Charlie Herbert at 100. Part I of II

My father, educator C M (Charles MacKenzie) Herbert, would have turned 100 this month. His career was multi-faceted, and to his last days he showed a keen interest in life-long education. 

Charlie Herbert, 86, addressing CLASS (1) Conference 2008.

When looking back on the educational influences that shaped his life, Charlie identified seven stages. His notes on these stages are with his papers in the Alexander Turnbull Library(2), and he also discussed them with me shortly before his death.

1/Early years
Charlie was born on June 4, 1921 in Cromwell, Central Otago. His father, Charles John Herbert, worked as a guard on the Public Works Department train. His mother, Margaret MacKenzie, was a Scottish nurse from the village of Lochcarron.
A month after his birth the Herberts, along with Margaret's sister Chrissie and her husband Jack Sharman, were transferred to Matata in the Bay of Plenty. Charlie's sister Violet was born here in 1923, and the Sharmans were like second parents to them. The two families were moved to a succession of public works settlements. Until he was  nine Charlie had never switched on a light, answered a telephone, or got hot water from a tap; and he had attended five schools. 

Charlie Herbert with his sister Violet & his mother Margaret, Matata, 1926.

A stable and happy period in Charlie's boyhood was the five years, 1932-1926, when the family lived at Waitaki Hydro in North Otago. He wrote in his notes, "I had teachers of great ability, particularly Andy Davidson and A W F O'Reilly, who knocked me into shape. I matriculated(3) after three years." 

Charlie Herbert is centre front and Charlie Snr back left in this photo at Waitaki Hydro, ca.1934

After his mother's death in early 1937 Charlie spent a year at Christchurch Boys' High School but was "lost in a big school."

2/Formative years 1938-1948
In November 1937, aged 16, Charlie was accepted as a cadet in the Public Service and moved to Wellington. He spent two years in the Treasury, which was a small, closely knit department. He was persuaded to join a public speaking and debating group, and gained confidence for the first time. In 1939, he did History I and Geography I at Victoria University College. A strong influence was John Beaglehole who, Charlie wrote, "tore me apart in front of the whole History class with respect to my first essay. I felt humiliated at the time but learned a lot."
This was followed by Teachers' College, and part-time Canterbury University, in 1940-1941. There George Jobberns, "taught a very human geography, always relating it to people and with a fund of stories."
In 1940, Charlie Senior, although well over military age, enlisted in the army with the help of a friend who was a recruiting sergeant. He sailed overseas in the Third Echelon and he died in hospital in Egypt at the age of 52.
In December 1941, Charlie was mobilised into his army territorial unit, New Zealand Scottish. The battalion want into camp in Dunedin. One evening he spotted a pretty girl singing in a church choir: Agnes (Bobby) Poulter. The two became engaged in 1943, shortly before he went overseas, having transferred to the RNZAF. He trained as a navigator in Canada then spent 18 months in the RAF Trainees' Pool (RAFTP) in the UK. His war service was a broadening experience for him, and a confidence builder. He arrived back in New Zealand in late January 1946, and he and Bobby were married the following month.

Charlie & Bobby Herbert, wedding day Feb. 1946. Herbert family collection

They settled in Christchurch where Charlie returned to university, graduating MA (Hons) in Geography. He and Bobby had their first child – I was born in 1947. Charlie could not get a job in Christchurch: "there was a queue at every school." Then he saw an advert for a new district high school in a new hydro town, Mangakino in the South Waikato.

3/Mangakino 1948-1951
Charlie found the four years in Mangakino exciting. He wrote in his notes, "You could see men changing a wasteland into a town and farmlands before your very eyes: the first tinge of green reaching to the horizon, the first birds and worms, the forests still young, the river turns into a lake."
He enjoyed the job challenge. "Form 5 History and Geography had a syllabus, but there was nothing for Form 3, so I could create my own... My emphasis was on people against a background of time and place. The starting point, and point of constant reference, was the local area (community) – a systematic study – and we would then go out in space and back in time."
Charlie learned the art and craft of teaching in Mangakino. He also pursued his keen interest in sports, qualifying in eleven of the twelve events for the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association (NZAAA) Diploma in Athletic coaching. In Mangakino he and Bobby had two more children: Gayle and Paul. 

4/Ardmore Teachers' Training College 1952-1956
Charlie had five years as a geography lecturer at Ardmore College. He wrote in his notes, "There were tremendous opportunities: two historians and two geographers sharing ideas; no departmental syllabus or inspectors' visits. Students lived on site. We continued the tradition of field work with local visits (farms, factories, the port, the city, Huntley coal, afforestation); the Central Plateau, the South Island; and then, on a chartered DC6, to Australia."
"Norman Whatman and I wrote a series of articles for the magazine National Education, Feb-Dec 1954, called 'The Teaching of Social Studies in New Zealand'. There was plenty of time to think. Some basic ideas: a single picture is worth a thousand words (building up visual resources); detailed unit studies (involving people, then drawing the wider pattern from this); work sheets (providing a lead for individualised study); the importance of relationships (teacher and pupil)."

From 1954-1955, Charlie was a member of a committee for drawing up a new syllabus in Social Studies for Primary Teachers. During this period Charlie also completed an MA in History at the University of Auckland, "The Changing Patterns of Public Works Settlements in New Zealand, 1919-1949.
In 1954 he and Bobby completed their family with the birth of Deborah.

Charlie & Bobby Herbert and family, Ardmore College 1954. Herbert family collection.

Footnotes:
(1) CLASS. Community Learning Association through Schools
(2) MS-Papers-9549. Herbert, Charles MacKenzie, 1921-2009 : Papers. 1937-2009. [Collection]
(3) Students sat Matriculation (later University Entrance) in their third or fourth year of high school.

Blog by Ann Barrie. To be continued.