Ōtaki Children's Health Camp
29 Health Camp Road, Ōtaki Beach. There is no general public access. Group tours can be arranged through the Friends of the Ōtaki Rotunda charitable trust.
The New Zealand health camp movement arose from growing concern about children’s health and welfare in the early twentieth century. There was a new awareness that many children were missing out on fresh air, sunshine and healthy food. This was the first permanent Children’s Health Camp, opening in 1932.
Dr Elizabeth Gunn, School Medical Officer at Wanganui, became interested in camps for children after serving with the army (1916–18). She organised a successful health camp under canvas every summer for several years at Turakina.
Dr Ida Paterson, Director of School Hygiene, founded the Wellington Children’s Health Camp Association in 1929.
Byron Brown, businessman and entrepreneur of Ōtaki, donated four acres of land (later enlarged to 70 acres) near the beach. Mrs Christen Neilson of Norsewood suggested the issuing of health stamps to support the camps. They have been sold every year since 1929, and some have become very valuable.
In 1932, two octagonal buildings from Rotorua Hospital were moved to the Ōtaki site. Each held 60 beds. Children selected by school medical staff came from Wellington, New Plymouth and Hawke’s Bay. Many were ill-nourished, the result of being in families experiencing high unemployment, or were recovering from illness. They stayed six weeks, and thrived on a regime of good food, plenty of sleep, fun at the seaside and a few hours of schooling daily.
The camp was taken over as a wartime emergency hospital in 1942 until 1945 by Wellington Hospital Board.
The camp re-opened in 1945 with a new emphasis on emotional needs as well as physical health. A holistic approach later addressed the social, emotional and physical needs of children.
In 2001 management of the camp was taken over by a charitable trust. It closed in 2018, and is now managed by the Department of Conservation.
Byron Brown, a businessman and entrepreneur from Ōtaki.
Black and white die proof of two penny blue Smiling Boy Health stamp, 1931
The 1931 red smiling boy health stamp, one of the best known and rarest of all health stamp issues.
One of the first health stamps, released in 1929 with a surcharge to support sanatoria or similar health projects.
The 1931 red and blue smiling boys are the best known and rarest of all the health stamp issues. The stamps feature a smiling boy with a New Zealand lake and mountain landscape in the background. The four stars of the Southern Cross constellation appear to the left of the Anti Tuberculosis cross. See Stamps NZ website for more information.