Nzk history logo

New Zealand -
Wellington / Wairarapa

THE KINDERGARTEN COMMUNITY
Home
Wellington / Wairarapa

Wellington / Wairarapa

Dannevirke | He Whānau Manaaki – Wellington (Mana, Paremata, Tawa, Horowhenua) | Rimutaka (Upper Hutt, Carterton, Greytown, Masterton/Wairarapa) | Hutt City – Lower Hutt

He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association

Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association

Early history snippets:

In Wellington the free kindergartens began as the personal educational and charitable endeavour of Mary Richmond (1853–1949). Richmond’s family was heavily involved in political, educational, and charitable works in New Zealand. After study at the Froebel Institute, London, she established a private school in Wellington that ran along kindergarten lines from 1898 until 1912. Richmond remained teaching at her school until 1910; throughout these years Richmond kept abreast of international kindergarten issues, travelling to the United States, Europe, and Britain where in 1907 she again visited the Froebel Institute. In 1905 Richmond embarked on the scheme to provide free kindergartens in the city. This became the Richmond Free Kindergarten Union changing its name in 1917 to the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association (WFKA).

Edited from: May, Helen (2013, 2nd ed.) Discovery of Early Childhood, NZCER Press, Wellington, pp. 183-184

See also:

  • Bethell, Kerry (2008)  ‘Not [just] for a name that we plead’: Fashioning the ideological origins of early kindergarten in Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand, 1870-1913, unpublished Ph.D thesis, Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Bethell, Kerry (2001) “The Will to Serve and the Wit to Know the Way’: The Work of Miss Mary Richmond in the Establishment of Kindergarten in Wellington, 1890 – 1913.” Early education, Winter, pp. 31-38.
  • Bethell, Kerry (2006) ‘To bring into play: Miss Richmond’s utilization of kindred networks in the diffusion of kindergarten ideals into practice, History of Education, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 225-224.

The early archives of the WFKA are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library Wellington as part of the National Library of New Zealand.  There are both the official records of the WFKA along with several personal collections and photographs from a range of sources. Some of these are digitised.

The Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association was formed in 1984 following the amalgamation of the Wellington, Mana, Kapiti and Horowhenua Kindergarten Associations.  Archives from individual kindergartens and previous associations are held offsite from the Porirua office of He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association.

Visit the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association website here.

He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association

In 2014 the Rimutaka and Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Associations come together today as one organisation called He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association. He Whānau Manaaki, meaning ‘a caring family’, encompasses 85 kindergartens in the Wellington region, from Seatoun north to Levin and Masterton. Over 5,600 children and families participate in kindergartens operated by the new association. Read the full media release here.

Visit the He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association website here.

Documents and photos

He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Free Kindergarten Association Archive History Project

Depositories of various archives and materials for the Wellington regional kindergartens

Whānau Manaaki o Tararua: Free Kindergarten Association

The Association holds off-site records mainly from the 1980s including older items gifted to the Association and records from kindergarten associations that have joined Whānau Manaaki. These records are the focus of an Archive Project underway in late 2019 to catalogue existing records and retrieve and catalogue many older records held by kindergartens. The project will consider the long term storage of these records, access  and the possible location of some of these records into library/museum collections.

Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library, Wellington

The largest collection of records for the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association (WFKA) is held in the Alexander Turnbull Library collections.  Itemised below are the main collections but there are other items. Enter ‘Wellington kindergarten’ in the ‘Tiaki’ search engine to access other records and photographs.

