Slate Board and slate stick
Now days in the digital age it is hard to image a world where computers did not exist, or even paper or pens. (Indeed the biro was not common in New Zealand until the 1980’s). In many primary schools – particularly in the rural areas and often “one class schools” the slate board was the main writing tool up to the 1940’s. Children did not practice numbers and letters on paper, but either on the chalk board or on a slate using a slate “pencil”. This board is from a primary school in Southern Hawkes Bay. Slate is a type of rock and many slate boards had lines in them to better align numbers and letters. The slate was cleaned with a piece of cloth.
Slate boards were also used in factories to record production and on sailing vessels to mark time and distance.