Looking for L. Reilly of Erskine (Sacred Heart / Sacr? Coeur) College, Island Bay, Wellington
darianzam
Were you at Erskine College in Island Bay, aka the Convent of Sacr? Coeur Catholic boarding school for women, aka Sacred Heart?
Do you remember someone named L. Reilly who boarded there in the 1960s?
Recently a cache of items was found under a loose floorboard in one of the old dormitories - including a name tag, garment labels etc, thought to date between 1961-1972. Most of the items were discarded by her around the mid 1960s when she was perhaps 13 or 14 years old. More information here:
The Shelf Life of Reilly
L. Reilly is presumed to have been born in the early 1950s. Electoral roll records only show around 10 L. Reillys in the 1970s when she would have been old enough to register for voting. In fact this is the total between 1963-1978, so one of these must be the right person. Here's the full list:
Leah Agnes Reilly, Ashburton, Canterbury
Lilian Reilly, Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui
Lillian Anthea Reilly, Waitomo, Waikato
Lorna Louise May Reilly, Buller, West Coast
Lucie Louise Reilly, St Kilda, Otago
Lilian Reilly, Avon, Canterbury
Lillian A Reilly, King Country, Taranaki
Lee Reilly, Pakuranga, Auckland
Lorraine Maureen Reilly, Waikato, Waikato
Lynda Ruth Reilly, Rangitikei, Manawatu-Wanganui
Lynn M Reilly, Remuera, Auckland
Lynn Walles Reilly, Heretaunga, Wellington
Lila Patricia Reilly, Birkenhead, Auckland
Lilian Reilly, Rangiora, Canterbury
Lorraine Jenifer Reilly, Helensville, Auckland
Lynette Ann Reilly, Selwyn, Canterbury
Lynn Mabel Reilly, Napier, Hawke's Bay
Lynn Walter Reilly, Heretaunga, Wellington
L. Reilly could be one of the people in these archived class photos (the original site is now defunct)
Erskine/Sacr? Coeur Class Photos
If you know anything, or know someone who may remember, please contact me.
by darianzam
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Social historian, writer, artist.
Comments
ngairedith on 2013-06-16 12:05:58hello darian,
links for your readers for quick access
Class photographs - Erskine Sacre Coeur New Zealand
longwhitekid
I must say that's a great site that last one, loved the entry ... 'It?s fun for me to try and narrow the cache down without any idea of dates or significant clues, but of course the biggest lead is a potential name . The serial litterer seems to be a fourth form boarder named L. Reilly. If we could track the person in question down, there may be some more information on the details of their life at Erskine and the motivation behind dropping this stuff into a gap under the floor. On the other hand, she may not like the idea that some things have been dredged up unexpectedly such as an English test she likely cheated on (otherwise why not just put it in the bin instead of stuffing it in a can and hiding it), or the nicked spoon that accompanied the empty tins, (which bears the college?s initials SH for Sacred Heart). Personally, I know I would feel a bit weird about people going through my old trash.'
There is a huge amount of nostalgia in there - (have saved to favourites), can't believe these things are now someone's collectables !!
Congratulations on a fantastic site. How come I haven't come across it before? I now look forward to hearing the outcome of Miss Reilly
ngairedith on 2013-06-16 12:07:43ah! see you did the links while I was too :)
darianzam on 2013-06-16 22:15:11Indeed I finally worked it out.
Thanks for the compliment on the blog. I won't have much time for it obver the next few months with other things going on, unfortunately.
Emmay on 2014-10-26 04:13:22Hi there. I was at Sacre Coeur from 1963 to 1967. I dont remember an L Reilly but I do have a school magazine published 1966 which gives names of 'old girls' including a 'Miss Lynne Reilly' and gives the address of 206 South St, Feilding. The 'Miss' appears to indicate a relatively recent school leaver since some of the girls who left school in 1965 ( who I knew) are thus described. The same school magazine also shows a Mrs DM Reilly at the same address and gives her maiden name as Irene O'Sullivan. Does the current Feilding phone book have any Reilly's?
The other point of interest is that your photo of the tag shows her name and the number 35. This was probably her 'number' as we were all given a number when we started school and instead of writing lists of names for netball or other outings for instance, they just put up lists of numbers...Good luck!
darianzam on 2016-05-24 04:27:45Hi Emmay, thanks for your response, I seemed to have missed it! It must be the same person. I had more or less narrowed it down to the following:
Lilian Reilly, Palmerston North
Lorna Louise May Reilly, Buller
Lillian Reilly, King Country
Lynn Walles Reilly, Heretaunga
Lynn Walter Reilly, Heretaunga
The two Lynns (not Lynne) were the most likely suspects, logically, as they were local. However it was Lilian Reilly who was close to Fielding. It is possible she may have called herself 'Lynne.' So we're more or less whittled down to three if this 'Lynne/Lynn' is the right person. I tracked down the other names you mention and they are Irene Constance nee O'Sullivan (1912-2002) who married Declan Melville Reilly (1908-1981). They were living close by in the Rangitikei district through the 1970s, but it's a '
Lynda Ruth Reilly' that seems to show in the records at that time. I'll need to look into this more. Anyway this tells you that since Declan was already in his fifties by this time, it's quite likely that Irene was Lynne's mother. The fact they are all residing at the same address says parents to me. Also: Declan Reilly attended Sacred Heart College in the mid 1920s so her parents met at the school. Quite a history! There's no mention of their marriage up to 1936 which accounts for why they are quite old for that time; late marriage, late child.