Erris Gibbs - June 1946 -

Erris Gibbs was born in the Owaka Nursing Home on June 1, 1946. She grew up in Owaka with her mother and father Malcolm and Kay Gibbs and her sister, Joan. She had a happy, carefree life in smalltown, rural South Otago. Owaka was and is the the gateway to the Catlins, a very scenic and naturally beautiful area on the southern coast of New Zealand. The family used to spend their leisure time walking in the bush, fishing in the rivers and lakes, boating in the Pounawea estuary, exploring the wet areas looking for frogs and generally enjoying activities in the outdoors. Riding her bike (a Raleigh with gears!) with her friends and neighbours was a favourite pastime. One day they were playing ‘Cops and Robbers’ on their bikes and Erris fell off trying to ‘get away’. She badly injured her leg and had to have stitches to close up the big deep gash. She was shocked when she looked down and saw the shin bone!! Erris can still see the scar on her leg now!!

She loved nature and had a pet frog which she took to the school Pet Day. Her Mum was a really good knitter and made Erris a lovely red cardigan with small pockets at the bottom. The frog was kept safely in the pocket and won a prize for the most interesting pet!!

Erris went to Owaka School - primary and secondary. She was gregarious and talked a lot at school. As a result she didn’t learn as much as she should have. She passed her School Certificate which meant she could go on to the 6th Form at Queens High School, when the family moved to live in Fairfield near Dunedin.

Erris loved playing sport. At Owaka High School she played tennis in the summer and basketball and hockey in the winter. She played for the Owaka Tennis Club and travelled on Saturday’s to places like Clinton, Tahatika, and Wairau and even represented South Otago to play at East Taieri. She played centre and wing attack in the school basketball team and right back for hockey. Once she scored an own goal for the Queens High School team. This was not a happy occasion! She also loved gymnastics and got a badge with added bars to wear. She remembers being so brave doing the ‘long horse’ which meant leaping over the leather-topped vaulting/box horse from one end to the other!! Erris was a fast runner too - first in the 100 yard races for school but not so good at long distance races. She was good at long jump and discus too.

She also loved singing and enjoyed music time at primary school when the class learnt songs from Radio for Schools. Val Drew taught the class through the radio on the wall. He was such a great teacher. Some of the songs were: ‘Blow the Wind Southerly’, Funiculi, Funicula, ‘Row, row, row your boat’, ‘Minka, Minka’, ‘Pick a Bale of Cotton’, ‘The Birch Tree’ and many many more. She and her Dad joined a community choir in Owaka and sang together. This was very special. When the family moved to Dunedin Erris had singing lessons and sang out at places where groups of people met. One she remembers particularly was singing to the hard of hearing club.

At Queens High School Erris sang in the choir and the madrigal group which meant there was no accompaniment to their singing. Miss Armstrong was a really good music teacher. Erris remembers learning about classical music for the first time with Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

From Queens High School, Erris went to Dunedin Teachers’ College for two years. Here she trained to be a primary school teacher. She received the ‘Allrounder’ cup for her talent and enthusiasm for learning, music and sport. Her first teaching position was at Fairfield Primary School. She could walk to work. The principal told her to buy a leather strap to give any naughty pupil a strap on their hand. Erris only did it once and really didn’t like it at all.