Musselburgh School is a place Peter Bakker has never studied or taught at and yet, something stirred his blood yesterday when he visited the southern Dunedin school.
That is because his great-grandfather, John White, was the first principal of the school, and his grandfather, Robert Nicholson, and some of his siblings were among the school's first pupils.
"It's a bit unreal, because the original school building doesn't exist here any more. But there is nostalgia, because for years I've been aiming to get here and look around the school in person.
"It does give me tremendous pride to be here, and to realise the hardship of the community to establish this school.''
Mr White came to New Zealand from Scotland in 1883, and taught at Outram for 17 years before founding Musselburgh School, which opened in 1905.
He had a strong passion for military history.
There is a picture of Mr White in the school office, which was presented to him by the Mayor of St Kilda and the school committee when he retired about 1920.
Looking at the photo yesterday, Mr Bakker (58) said there was no physical resemblance between them. However, he did have other striking similarities with Mr White.
Mr Bakker is a primary school teacher and principal near Melbourne, and is on sabbatical to study the military history of Aboriginal soldiers who fought in the Boer War.
Two of the soldiers he has been studying came to New Zealand following the war, and he is visiting New Zealand, for the first time, to research the surviving members of their families.
"I thought while I was here, I would extend my trip and check out Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
"When I turned up at the school, I was dressed in red and blue, not realising it is the colour of the school uniform. I thought, 'I'm going to blend in here'.''
Mr Bakker was welcomed by pupils and staff during an assembly yesterday.
