Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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“If it wasn’t for this place, I’d probably be dead.”

That's how much the Phillipstown Community Hub means to Veg, one of its volunteers. But Veg and hundreds of others came very close to losing their tūrangawaewae. The Wellington-based Ministry of Education wants the Christchurch suburban site sold.

For the last decade, this old collection of classrooms has grown into the most unlikely gathering of outsider communities. With an axe hanging over the much-loved Hub, Frank Film was invited to record its last days. What they instead found was a community that wasn’t going to give up easily.



Thanks To:

Phillipstown Community Hub
Creative Spaces
Purapura Whetu
Maea Ukelele Group
Te Puawaitanga ki Ōtautahi Trust
English Language Partners Christchurch
Christchurch City Council
Stuff/The Press

Archive supplied by:

Phillipstown School 1977 - Archives New Zealand Reference: AGLU 26124 CH1081 Box 13/e archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=25080347 For further enquiries please email christchurch.archives@dia.govt.nz
Material from Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Phillipstown School Photographs - 32929282340 - Archives New Zealand Reference: AGLU 26124 CH1081 Box 13/e archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=25080347
For further enquiries please email christchurch.archives@dia.govt.nz
Material from Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Christchurch City Council deputation - Thanks to Christchurch City Council

Principal Tony Simpson announces school closure & Protest against merging Phillipstown School and Woolston School - Thanks to Stuff & The Press

Frank Film Archive - Thanks to Frank Film

Director, Producer and Camera: Gerard Smyth
Second Camera: Antony Miller
Line Producers: Kirsty Cooper & Antony Miller
Editor: Sarah Grohnert
Research: Bill Morris
Colour & Online: Mike Kelland
Audio Post: Chris Sinclair

Funded by NZ on Air