Special Old Boys

Guy Edward Robinson (At King’s High Scholl from 1959 to 1960)

School Life

Guy was at Kings from 1958 to 59 and it would be fair to say that academic pursuits were not at the forefront of his mind whilst at school.

Guy’s father worked in the railways and for the formative years of his life guy lived in Bayview Rd. He was just over the fence from school, and although Kings might not have been the centre of scholastic glory for Guy it was certainly a big part of his life  – regularly going there to play sport and hang out with his friends.

At school, his best mates were Bernard Montgomery, Graeme Page, Graeme McLean, Lawrence Townsend, and Neil Macandrew.

Guy recalled that Chris Laidlaw was his Cadets Sergeant. Guy has fond memories of the rector at the time Bill Lang.  Bill lived nearby and had a big old 1939 Chevrolet that he would often clean and polish in the weekend, usually with a large “roll your own” cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

At the end of the fourth form, Guy and several of his mates went away fruit picking for the summer. On their return, Guy decided that school was not for him. Although Guys father was none too enthusiastic about this, he accepted the inevitable and agreed that Guy could leave school and go into the workforce.

So Long Kings

Guy was taken on as a barber’s apprentice by Bill Ruston in May 1960. What started off as a three-month trial, continues to this day.

The original Barber shop was becoming decrepit and in 1980 Bill and Guy moved a couple of doors along to its current location, and it has been ever since. At the same time Bill decided that it was the right time for him to retire, and to hand over the reins to Guy.

Over the years Guy must have cut the hair of tens of thousands of Kings boys and the wider public. He started working at 15 and it’s still going strong at 78 years of age.

Back in the day, there was late night trading in South Dunedin on Thursdays, and he and Bill Ruston would also travel out to the Peninsula to tend to the scruffy and overgrown youth to be found there – including the Seaton boys!

In the 1990s Gaynor Maitland came to work for Guy in the Barber shop. Similarly, when the lease came up for renewal in 2014 it was the right time to hand the reins over to someone younger. Since Gaynor took over the business, Guy has been a regular helping out in the shop.

The Tradition Continues

The Robinsons are now in their third generation at Kings. Guy’s son, Steve, went there, and his grandson (Ethan BROWN) is currently there. (Steve was a basketballer of some repute and represented the Nuggets.)

Life is Good

Guy’s second home is the St Clair Bowling Club and he enjoys a good roll up.

As chance will would have it, his old school mate Neil Macandrew arrived at the barber’s shop just as I was leaving.

Guy impresses as a proud Kingsman, with a real affection for South Dunedin and its people.

Chris George

Brian Hugh Hastie (Attended King’s High School from 1953 to 1955)

Brian Hastie – Kingsman and Lodge Member.

In April 2023, Kingsman, Brian HASTIE, received his 60-year service bar from the Hiram Lodge in Dunedin. I was invited to attend on behalf of The Kingsmen and Kings High School. Not having much experience of the Lodge, I was keen to attend and support Brian when he received this award.

Brian’s  brother (Neville) was at Kings from 1955 to 1958.

Brian joined the Dunedin Electricity department in 1955 and had a long and distinguished career in the industry. He excelled with the trade exams (93% in the Trade Practical exam) and quickly became a respected part of the team.

At 21 years of age, he suffered a near fatal electrical accident at work and spent 8 months at the burns unit at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch. That accident led to a thorough review of the existing practices and led to the introduction of a written switching system to ensure there was no repeat of the accident that nearly claimed Brian’s life.

Having recovered, Brian returned to the job and in the late 1960’s worked extensively at the Waipori Power station when the 2A power station was being constructed. His return to Dunedin was contingent on the successful completion of the project and Brian duly fulfilled his end of the bargain.

Brian met his wife to be (Beth) in 1957 and they married in 1962. They have three kids and have lived in Dunedin whole time.

Brian completed his Advance Trade Certificate in the 1970’s, and was promoted to senior technician in the 1980’s. In all, he spent 46 years working for Dunedin Electricity or the various recantations of it as it morphed over the years. Brian retired in 2000 at the level of High Voltage Contracts manager. Over the years he worked with fellow Kingsman and Lodge member Peter RHODES.

Brian is known as a loyal, humorous and true friend. He is proud of the work the Hiram Lodge have done over the years – not the least of which has involved the donation of thousands of dollars to the library at Kings over the last 40 years.  

