Source: Radio New Zealand
A group of Wellington students has turned a page on history, moving some of the last books into the capital’s redeveloped central Library.
Te Matapihi has been closed since 2019 after it was deemed earthquake-prone.
Following years of construction, the library is set to reopen in March next year. Now, its shelves are starting to be filled once again with books, thanks to the helping hands of 50 students from Rongotai College.
About 10am on Monday, a queue of boys snaked outside the library as they lined up behind a red Crown moving truck ready to slide boxes of books to the students.
The human train walked back into the building and up its three levels to where empty bookshelves and librarians were waiting for them.
It harkened back to when students from the same school moved books into the old city library in 1940.
Rongotai College Deputy Principal Geoff Hall told RNZ they had just 45 minutes to move the books.
“I’d be more than happy for it to go on a little bit longer than that, I think it is really good that these boys are giving back to the community as much as anything.
“And every time I suppose they shift a book, they feel that story.”
Hall said it was great to context with the school’s past 85 years on.
“We have got our centenary in two years’ time, so it is sort of a good way to kick start that I think.”
Wellington City Council head of Creative Capital Gisella Carr told RNZ the event links the past with the present.
“As we said to the boys this morning, in 85 years’ time through our archival function those future schoolboys will be looking at pictures of these schoolboys.”
Carr said every inch of the building has been redesigned with the public in mind.
“We are standing on the floor now where there is 30 percent more public space available so it is amazing.”
She said alongside the books the library would offer a range of services such as recording studios for bands and podcasters and a green screen for film makers.
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little helped out the students by bringing a box of books into the space.
Little told RNZ it was his first time seeing the library fully fitted out after it shut in 2019.
“Seeing it like this yeah, just stunning it is actually just amazing.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
