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Story: Child abuse

Dirty children

Image
Small boy standing next to an open drain outside the kitchen of a run-down house.

In 1951 the Auckland district office of the Department of Health investigated living conditions in the inner-city suburb of Freemans Bay. ‘The Survey of dirty children’ revealed the sub-standard conditions in which many children were living. This little boy stands beside an open drain outside the kitchen door of a three-bedroom house in which 18 people lived.

Using this item

Auckland Regional Office, Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: BAAK A43 7/b, fig. 41

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga (Auckland Regional Office) must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Bronwyn Dalley, Child abuse – Understanding child abuse, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/30574/dirty-children (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Bronwyn Dalley, published 26 April 2011.