THE OLD BATTLEAXE

Les Colbert of Dunedin will never forget ‘Ma Bowling’, the old battleaxe of a teacher 
who taught him in 1918.

The spritely 94 year old has fond memories of his schooldays apart from his Standard 
Five year.

Children did not have to go to school until they were six but Mr Colbert first stepped 
into a classroom when he was five. His family lived in South Road so he went to 
Caversham School but he was not there for long.

“Cows used to be driven along South Road to the saleyards on Wednesdays and 
sometimes Tuesdays. The cattle frightened me and I used to duck for cover behind 
anybody’s house.

“I was sick of this so I said: ‘I’m not going to school anymore’ and I didn’t.”

By the time Mr Colbert had turned six in 1912 his family had shifted away from 
Caversham so he was enrolled at the North East Valley School away from menace of 
huge cattle beasts.

The headmaster was Mr O.D. Flamank, nicknamed Old Daddy Flamank by the pupils.

“Not a bad sort of a bloke but he was like a policeman. We used to hide from him!”

After Mr Colbert had been at the school for two or three years he noticed with horror 
a teacher who had previously been at Caversham School – the dreaded Ma Bowling.

“She was a fright to us – she used to strap the children for no reason at all. She was a 
tall woman but she used to stand up on a form to make sure she was high up. 

“She’d take her strap with both hands, up over her head, then whack! And the poor 
kids had to have their hands out while this great big ogre was strapping.”

Mr Colbert was able to steer clear of the feared teacher until he reached Standard 
Five. He was a sickly child but Ma Bowling did not see why his frequent absences 
from class should excuse him from corporal punishment.

“I’d spend a couple of weeks at home, then a week or two at school then have another 
couple of weeks at home – I was in a bad way.

“One day she was asking questions and she asked me one. I told her I didn’t know. 
She told me to go to the front of the room to get the strap. I went out there and she 
told me to put out my hand. 

I said: ‘I wasn’t here when you were telling us all about this’. She replied: ‘Oh you 
big coward, get back to your seat!’”

In the earlier part of the 20th century children respected and even feared authority in 
general.

Mr Colbert remembers a policeman, Mr Chapman who lived in the next street.

“He was quite a nice bloke but when we saw him in his uniform walking down the 
street he was a terror and we used to dash for cover and keep out of his way in case he 
gave us a kick up the pants.”

Apart from Ma Bowling, North East Valley School was fun for Les Colbert. He was 
keen to meet his father’s high expectations and managed to make his parents proud of 
his achievements.

“We were graded. The people who were at the bottom of the class were always at the 
front and the best ones at the back.

“My father had been a teacher and if I wasn’t in the top one or two he would give me 
a hiding. He used to hound the life out of us – my brother who was two years older, 
my sister who was a couple of years younger and myself.

“I was always somewhere between Number One and Number Three all the way 
through to secondary school where I came top of the class so I think it was 
worthwhile in the finish.”

Les Colbert and his friends used to play a number of games during breaks between 
classes, including one called By the Door.

“We’d have half a dozen people on each side and there’d be a wall on their side and 
one on ours and we’d have a tennis ball. The side with the tennis ball would have to 
touch their wall with the ball. If you were grabbed by someone from the other team 
you would have to give them the ball. 

“So you’d put the ball behind your back, then the fella next to you would get the ball 
and when you rushed forward nobody knew who had the ball. If the person who had it 
put it on the wall your team would win a point. Then the other team would have a go.”
  
After finishing primary school Mr Colbert went to King Edward Technical College 
where he took a commercial course. It suited his abilities because he did not have to 
worry himself sick about making the grade.

“I never used to bother about swotting until it came to the end of the year when I had 
to swot like mad for a week before the exams.”

The school had a family atmosphere, Mr Colbert recalls.

“There was nothing like bullying. We were all good kids and were kept that way by 
the strap at home and school and everywhere.”

Les Colbert stayed at school until he was 17 because he wanted a ‘decent’ job. 
Ironically students who left school with fewer qualifications were better off initially.

“They finished up by doing just ordinary workmen’s jobs but they got bigger wages 
than we got at first because it was hard work whereas we had to start in an office 
where you got a tiddly wee wage of about 15 bob a week, if you were lucky.”

“By the end of a year you’d be up to a pound a week and after another whole year 
you’d be earning one pound five a week, which was tremendous.

“It would just about take you a lifetime before you got a liveable wage.”

 

This item from the Otago Age Concern Publication  Memories are Made of This
is used with permission
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