Living Heritage -Totara School - Totara: 50 Years Ago -

The Totara School Houses
	This report is about the Totara School Houses. Totara is found near Oamaru, in the South Island of New Zealand. At Totara School we are divided into 4 groups, which are our houses. They are named Deborah, Whitecraig, Alma and Brydone.
Why are they Totara Schools' houses? Did you ever want to know why they are our Totara houses? They are Totara houses because they are all important places in the Totara area. They are also very important landmarks because they have been in Totara for a long time.	Who or What are they named after? The area of Deborah got its name from the wife of the first mayor of Oamaru, Mrs Deborah Shrimski. Alma was named after battles in Crimea. Brydone is the surname of Thomas Brydone, the first person to ship meat. During our research we could not find any information on Whitecraig.	Locations of the school houses' names Alma is located half way between Totara School and Oamaru heading south. Deborah is on the right hand side of the overhead railway bridge heading northeast. Brydone Is south of Totara School around the Brydone monument area. If you head towards Kakanui from Totara School just over the railway line on the right hand side of the road is Whitecraig.
	By Cameron and Joe