Onehunga School and Community House (83 Selwyn Street)

The Anglican and Catholic churches provided schools for the children of Onehunga until 1872, when the Auckland Province took over the Anglican school. A new building was constructed on Selwyn Street in 1876 and then replaced in 1901. However, the school was still regularly oversubscribed, to the extent that one class in 1936 had to be taught on the porch. Former pupils include the author Jane Mander and the rugby icon Jonah Lomu. The school moved next door and the building was about to be demolished in 1981 before a group of locals saved it and turned it into a community centre.

The ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ blocks opposite were not toilets—they were the woodwork and cookery classrooms, respectively.

Continue walking along Selwyn Street, crossing the road at the indicated crossing. At Grey Street, turn left.