  1. Wellington Regional Free Kindergarten Association Records 1905-1980 MS-Group-0052,  Catalogue 909448 volumes, 35 folders. The main part of the collection comprises minutes, financial records, scrapbooks, photographs and printed material of the Association. The remainder of the collection consists of various (and incomplete) minutes, admission registers and other records from the Taranaki Street Free Kindergarten, Newtown Free Kindergarten, Brooklyn Free Kindergarten and Wellington South Free Kindergarten.Photographic Archive – Photograph albums and loose photographs 1919-1960
    PAColl-0981
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.79632Drawings & Prints Collection – Three brass plates were transferred to the Curios Collection (1987). They include the name-plate for the Wellington Free Kindergarten).
  2. Wellington Free Graduates Association: Records 1950-1993
    MS-Papers-4247
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.43540  3 foldersPhotograph collection 1930-1989 PAColl-3311
  3. Joyce Barns: Papers relating to early childhood education in Wellington
    MS-Group-1700
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.512212  5 folders, 2 volumesKindergarten teacher who became the Principal of the Wellington Kindergarten College. `My primary class book’, containing examples of children’s drawings and prose with photographs of class members, Taranaki Street 1921-1922; programmes of work and activities for her kindergarten classes, 1939, 1943-1945; papers relating to Wellington Free Kindergarten Association and their United Mothers’ Club and notes on qualification and training required to become a kindergarten teacher.
    One folder of photographs
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#search&unit-id=PA-Group-00386
    [An oil painting of Joyce Barns is held by the Institute of Early Childhood Studes, Victoria University Wellington]
  4. Audrey Urlich: Papers relating to kindergarten training 1953-1954
    5 volumes
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.522275Audrey Urlich trained as a kindergarten teacher in the early 1950s. Gwen Somerset  was the kindergarten lecturer during this period and produced some of the lecture note guidelines in this collection.
  5. Richmond Family papers. Mary Richmond 1857-1950
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.15726In 1898 Mary Richmond opened a private school in Wellington that catered for children from kindergarten to preparatory level. She later established the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association, initially called the Richmond Free Kindergarten Union. Enter ‘Mary Elizabeth Richmond’ in ‘search’ to source a wide range of kindergarten material.Richmond Free Kindergarten Union
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ethesaurus.94026
  6. Interview with Elspeth Munro in 1998
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.555521Tape numbers OHC-018711  OHC-018713Interview with Elspeth Munro (nee Fleming), born in Nelson in 1916. She talks about her family background and schooling. Discusses training as a kindergarten teacher and then teaching in Taranaki Street where she got to know local Chinese people.
  1. Interview with Valerie Newton-Howes (1917-2003) 1991
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.148522Tape number: OHC-004280-004284
    Recalls kindergartens and life as a kindergarten teacher in the 1930s in Auckland and Wellington. Talks about experiences and work as a VAD worker during World War II.  Recalls return in 1945 to New Zealand, and return to Kindergarten teaching at various kindergartens in Wellington.
  1. Kindergarten Teachers Association (KTA) records 1953-1987
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.16999MS-Group-0238
    This is a national collection but includes material about Wellington activities.
  2. Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa (CECUA) records 1990-1994
    https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.114389This is a national collection but includes material from Wellington kindergarten activities.
    Ref 96-169

Papers Past

 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

A search for ‘Wellington kindergarten’ in Paper’s Past will give many news items and reports items associated with WFKA and kindergartens in the Wellington region from  the Evening Post and Dominion up until around 1950. This includes photographs in newspapers.

Archives New Zealand

  1. National Publicity Studios black and white prints
    https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=6539

    There is a selection of kindergarten photos from around Wellington in the 1960s. Some are digitized and the full collection can be viewed at the Wellington archives.
  2. Using ‘Wellington kindergarten’ in the ‘Archway’ search engine there are over 100 file records mainly from the Wellington Education Board and the Department of Education (deposited by the Ministry of Education) prior to 1989. Using ‘Wellington Free Kindergarten Association’ there are 14 file records.
    https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/BriefDescItemSearch.do

Kindergarten Heritage Collection of New Zealand.

NZ Kindergarten Inc History website

Digital collection of material from the Wellington – Wairarapa region, including some from individual kindergartens.

http://kindergartenhistory.org.nz/new-zealand/regional-associations/wellington-wairarapa/

Wellington City Archives

3 Digital records

https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes?keywords=Wellington+Kindergartens&all=1&whole=2&in=2&searchbutton1=Search

96 records mainly concerning property and consents

https://search.wellington.govt.nz/s/search.html?collection=wcc-search&profile=_default&query=Kindergarten

Upper Hutt Library

There are 468 digital items in the Heritage collections for the Upper Hutt Kindergartens

https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/index
Enid Wilson papers 1945-1969

https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/index/q:BJQWB/faceadd:4e5449443a3a3135

Museum of NZ  – Te Papa Tongarewa

Eight sets of Froebel Blocks originally from WFKA. GH0040 [84, 85 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91]
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/68157

NZEI Te RIU Roa

A digital collection of campaigns that included the Kindergarten Teachers Association (KTA) and the Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa (CECUA). Quite a lot of the images are Wellington based although not necessarily association with only Wellington kindergarten teachers.
http://heritage.nzei.org.nz

 

Publications with significant cointent on the history of wellington free kindergarten association

