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Templeton Hospital (also known variously as Templeton Farm Mental Deficiency Colony, Templeton Farm Colony, Templeton Mental Hospital, Templeton Mental Asylum, Templeton Mental Farm, Templeton Hospital and Training Centre, Templeton Centre, and Templeton) was an offshoot of Sunnyside Hospital, the first hospital for the mentally ill in Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand (1863–1999), and the site of the first psychoapaedic hospital established in Aotearoa New Zealand, which opened in the Canterbury township of Templeton in 1929 and closed in 1996.

Establishment

In 1917, 338 acres of land was purchased at Templeton by the Government for 'mental hospital purposes'. 'Templeton Hospital Farm' was built by 1919, when it was inspected by Dr. Hay, the inspector-general of mental hospitals. The first villa was commissioned in 1927, and the second in 1929. Two additional villas were completed in 1935.

Informed by the eugenics movement of the period, the 1928 Mental Defectives Amendment Act led to the establishment in 1929 of Aotearoa New Zealand's first psychopaedic institution, Templeton Farm Mental Deficiency Colony, under the authority of Scottish eugenicist Dr Theodore Gray who was the Director-General of the Mental Hospitals Department. 'To protect white racial fitness wanted segregated farm colonies for those with intellectual disability or mental illness, registration, screening and sterilisation. The first residents were boys but soon girls were sent there too, although sexes were segregated inside the institution. Dr. Gray personally signed some of the admission forms.'

The first matron at the Templeton Hospital was experienced psychiatric nurse Miss Isabella Duncan Brand, who came from Carrington Hospital in Auckland to take up the role. However, in June 1930 she lost her life on the nearby Sockburn railway crossing, after a collision between a car and a train, along with three other Templeton nurses, a hospital driver and the train driver.

Allegations of Abuse

In May 1961, a nurse at Templeton Hospital, Ivy Johan McIlwrick, aged 21, was charged with assaulting a 19-year-old female patient, who was left with extensive bruising.

In March 1976, a 21-year-old male nurse at Templeton, Dean Andrew Francis Hamilton, was charged with whipping a 14-year-old girl with a key chain before locking her in the women's toilets, leaving welts on her buttocks. He was later found guilty of the charge.

In November 1976, Hamilton was charged with kicking an 18-year-old boy named Johnny White, who had a mental age of two, in the Manuka Villa at Templeton Hospital. He was later found guily of this charge, in addition to one of theft.

'Out of Sight, Out of Mind'

A 2004 documentary film, called 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' and made by Ōtautahi Christchurch film-maker Gerald Smyth told the story of Norman Madden who was sent to Templeton Hospital in 1940, aged six, 'for the 'crime' of being naughty and illiterate'. His admission papers were signed by Dr. Theodore Gray. At Templeton, Madden suffered physical and sexual abuse, was forced into work and denied his promised education. Smyth also followed Madden's campaign to receive a Government apology 'for the inhumane treatment he endured through his youth'. Smyth also interviewed several other former Templeton residents, after the home closed in 1996, some of whom had lived there for decades and had been sent there for equally spurious reasons, such as, in one case, stealing two pies in Riverton.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care

As part of testimony provided to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, Ms KH, a former staff member at the Templeton Centre, 'believes some staff members did not see the residents as people. She said that residents at Templeton were rarely called by their given name'. Dr. Olive Webb noted that 'when she visited the wards at the Templeton Centre... many of the residents were naked. When people shared the toilet pans, they were all in one room. The staff who worked in that ward called it the “milking session”.' The commission was also informed that, in September 1986, 'two nursing tutors formally documented their concerns about the treatment of residents by staff at Templeton and filed their report with the Canterbury Hospital Board. Among the concerns raised was that “many staff demonstrate lack of respect for the dignity of the people who are placed in their care by trusting relatives".' In addition, 'survivors experienced serious educational neglect in the form of limited, or no access to education, and / or poor quality of education. This educational neglect contributed to an ongoing social and economic disadvantage for disabled people in these institutions'.

References

1. ^ Martin Sullivan and Hilary Stace (2024-10-24). "A brief history of disability in Aotearoa New Zealand". www.disabilitysupport.govt.nz. Disability Support Services. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
2. "Political Notes: Templeton Mental Hospital Site". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
3. "News in Brief". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
4. "Big Contracts Let By Government". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
5. "Notes". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
6. "Two New Villas". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
7. "Shocking Crossing Tragedy". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
8. "Four Nurses, Chauffeur and Engine-Driver Killed". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
9. "Nurse Charged With Striking Mental Patient". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
10. "Assault By Nurse Alleged By Retardate Girl". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
11. "Supreme Court: Nurse Denies Ill-Treating Girl Patient". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
12. "Assault Alleged at Templeton". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
13. "Patient Whipped With Key Chain". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
14. "Magistrates Court: Male Nurse Charged". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
15. "Nurse Denies Kicking Boy". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
16. "Nurse Found Guilty". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
17. "Nurse on Probation". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
18. ^ Screen, NZ On. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind | Film | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
19. ^ "Chapter 4: Abuse and neglect in particular care settings (3) | Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry". www.abuseincare.org.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-27.

• Buildings and structures in the Canterbury Region
• Psychiatric hospitals in New Zealand
• Former psychiatric hospitals
• Defunct hospitals in New Zealand
• Hospitals established in 1929
• Hospitals disestablished in 1996