Otaki health camp, 1940s

Wayne Rex Burley Posted: 14 Jan 2013

Oh what a horrible place the Otaki Health Camp was. I was born in Upper Hutt in 1948 and attended Silverstream School. When I was about 7 years old a woman from the dept. of health came to school ( she looked like the flying Nun). She told me I was too skinny and looked under nourished. A few weeks later I was put on a bus from Senio Road Trentham and sent to that rotten place in Otaki. I came to hate this place, was treated badly, was so homesick. every day we had to endure cod liver oil liquid, were disciplined, endured afternoon sleeps in that dormitory. I hated this place I ran away twice, only to be brought back again kicking and screaming!
If those in charge thought they did good then they were wrong. My mother was wrong to allow me to be taken away. To this day I still recount the most unpleasant times I had at this institution.
Now in early retirement and living in Perth, Western Australia I often reflect how cruel the "do goddess were" and that this place of evil still exists.
Shame on those who thought they knew best, shame on my Mother for going along with the "flying Nun".
Some may think this is a rant, but some who attended that 6 week hell-hole may also have similar views.
Still today, when I tell of my experience at Otaki Health Camp ( and I recall vividly) people are unbelieving.
I have much much more to reveal about what happened to me there.

Wayne Burley
Ravenswood. Perth WA 6208.

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Not skinny now Posted: 29 Oct 2013

I was around age 8 or 9 when sent to the Otaki Health Camp, along with my oldest sister. I don't know who was responsible for sending us there but remember being told it was because we were too skinny (same as previous poster). I spent an extra week there due to contracting Mumps a day or two before we were due to be sent home. I remember being very homesick and crying in the first few weeks. It was run like a military academy - except we were just kids.

I have been trying to get copies of my records, both the case file and the educational file.

The Ministry of Education in Wellington did answer my letter and I think I will be able to get copies of my education file. But, it is the case file that I really want to get a copy of and the Corporate Records Manager, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 5013, Wellington, has not replied to my letter. Probably just tossed it away. It is my file and I have a right to view it. I doubt that it is going to happen though without hiring a lawyer or flying back to NZ to deal with it in person.

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22222222222 Posted: 14 Dec 2013

i went here when i was a child now only in my mid 20s i have some memory of my time there it was hell no place for anyone i was put on a plane one day shipped off and from the moment i got there was bulled i remember running away a bring brought back don't think i got to far

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Clive Posted: 13 Apr 2014

I was incarcerated in a health camp, probably Otaki during the Christmas and New Year of 1965/66. I should not have been there. I was five when I arrived, but mum had been carted off to the Tokanui Psychiatric Hospital and my father was not able to look after my younger brother and I My younger brother I believe stayed with relatives and my baby brother was placed in the Karitane baby's hospital in Wellington.
My father tricked me into getting into the car, that morning, we drove out to a bakery we often went to and he bought me two of my favourite fruit buns with pink icing. I ate one as we drove to a supermarket car park and saved the other for later.
When we arrived at the carpark, there was a bus there and a crowd of kids who he told me were going off to health camp. Then he asked if I would like to go to health camp. My answer was no way. I was dragged kicking and screaming onto the bus and cried all the way to health camp.
My clothes were forgotten in all the confusion, I believe dad had some in the boot of the car for me and when I spent the whole six weeks wearing ill fitting lost property and clothes that the nurses provided.
It gets worse; I was molested for my birthday and molested for Christmas. The nurse and the Sister, whose names I remember, but will not disclose here, threatened me with hidings and paid special attention to my genitals and the interior of my anus when I was washed by them. I was always showered alone. The other , older boys in my dormitory would go off to the showers first and then I would be taken when they returned, wearing their pyjamas. I was sodomised. Impure and simple, by adults who the state and my father trusted.
I had my two front teeth accidentally knocked out by a swing, at some stage and it was the worst six weeks of my life.
To add to the psychological abuse I suffered, I was not told why I was there, how long I was going to be there, nor whether I would ever see my family again. I felt like I had just been dumped there like a little piece of unwanted rubbish.
My family left New Zealand in 1973 and I have never returned. I have no desire ever to return. Any country and government that can sanction child abuse of such a degree, doesn't belong on this planet.
I have had many ups and downs in my life, but nothing even comes close to the dark days I suffered in that Concentration Camp.
I was scarred for life. The pain is still there, until this day.

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T & R Posted: 24 Jul 2014

My brother and I were sent to Austwitch in around 1975. 6-7 weeks of hell. We were not molested but it was run like an army camp and we were just little kids. I cried my eyes to sleep each afternoon and night. There were 1 or 2 caring teachers, the rest were pigs. Still haunts me to this day!

