Mr Harry Lewis Clarke – 1958 to 1979
Mr Harry Lewis Clarke – 1958 to 1979
Mr Clarke was born in Wellington on 16th November 1916 and educated at Hastings Primary and Takapuna Grammar Schools. In 1935 he started study at Auckland University College and graduated in 1937 with a Bachelor of Science. He attended the Auckland Training College in 1938 and began a part-time University course towards a Master’s Degree in Mathematics.
In 1939 he taught at Dilworth School for the first six months, returning to full-study and completed his Master’s Degree, His Bachelor of Arts Degree was taken extramurally at Victoria University.
In 1940 he resumed teaching at Raglan District High School but three weeks later was appointed to the staff of the Napier Boys High.
In 1941, he joined the Army where he was commissioned from the ranks. He served as a general staff officer at Division 4 Headquarters and early in 1943 was appointed to the Army Education Welfare Service. He was posted education officer in Fiji with the duties of establishing the facilities of A.E.W.S. for the 2nd N.Z.E.F. troops stationed in that area. His involvement with A.E.W.S. extended two years after the war ended, during which time he was responsible for the organisation and administration requirements of thousands of service and ex-servicemen students in New Zealand and the Pacific.
Discharge from the Army in 1946, he returned to Napier Boys High School where he was their careers adviser and then Head of the Mathematics Department.
When Westlake High School was opened in 1957, Harry Clarke was appointed first assistant at this new school. In May 1958, he took up the post as Principal to the Whangārei Boys High School.
Mr Clarke played a major role in Technical education and in the establishment of the Northland Community College at Raumanga. In 1972 a work experience class was started which proved to be a very successful venture, and in 1979 a second unit was added.
Several changes occurred during his administration such as the disbanding of the Cadet Corps in 1967 and some minor alterations to the uniform, the most significant of which was the abandoning also in 1967 of the old school cap. Two new houses, Bledisloe and Mair, were created in 1967 and a School Council was formed in 1971.
One of his great loves is music, and particularly operettas, and for a number of years he was President of Whangārei Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.
In May 1979 Harry Clarke retired after twenty-one years’ service to the school and after an overseas trip, returned to live in Whangārei.
The trend towards self-expression and personal gratification to the exclusion of all else, towards complete freedom of self-determination seemed to commence about the mid-sixties and reach a peak about 1970. During this period the Progressive Youth Movement, Student Action Committee and similar youth groups set about a deliberate policy of attack on authority which readily found some supporters within the school grounds. The students' RIGHT' to have long hair or wear other than regulation shoes became major issues which tested Mr Clarke’s resolve on more than one occasion. In an effort to maintain discipline it was found necessary even to remind teaching staff that an acceptable standard of dress was required.
By the mid-1970's this had dwindled to the normal individual problems usually encountered in all secondary schools. In retrospect the movement had little real effect on the School other than to engender adverse publicity and create a nuisance for both Principal and staff.
Firmly entrenched in strong traditions fortified by dedicated men and women, the School, under Mr Clarke's command, continued to turn out an ever increasing number of sound young adults, high in academic and sporting achievements.