painting of Waldronville Estuary. This is the second painting in a series titled "Under a Southern Sky"
Painting size is approx 61cm x 31cm
Painting measures 30inches by 15 inches. It is painted in acrylics and varnished so the painting is protected. Painted on box canvas.
This painting was done with the "pink" exhibition in mind that has not long finished at the railway station. The budgie being Floyd. Measures 13" x 9.5" and is painted in acrylics on box canvas.
Tredlite size 7 steel toed sneakers, barely worn. Pick up green island. Great condition.
Welcome Swallow having a drink in mid flight. Frame measures 18 inches x 13.5 inches.
Pick up Green Island.
Frame measures 10 x 8 inches.
Drawing done in polychromos pencils.
Pick up Green Island.
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