  • Bethell, Kerry (2001) ‘The Will to Serve and the Wit to Know the Way’: The work of Miss Mary Richmond in the establishment of kindergarten in Wellington, 1890 – 1913, Early Education, Winter, pp. 31-38.
  • Bethell, Kerry (2006) To bring into play: Miss Richmond’s utilization of kindred networks in the diffusion of kindergarten ideals into practice, History of Education, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 225-224
  • Bethell, Kerry (2008) ‘Not [just] for a name that we plead’: Fashioning the ideological origins of early kindergarten in Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand, 1870 – 1913, unpublished Ph.d thesis, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Sewell, A., & K Bethell, (2009) ‘Building interests: A 1940s story of curriculum innovation and contemporary connections’. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work , vol.6, no. 2 pp. 93-110.
  • Bethell, Kerry (2010) ‘To venture with purpose: A colonial and transnational story of Miss Mary Richmond’s 1907 travels abroad, (eds.) K. Neumann, U. Sauerbrey, & M. Winkler, Frobelpadagogik im Kontext der Moderne. Bildung Erziehung und soziales Handeln, (pp. 113-127), IKS Garamond, Edition Paideia, Jena
  • Bethell, K. & Sewell, A.  (2010) Researching an everyday teacher in 1940s New Zealand: New Liaisons – New Stories, International Research Journal in Early Childhood Education,  vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 10-28
  • Bethell, Kerry (2014) Five and six year olds at kindergarten: Miss Morris’ experimental primary class, Wellington Free Kindergarten Association 1921-1927, NZ Journal of Teachers Work, vol. 11, no.1, pp. 30-48
  • Bethell, Kerry (2016) Froebelian Teachers Abroad: Implementing a modern infant education system in colonial Wellington, New Zealand, 1906 – 1925, (Eds.) H. May, K. Nawrotzki and L. Prochner, (pp. 51-66) Kindergarten narratives on Froebelian education: Transnational investigations, Bloomsbury, London
  • Bethell, Kerry, (2018) ‘[T]hen along comes Mr Carnegie’: Carnegie travel fellowships and the professional development of kindergarteners in 1930s New Zealand, Early Years: An International Research Journal, pp. vol.38, no.2, pp. 171-184
  • Bethell, Kerry (2018) Miss Nettie Birkenhead Riley ‘one who understood’ [Written for the Lower Hutt Kindergarten Association of the of their 90th birthday celebrations] Lower Hutt Kindergarten Association
  • https://www.huttkindergartens.org.nz/site_files/20879/upload_files/MissNettieBirkenheadRileyLHKA_(002).pdf?dl=1
  • Bethell, Kerry (2019) ‘Reminiscences of kindergarten teaching’ (Eds.) S. Middleton & H. May, (pp. 56-68) For women and Children: A Tribute to Geraldine McDonald, NZCER Press, Wellington
  • Bly, Gillian (1968) E tipu e rea o nga ra otou ao (field trip report of  Wellington Kindergarten Teachers College to study preschool education in Maori communities on the east coast, Wellington Kindergarten College.
  • Hughes, Beryl (1991) Mary Richmond, (eds.) C. Macdonald, M. Penfold, & B. Williams, The book of New Zealand women—Ko kui ma te kaupapa (pp. 565-567) Bridget Williams Books, Wellington https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3r19/richmond-mary-elizabeth
  • Hughes, Beryl  ‘England, Maud Russell 1863 – 1956′  https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4e11/england-maud-russell
  • McDonald, Geraldine (1975) An early Wellington kindergarten, as described by Ted Scott, NZCER, Wellington
  • May, Helen (2013 2nd ed.) The Discovery of Early Childhood, NZCER Press, Wellington
  • May, H. & Bethell, K (2017) Growing a kindergarten movement: its peoples, purposes and politics, NZCER Press, Wellington
  • Wellington Free Kindergarten Association (ed.) (1939) Let us live with our children, Wellington

Rimutaka Kindergarten Association

Masterton Kindergarten Association

Upper Hutt Kindergarten Association

Hutt City Kindergarten Association

Miss N B Riley – founder of Hutt City Kindergarten Association

 

©2025 New Zealand Kindergartens inc.

Disclaimer: Kindergarten History provides this website as a service to its members and the public.

Kindergarten History is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within the site. While the information contained within the site is periodically updated, no guarantee is given that the information provided in this website is correct, complete and up-to-date.

Although the website may include links providing direct access to other Internet resources, including websites, Kindergarten History is not likely to have participated in the development of those sites and does not exert any editorial or other control over them. Kindergarten History is not responsible for the accuracy or content of information contained in those sites.