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Anonymous Posted: 2 May 2015

I was placed in the Otakt Health camp for stx weeks around 1943-1944
I came from a poor working class family, I was a bed wetter and very skinny
I cannot say it was wonderful but in the six weeks I stopped wetting the bed, meals were regular and the dose of cod liver oil and cup of cold milk every morning at ten oclock I fought against but learnt the easiest way was swallow it quick.
Swimming at the beach was great, went home brothers could no longer call me pee pants, nearest holiday I was ever given, Matron was firm but fair lot of the children were naughty, It gave our folks a break cost was nothing , my photo was on the front page of the Women's Weekly with Lord and Lady Newall??, following February. we lived in a hard world but weren't we fortunate.

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NS Posted: 28 Mar 2016

Hated the place. Worse than prison. Went there because my mum was solo and sometimes in hospital. Was made to eat orange peels, pumpkin skin and apple cores.
Was hell for me, used to stutter and wet the bed because of my alcoholic father. I was bullied by the whole dorm.
Went there a few times. My sister escaped from there.
Wouldn't believe that was 1970s and happened New Zealand.
Only bad memories of that place.

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John Prideaux Posted: 15 Apr 2016

I was there in about 1948

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Ross Posted: 31 May 2016

Well I am just starting to address my imprisonment in the Roxburgh Health camp where I was sent as a nine year old in 1959 and was there for 2.25 months wondering the entire time would I ever see my family again. Supposedly some idiot believed I was undernourished and I was force fed with food, supplemented with endless amounts of cod liver oil, skimmed milk and maltexo by the tablespoon. The confinement has left me with a legacy of weight problems that have caused me low esteem, anxiety problems, inability to sleep in the dark and most of all an extremely bad temper all from the legacy of being held down each day and force fed and imprisoned in a strange place with no family or friends. Despite my mother being a registered nurse they decided to play god and ironically they now have a contract to treat 1000 children who are obese yet do not want compensate all of us abused children. I have had to pick the scab and address this background as I have been a tough parent and my lovely children have all such bad memories of my parenting ir lack of because of my quick temper and I need to right the wrong before I die. I also intend to take this matter as far as I can and our voices will be heard so watch this space. I accept the current management of childrens affairs are not responsible but that does not mean someone else is and whilst we are happy to address abuse of treaties and church and state wards this is no different and to think some child can be plucked out of a family environment and wake up in an unknown prison for 2.25 months and not have any long term effects on that child is simply failing to face up to the harm they have caused.

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Gordon Posted: 28 Jul 2016

I was 8 years when I attended health camp with my older brother in 2004, I don't know how it was back in the old days but my time there was great, really great staff friendly peers had a few fights here and there with opposite dorms but overall was a good experience, it does make you miss home a lot, but I went there with a bad anger issue and came back home better than I left, food was great and they even celebrated the kids birthdays often taking the whip camp to see a movie or go to porirua to swim at the pools, don't know how it is now but my time there was a good eye opener and experience.

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Marion Brooks Posted: 1 Aug 2016

I went to Otaki Health Camp around 1962 when I was 7 or 8. I was so scared when I got off the bus as I didn't understand why I was there or who these people were. I wasn't eating well and when I wouldn't eat they put me in a small room and locked the door until I had eaten my food. I found a small hole in the wall and used to shovel my food into it. They discovered this though but I can't remember what happened about it.
I told them I couldn't eat because I felt sick. One of them would drag me to the toilet and push my head down into the toilet while yelling at me " be sick then"!
My Mother told me years later that when I got home I was black and blue. She wanted to complain to the police but for some reason she didn't.
I have obviously forgotten a lot but it was a hell hole and when my mother once threatened to send me back there one day when I was naughty I never forgot that. I never forgave her for it either.

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Mike C Posted: 24 Sep 2016

I too had a terrifying experience at a health camp. The offending institution in my case was roxburgh health camp.
You may notice I did not use capital's, that is because they do not deserve to have them.

I experienced the same confusion, fear, humiliation and night after night of despair as many others on this page, but I don't want to put too much in writing.

What I would like to know is if there are any support groups for us.

I am now in my mid fifties and only discovered how many others were treated just as badly as my self or worse, through Trade me old friends which no longer exists.

I do not know how much the treatment/abuse I recieved in 1965 (I Think) has affected me through the years, but I have some of the same issues as others who attended these camps.

