History

The school sits on the Ngati Te Whiti boundary. The land was originally a small Pa site - Pukeori. It was deserted when European settlers arrived. The property was bought by Edward Marfell in 1889. He established a dairy farm and milk run. He later gifted the land to the state for the establishment of the school.  The school roll reached a peak of 487 in the 1970s during the construction of the New Plymouth power station. In recent years the roll has levelled out at around 150.

History buffs might like to head over to the Memorabilia page, where you can order a copy of Howard Wilson's book, Marfell School, the first 35 years (1961-1996) with a 2011 Jubilee update. The updated copy will be available closer to the Jubilee.

How Marfell got its name:

Hayley and Nick talk about how Marfell came to be a suburb.
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Changes at Marfell:

Jessica and Nicola discover how things used to be at school.
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Tetahi o nga korero o te motu; history of the Marfell area

Matua Mark talks about the Maori history of the local area, in te Reo, and in English. This video, filmed by Jessica, Nicola, Hayley and Nick, explains about Ngati Te Whiti's association with Pukeori and Whakawhiti Pa.

This video can only be viewed via YouTube. Watch the video

Marfell Murals:

Movie made by Kateni and Maikara. Jenny Tippett talks about the commissioning of the murals painted by Lynn Morrisey while he was a teachers' aide at Marfell Community School. Lynn became a highly sought-after artist, but sadly died in 2009 (?) The murals spent nearly 10 years gracing the front entrance of the school, on the exterior walls of the administration block, and are now in storage.