On 19 October 1923 a man armed with a revolver, a pig knife and sticks of gelignite entered the school in the small mining settlement of Waikino. Robert Reid, the headmaster, tried to reason with the man, John Higgins, a local firewood dealer from Waitawheta, but he was shot by Higgins. Higgins then, after declaring that he was there “for revenge” shot at the schoolchildren, killing two of them, Kelvyn Morris McLean, 13 and Charles Allan Stewart, 9. Also eight people were injured, including Reid, Constable Herbert Olsen and six other children. When the shots were heard, nearby residents and workers grabbed firearms and rushed to the school. Sergeant O’Grady and Constable Olsen also arrived from Waihi. Olsen was shot in the stomach. An exchange of fire ensued, and eventually Higgins threw down his gun and was arrested by O’Grady. The headmaster was lying in a pool of blood in the school porch, but he was still alive.

The angry and grieving people of Waikino held a meeting on 24 October, to ask for the school to be moved from its isolated position on a ridge above the Waitawheta valley, but the meeting was interrupted by news of a fire, which completely destroyed the school.

Higgins was charged with murder at Paeroa Magistrate’s Court on 14 December. He was found guilty at Auckland High Court and sentenced to death on 14 February 1924. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of insanity.

The images here are from the South Auckland Education Department building and site file for Waikino School [BCDQ 1050/A739/639b]

With thanks to PapersPast for background information (with headlines including “A Madman’s Revenge”, “Demented Freak” and “Waikino Tragedy”)