I am not sure if I am allowed, but I am going to post my e mail address in case someone else has a story to share.
Be strong.
[email protected]

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Rayella Posted: 16 Nov 2016

I was 7 years old when I attended the Otaki Children's Health Camp in 1956. My physical stature made me a prime candidate for the camp as I was very, very skinny and my Dad was adamant that I should attend. I went willingly and treated the prospect as a holiday adventure.

Perhaps life would be very different for me today if I, like others I have read about, had come away from the institution with nightmarish recollections of the six weeks spent at Otaki - but that was not the case for me. I left with fond, pleasurable memories of my experiences there.

I arrived at Otaki Children’s Health Camp as a happy, sociable lad and arrived back home apparently much the same person perhaps with a healthier complexion. As a 7-year old I may have been aware at some level, but my parents certainly did not detect the changes that had occurred in me. In reality I came home highly sexualized with inappropriate views about relationships. In particular, wash time and bedtime experiences with two female staff members created distortions that came back to haunt me later in life. It took much time and pain before I could recognize and label the ‘pleasurable’ memories for what they really were - sexual abuse.

I don’t condemn the institution as a whole because there were very helpful and very caring staff who did their best for the children in their care. It is a pity however that the great achievements by the majority may be undermined by a minority of their number.

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David.C Posted: 5 May 2017

I was sent to the roxburgh health camp in the late 70,s for reasons I have still to know.
The abuse at the camp was horrific, sexual and physical.
I remember asking the teacher at school one day why I was there and he replied because you cant read.
I answered yes I can started to read from the book in front of me.
This sent him into a rage.
he picked me up by the throat and shoved me into a small cupboard only 2feet by 2 feet and that's where I spent the day locked inside of it balling my eyes out.
This then became a regular occurrence.
I thought about running away but when another boy did run away he was caught by the police and brought back to the camp only to be severely beaten by the woman that was in charge.
He ended up in hospital and I never saw him again. Ill never forget his screams begging her to stop until he went silent.
That changed my mind about running away.
Another time we where in the craft room being looked after by a rather overweight nurse who when she went to sit down broke the chair, I few of us laughed.
she calmly stood up, locked the door and then continued to punch and kick us and even used a length of wood to hit us with.
sometimes at night you could hear a girl screaming from the girls dorm and she always looked very frightened, I often wondered what was happening to her.
I did tell my parents about the place about 20 years later and my father was very upset to hear what went on there.
To this day I have always maintained if I ever run into some of the staff that worked there back then they would get their dues that they deserve.

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Pauline Posted: 31 Dec 2017

I also went to Otaki Health Camp in 1955 as my mother was told I was underweight. Unfortunately I think now she was bullied into sending me, I returned home three months later thinner than when I first went. My memories are being cold as I went in April, froze in bed at night and one night I peed myself just to warm up. Couple of hours later I woke up making a racket as I was so cold. The food couldn't have been that good, I can't remember it. Do remember the cod liver oil, tablespoon every day as I could not take the tablets. Polio went through the camp and some children got very sick or died. Felt more like a prison not a home. I did ring the camp a year or so ago for my records and they said they were burnt, did not keep any records, now having read what some of the other children suffered, maybe it was the senior staff/management way of keeping the truth hidden.

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Fiona megan baker Posted: 25 Sep 2018

My name is Fiona Megan Baker, my parents sent me here when i was very young. I remember some things well such as receiving letters from my family Picking clothes off a rack. I think we had a house matron I loved it. I am now 51. Years young. I was born araparaumu 1967, we left when i was standard 3. Anyway i loved it there

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Genesis Posted: 14 May 2019

i was sent to Otaki health camp twice when I was a kid.. I went because I was always wagging school. Enjoyed it thou. I can remember I featured in a Camp production called Harry Hazard. I would like to see it now, be a laugh..

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Otaki Health C… Posted: 14 May 2019

I was sent to Otaki Health Camp twice in the 1980's I think I was 7 and 9 years old then. I was your typical Porirua ward of the state, getting into trouble and wagging school, that's why I was sent there.

I had lots of fun there. I remember we use to go into the forest or where the pine trees where at night and look for Hobbits. Pine cones will fall from the trees and all us kids will think it's the Hobbits and the staff use to play along.

Reading some of the other comments, I will say that some of the staff may have been a little hard, or strict, but in all honesty; looking back. I was a very out of control kid I was ruthless and i know I gave them a challenge. I was always fighting against authority.

I remember having lots of fun on the BMX's and causing a ruckus at dinner time when I had to wait for my food.