Chris George

22^nd April 2023

David John Bourke (Attended King’s High School from 1982 to 1984)

David is well known national figure in both Surf Live Saving and in Inline Speed Skating.  He has recently been awarded a New Zealand Surf Life Saving Association Service Award. He also holds an Otago / Southland Surf Life Saving Regional Service Award and the Association’s Support Person of the Year Award.  Since 2003 he has been a Surf Life Saving Official, locally, regionally and nationally.   Since 2019 he has been the Deputy Referee for the National Inflatable Boat competitions and since 2018, he has been the South Island IRB Event Referee. David has been a member of the St Kilda Surf Life Saving Club since 1991. He has been a club Committee Member, Social Convener and Purchasing Officer.

From 2002 to 2014 he was Captain of the Nude Black Rugby Team.  The team made the international news on a number of occasions as captured the medias interest before test matches.

David has been a National and International Speed Skating referee from 2000 as an Assistant Referee and since 2002 as a Referee. He has been the Otago Team Manager, coach and Delegate to National meetings. In 1994 he became a Speed Skating Official Class 1, then Class 2 1n 1996 before reaching Class 3 in 1998.

 Since 1997 he has been the New Zealand Inline Skating Speed Team Selector for Senior and Junior World and Oceania events. He has also been the team assistant at these events.

 David has been a Member of the Federation of Roller Skating since 1980.

In 1983 David became Volunteer Community Charitable helper with the Eastern Dunedin Lions Club. The Club went into recess in 2008.  A group from the Lions Club then set up the Eastern Dunedin Charity Club which David has worked with since then raising funds to support many needy local groups.

Evan Locksley Kellas (Attended King’s High School from 1961 to 1966)

Lox was a School Prefect in 1965 and 1966, the Flight Sergeant of best flight in Air Training Corps and member of first rugby fifteen in 1965 and1966.

The army was the career that Lox chose. He was 21-years-old when he left New Zealand to fight in the Vietnam War. He was part of 161 Battery – an artillery unit attached to an Australian infantry company. It was 1968, and the Tet Offensive – a push back by the Viet Cong – was in full swing. His role was to support the infantry so when “the s… hit the fan”, the howitzers were unleashed.

Lox never lost a mate while serving in the Vietnam War, but the same can’t be said about his 43-year career with the New Zealand police. Just a year into his policing his friend and flatmate, Peter Murphy, was shot dead on September 25, 1976 while responding to a burglary at a sports store in Invercargill. At 71, Lox was the second-oldest sworn officer on the force before his retirement, having been stationed at Portobello on the Otago Peninsula since 1984, and was one of the longest-serving sole-charge police officers in the country.

Lox has been a sitting member of the Otago Peninsula Community Board, since its formation. He is President of Dunedin Returned & Services Association, Trustee of the Dunedin RSA Welfare Trust, Trustee of the Southern Heritage Trust, a founding and current member of the President of the Dunedin Coastguard, and a member of Otago Officers Club & NZ Remembrance Army.

Darryl Lawrence Robinson (Attended King’s High School from 1957 to 1960)

Darrel gained an Honourable mention award in the 1957 and 1958 School Prize Giving ceremonies. He gained School Certificate in 1959 and University Entrance in 1960

He was a member of the School Camera Club. In the 1960 Annual Competition he was highly commended in the General Section of the Competition.

On leaving Kings Darrel studied the Otago Polytechnic where he gained New Zealand Certificates in (Civil) Engineering and (Civil) Draughting.

After graduating in 1962 he worked for three years with the engineering consultancy company N & ES Patterson.  Then in 1965 he started his forty-year career with the Dunedin Drainage and Sewer Board which later amalgamated with the Dunedin City Council.  He became the Water and Waste Services Manager. He was an expert in the drainage system as it served the city.

Darrel left the DCC in 2005 to become the Otago and Southland Area Committee Relationship Manager of the St John Ambulance Association a position he held until 2012.  He then became the St John Project Manager – a position he held until his death in 2021. Darrel served almost six decades with St John – starting at age 11 as a cadet – then in 1965, he started a 15-year stint as a volunteer ambulance officer and was often found offering first-aid assistance on the side-lines of sports fields on Saturdays.  Following a significant review of the organisation in 1987, he became chairman of the St John Dunedin area committee. In 2006 this led to his first paid position with St John when he became the southern region’s inaugural are committee relationship manager. He looked after the 24 district committees in Otago and Southland, helping with community projects.

In 1999 he was awarded one of St John’s highest honours, the Knight of Grace.

Darrel joined the Rotary Club of Dunedin in 2007.  He quickly used his skills in organising the development of the top to bottom track at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. He was also heavily involved in helping to organise seating and landscaping in the West Harbour shared pathway.

 He twice received one of Rotary’s highest honours, the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for his outstanding commitment to our community via the above Rotary projects.

