A quick search showed that NZ's first female graduate, Kate Edger, graduated from Auckland in 1877, so I was at least partly right, but my original reasoning turned out to be a case of adding 2+2 to get 5.

I thought that Auckland College and Grammar School (founded 1869) had split into Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College (now the University of Auckland), due to the similarity of name and their both being at one time on Symonds St

It turns out that from 1871 secondary schools (if they were capable of teaching at an undergraduate level) could be affiliated to the University of New Zealand. Undergraduates who had kept the required terms at an affiliated school could sit the exams of the University of NZ

#Auckland #AucklandGrammar #HistoryOfEducation #HistEd #Victorian #UniversityOfNewZealand