Page:Gillespies Beach Beginnings • Alexander (2010).pdf/40

 30.6.1875 - A subscription list of donations in aid of the Hokitika hospital listed a contribution by Lawrence Sullivan of 10/-. Two years earlier an advertisement had appeared advising that the Sea View Lunatic Asylum in Hokitika were holding a dramatic evening with funds to be used for the purchase of a piano and billiard table. The Asylum had been opened at the end of 1866. The harsh and often lonely living conditions for newcomers minus the support of family members back home took its toll on those trying to eke out a living on the goldfields and elsewhere.

17.10.1877 - Lawrence Sullivan elected Committee member of Bruce Bay School Committee. The correct spelling was LAURENCE. Later descendants would be christened Lawrence. Bruce Bay may well have been the name of the educational district.

This appointment would have been a proud moment. It would be interesting to know how much schooling Laurence had back in Ireland. Until the repeal of the Penal Laws in 1829, Catholic children could not be educated. In 1835 75% of Irish labourers were without work and begging was common. The Workhouse was the last resort. Interested readers may care to Google Irish Famine to learn of conditions before and after the famine years in Ireland to gain an understanding of why so many people left their homeland.

As more families remained to settle at Gillespie’s, a church was built by the settlers and also a school in 1877. This wasn’t officially opened with a government appointed teacher until 1880, but in the interim the children would have been taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic by a member of one of the local families. The school, in the absence of a hall, was also used for social events such as dances and meetings. Residents travelled north to Okarito for special events such as New Year’s Day or St Patrick’s Day when horse racing and a variety of entertainment was on offer.

Children in these years learned to entertain themselves. The girls made play houses and mud pies. The boys went eeling and bird