Today, I look back and think it was a real positive thing for wayward kids..

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Casey Hamblin Posted: 22 Jul 2019

I went to this health camp twice during the 90s and absolutely loved it. I still look back on my time there with fond memories. I was probably pretty naughty but I still had an amazing time. I remember being so excited when I was told I was returning for a second time!
I’m sad to read it’s been closed for a lack of funding. That is a true loss to the nation.

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Scared 3 x Posted: 11 Nov 2019

I went to Otaki health camp 2 maybe 3 as a child. I hated it. I was home sick crying all the time. I had to wear shoes that were to tight. My feet had blisters all over them. I remember nurses smacking us around the heads with their jandals. One boy got repeatedly kicked up the bum in front of us all. I remember. On the first day I arrived I was made to strip to singlet and undies. My hair was check for nits and a doctor looked at us all lined up. He even looked down our pants. I also remember when there was no hot water and we were made to go for a swim in the middle of winter in the nude. Both boys and girls we were all shivering. I remember as punishment for not making my bed right. Was doing nude press UPS on the floor of the dorm room. I remember the nurses standing over the shower room looking down at us showering. And making rude humiliating comments about our body parts. I hated health camp. I still hate the place to this day. It was like a military camp ..

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Anonymous Posted: 24 Apr 2020

I was sent to Roxburgh Health Camp in early 1977 when i was 6 years old.
I knew why i was at the camp , it was to help my parents after i had a head injury that effected my learning and behavior.
I can remember the first day at school there , the teachers were a married couple and they were very nasty. We would get humiliated in front the class if we couldn't read or write in a timely manner.
I was locked in a small dark cupboard for not being able to read from a book in front of the class and this would carry on until i could do so. Being in that cupboard in the dark still haunts me to this day. The teachers there would call us dumb , stupid and many other hurtful names.
We were threatened by the teachers , that if we said anything to anyone about what had happened in school that we would get worse than what we had been getting. This scared many of us and nothing was ever said until later in life.
Night time in the dorms became scary sometimes , as you would hear a different kid being woken and taken out of the dorm to the TV room on different nights. It wasn't long before it was my turn to go to the TV room. The staff member began asking questions and if it wasn't for me saying my surname and that i had family who lived in Roxburgh , i don't know what would of happened.
Many of the kids in the dorm became like zombies.
Some of us tried to tell staff of what was going on , but because all we were to them were kids with problems.
Don't get me wrong there were some good times at the Health Camp , but when you think of those good memories , the bad memories seem to take over.

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David Ross BAR… Posted: 8 May 2020

I attended Otaki twice in the early Fortys, .Fortunatly,I went with my Sister, M Lois Barnes/
and I was allowed to Sleep with Her, Both then and Latter it Wanganui Orphanage . Twice.
I made a lot of Friends Even though I was away from Home for variously reasons.Polio etcI got used to it.
Even Got to like the Cod-liver Oil. Started to go back for More. Hard to Believe, Eh?
The Staff Were o.k..Iteamed up with a mate, 7 we used to go along the beach to the shops for some lollies.Seems strange, that here with since 2002. Virus, and having to be separated from Homes.

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Rena MacLeod Posted: 10 Dec 2020

I did time at Otaki Health Camp in 1953. It is staggering to think they got away with subjecting children to such a traumatic experience. I recall a militant environment, forced afternoon naps, and fearing deeply one of the matrons who was prone to lashing out at kids who put a foot wrong. I remember kids, deemed to have misbehaved, getting lined up, chastised and belted with a leather strap in front of the others. Even a child who had wet the bed was disciplined in like manner. My parents had sent me some sweets, but this was intercepted, and my parcel was communally distributed. I was 7 years old, homesick, utterly miserable and scared, and I didn't even know why I was there. I remember a kindly fellow who took us pine-cone picking in the forest, but this camp experience overall was profoundly cruel - abuse by any other name, despite the intentions behind it. The best part of the two months of hell was finally getting out. I was 3 stone 4lbs when I was incarcerated, and 3 stone 11lbs on release - minimal gain for a lifetime of having to block out the memories.

