Kōrero: Family welfare

Dunedin’ Caversham Industrial School was one of many institutions established in New Zealand in the late 19th century to house and train children whose parents could not care for them. Some of the children and adolescents in industrial schools were born outside marriage. Others had lost a parent or had parents who were seen as too immoral or drunk to look after them. The focus was on physical care, schooling and training for useful work. For girls this often meant training to be good housewives or domestic servants through doing washing and other domestic work.