The little school was opened in 1879, shortly after gold was discovered in the nearby Shotover River (then dubbed ‘the richest river in the world’). Skippers Township became the largest gold settlement on the Shotover, and in its heyday, the school had 27 pupils on its roll. But as the gold petered out, so did the resident population, and the school closed in 1927.

“When DOC first started restoration work on the school, in 1989, it was pretty rundown and derelict,” said Hardie. “It’d been used as a woolshed for many years and then stood empty for about 20 years after that. The work we’re doing now is part of ongoing maintenance.”