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Anonymous Posted: 25 Aug 2021

When I was 7 and 9 years old I went to Otaki health camp in the 90s twice for 6 weeks at a time I hated the place I was made to sleep in the girls as the boys dorm was full on Both stays. I have a sleeping disorder that causes me to rock in my sleep I was punished for this every night. By a manly looking women and she would kick me in my private parts while no one was watching. I was so scared I wouldn't sleep due some night in fear of Rocking in my sleep. I tried to run away onces a didn't know my way so I climbed on top of the class room roof and sat up there all day I could hear her looking for me and calling with threats I came down at as it was getting dark she found me out on this round stage thing out toward the pines and beat me with a shoe I was then kick up the bum when I got back to the girls dorm in front of every body also they all Lough at me I snapped got mad and pulled her hair and ran down the hall way towards the room we all eat in she chased me there I was kicked in the private parts so hard I needed stichers. I was then put in a little room after a nurse fixed my testies. I told the nurse she didn't care at all was told to not speak of it. they called this little room I was put in safe room for the night. Woke as I rocked in my sleep in the morning the rocking loosened the stichers. I still have scares today one testie is deformed now I wish I could remember the names of this Manly looking half cast lady and her husband with the pony tile so I can dish her the pain I went thru I felt targeted because I was different I still have a sleeping disorder to day these people need to be held accountable for what happened to me. I feel but after reading some of these posts i feel sick to the core you poor people went though so much

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Helen B Posted: 26 May 2022

My sister and I were sent to Otaki Health Camp in 1973. We were there for 6 weeks and I hated it.
The dorms were cold and sparse, and even though it was winter, we only had one blanket each.
The food was horrible. I remember being forced to eat Junkett on a Sunday night as a "treat", this junkett was loaded with nutmeg - to this day I can not stomach the smell or taste of nutmeg.
Even though we were sent with toothpaste, by the third week we were brushing our teeth with baking soda.
The only good thing I remember is walks to the beach and picking up pumice.
To this day, I think of the place more as an orphanage than a health camp.

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Gabrielle J Posted: 28 Jul 2022

I was sent to Otaki Health Camp when I was 7, (1957) it was deemed suitable for me by the local Carterton District Nurse as I still wet the bed & was not welcome to stay with relatives because of it.
It was like something out of an old Victorian Orphanage..Being one of the youngest there was horrendous and set me up for being bullied.. The staff were cruel & seemingly enjoyed it. The beach & Pine forest were welcome highlights.
6 weeks was like a lifetime.. From being a happy chatty child prior to going I became very shy & internalised. Sanctioned child abuse was definitely part of the curriculum.. My mother told me many years later that when I got home I was a very different person.. I never shared the actual experience with anyone til I was in my 20s...

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DK Posted: 4 Aug 2022

I went here in 2004 as an 8 year old and after reading the comments not much had changed. It was one of the worst experiences I've had in my life. I was taken separately out of the dorm most nights to have a bath for my eczema. Whoever took me would watch me get undressed everytime and if I refused they would strip me naked anyway and 'help' me bath. I was told if I ever told my dad anything that happened at bath time I wouldn't be allowed to talk to him anymore. My dad sent me parcels everyday to try and cheer me up but eventually the staff started taking them and opening them. They ate all my lollies which were in one parcel and laughed in my face about it. When my dad complained they were opening my mail the staff just made me open it in front of them and then they took it, said it was unfair on the other kids that weren't getting mail for me to have mine. I specifically remember a staff member who got stood down after a girl locked herself in the bathroom to get a way from her physical abuse and they kicked the door open on her head. Another staff member use to woke us up at 5am for us to run to the beach while yelled abuse at us. Another girl in the dorm had a crooked finger when she arrived so the staff took it upon themselves to break it and set it 'correctly' she was screaming no and crying for the whole process that they just carried out in our dorm. Theu regularly searched out tiny little dressers by our beds and took what they wanted. I cried every single day I was there. 6 weeks felt like forever and no one would ever tell me how much longer I had to stay when I asked. I will never forgive my mother for sending me here. I don't blame her for the sexual and physical abuse I received though, seems that was just a standard part of the service they were providing.

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Anonymous Posted: 23 Nov 2022

Interesting at the age of 83, to be reading of other children's experiences back in the 1940's. They, like me, were sent to the Otaki Health Camp, initially for six weeks. I was sent because my mother was ill, and I actually did a double stint of 12 weeks. Twelve weeks of mostly misery. I can still recall the smell of the evening meal wafting towards us, my stomach beginning to churn....and then vomitting into my plate. And on one occasion bring made to eat it. I ran away but seven year olds can't go far so of course I was discovered hiding in the sandhills( by the only kind staff member I remember) and carried back.
I recognised myself in one of the photos of kids eating apples, and immediately recalled the name of the girl sitting next to me.... hadn't thought of her for 70 years. One of the few pleasant memories.
And yes, like so many others, I'm only now "appreciating" the damage done.

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