Among the many ‘firsts’ scattered through Newington’s history is the 1957 Wyvern House rugby tour of New Zealand — the first tour outside Australia by a primary school rugby team.

The tour is documented in a long report in the December 1957 issue of The Newingtonian, accompanied by a photograph of the touring party on the wharf after their arrival in Wellington. But the photograph is grainy and the boys are unidentified — or at least they were until last month, when Old Newingtonian Warwick Bowes (ON 1963) sent us a copy of the photograph scanned from an original print (he’d received it from Robert Wallace and Geoff McKew (both also ON 1963)), along with identifications of all but one of the boys in the photograph.

The tour was reportedly the result of three years’ preparation and was organised at the Newington end by Dr W C ‘Bill’ Marshall, coach of the Wyvern House 1^st XV. The touring party crossed the Tasman aboard the steamship Monowai, their enthusiasm ‘considerably dampened by a rough crossing’. Their first and longest stay was in Auckland, where they were guests at Dilworth School and played matches against the [Auckland] King’s School, a combined Dilworth School-St Kentigan’s College XV and a combined Auckland Intermediate Schools’ XV. This last was played at famed Eden Park and was the hardest of the tour.

In Hamilton and Rotorua, the boys were billeted with families from local schools. Hamilton featured matches against Maeroa Intermediate School and a combined Peachgrove Intermediate-Hillcrest School XV. The last match, against Rotorua Intermediate School, was played in the rain and was the third in heavy conditions. Mingled with the rugby was extensive sightseeing, civic receptions, a theatre party, and participation in a radio broadcast.

For the record, the boys in the photograph are (from left to right) Back row: Ross ‘Pop’ Ridley, Bruce Howie, Charlie Pettit, Chris Richardson, Peter Feldmayer, (obscured), Dennis Higlett, Kevin Clements, Jeffrey Walsh, Arthur Wells, Keith Chick, Geoff McKew, Robert Wallace, Peter Gale. Front Row: Rick Parkinson, Ross Jenkins, Stuart Jones, Lester Dore, Peter Meyer, Tony Roberts, Digby Lobb, Robert Jones, Robert Smith, Peter Maundrell. Dr Marshall is the adult on the left.

David Roberts
College Archivist