Darryl had an industrious life dedicated to helping others.

 Mustafa Boztas       2011 – 2015

Kings High School Mustafa, who is originally from Turkey and has been in New Zealand for ten years, he spent five years at King’s, then was at Otago Polytechnic before moving to Christchurch to study engineering about six weeks ago. His call to the mosque last Friday was only his fifth or sixth visit. Mustafa Boztas was listening to the sermon inside the Masjid Al Noor mosque when he heard gunshots on Friday afternoon. He heard people running and screaming and he ran to the corner of the room were he was shot in the leg by the shooter. He was on the ground playing dead … Once the gunfire stopped, Mustafa put his head up and saw another man running away towards the window, he followed and escaped. Once outside, he saw a young high school student on the ground in the car park. He did CPR as he has a first aid certificate. Unfortunately the boy had already passed away so Mustafa closed the boy’s eyes. As he heard more shooting he ran. He didn’t get far before his leg “stopped responding” and he fell to the ground. A policeman eventually came to his aid and waited with him till paramedics arrived. He remains in hospital unable to walk yet. The bullet travelled up his thigh and into his liver. A fragment remains lodged in a rib. He is recovering in the hospital following a successful surgery.

Robert King Chetwin (At King’s High School from 1942 to 1945)

Bob attended Caversham School and MacAndrew Intermediate. At Kings he gained School Certificate in 1944 and University Entrance 1945.  

He played Rugby for the 2nd XV and Cricket for the 2nd XI. He was a member Camera Club and Sergeant in the School Cadets.

On leaving school he spent one- and one-half years from1946 to 47 on a dairy farm at Otautau, then from 1947 to 1948 on a sheep and cropping farm at Croydon Siding near Gore.

From 1949 to 1950 b was awarded a Southland Frozen Meat Company Scholarship and an Education Board Bursary to attend Lincoln College.  In 1950 he graduated with a Diploma of Agriculture.

From 1951 to 1960 he worked on and managed a mixed cropping farm close to Ashburton and a hill country sheep & cattle property in North Canterbury. Then from 1960 to 67 he worked with Cyclone Industries in Christchurch.

In 1967 Bob moved to Blenheim where he became Assistant Soil Conservator with the Marlborough Catchment Board. He later became an Approved Soil Conservator from 1969 to 1972.  Completed the Rural Valuation examinations by Correspondence.

In 1972 at the instigation of the Marlborough Catchment Board as a soil & water conservation measure on the low fertility weed infested country on the North Bank of the Wairau River, a joint initiative of 7 Local Bodies in the Province combined to form the Marlborough Forestry Corporation to plant the area in forest. The M.C.B. was asked to manage the project i.e., to purchase the land & plant & manage the trees. His responsibilities then included the purchase & arranging the survey of the land to obtain the title. This entailed the purchase of 2500 hectares.

In 1984 I was appointed Chief Soil Conservator & responsibility for the operations of the Marlborough Forestry Corporation

1989 Bob retired. (In 1989-90 with the amalgamation of the Local Bodies the Marlborough Forestry Corporation became the Marlborough Regional Forest) 1991 he was made a life member of the Marlborough Forestry Industries Association. He retired after 6 years as Chairman of the Marlborough North Rural Fire District.

He was for many years involved in the administration of the Anglican Church in Blenheim.

Bob died in 2021.

Stefan Witehera (1983 -1986)

Stefan Witehira died at an East Otago High School camp in Glenorchy on Wednesday, 6th December 2017. Stefan was Captain of our First XV Rugby. He showed out as a dedicated senior student leader.

After leaving school Stefan became a police officer who after some time in the North Island became based in Palmerston.  Stefan and a colleague, Senior Constable Darrin Low, were shot at after laying road spikes during a police pursuit in February 2009. They both received Silver Merit Awards for exhibiting “professionalism and courage” during the incident. Before their police careers, both attended King’s High School, where Darrin was in the year above Stefan.

Otago Coastal area commander Inspector Jason Guthrie said Stefan was an “incredibly competent and admirable police officer, who was immensely respected by his colleagues and everyone who knew him”.

“He always displayed tremendous empathy and compassion with everyone he interacted with and he was an integral part of the Palmerston community. 

“His loss leaves a massive hole in New Zealand police, in particular for us in the Southern district, and he will be greatly missed. This thought was echoed by Dunedin North MP David Clark who said Stefan’s death was “a huge loss for the community”.

East Otago High School is mourning for Stefan who was the school’s board of trustee’s chairman. “Stefan was a well-known and highly respected member of both the school and the East Otago community. The school’s thoughts and prayers are with the Witehira whanau during this most difficult time.“

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