
2004
video – Taonga source: AUT Visual Languages Section
Memories of Ava Buzzard (2004)
Ava Buzzard talks about commuting to school via her father’s motorbike, home signs, signing and oralism, and the next generation of signers.


1987
video – Taonga source: Television New Zealand Archive
Parents speak of their fears for the future of St Dominic’s School for Deaf Children
Following the potential closure of St Dominic's, parents express their concerns at a community meeting for their deaf children’s future if they were to be mainstreamed into a local school.




Est. 1880
COLLECTIONS – CURATED BY SIGNDNA: DEAF NATIONAL ARCHIVE
van Asch Deaf Education Centre (Ko Taku Reo)
van Asch Deaf Education Centre (now Ko Taku Reo; formerly Sumner School for the Deaf then van Asch School for the Deaf). The school has a long and illustrious history, with its services covering a huge geographical spread. Established in 1880, van Asch was the oldest special school establishment in New Zealand and also believed to be the oldest fully government funded residential school in the world. van Asch celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2005. It merged with Kelston Deaf Education Centre to become Ko Taku Reo in 2020.

1986
publication – Taonga source: Deaf Education History Aotearoa NZ
Hostel News: van Asch College, 1986
