Little Criminals: The Story of a New Zealand Boys' Home

by David Cohen

  Helen Bain, an honest friend, respected journalist and inveterate Hutt girl, never lived to see the end result of this project, but we talked about it a lot in the months before her untimely death in December 2009. This book is dedicated to her with much affection and considerable sadness.

  Another friend and one-time Hutt Valley resident, Lloyd Jones, encouraged this project from day one, including making time for much jawing together about juvenile offending and (something he is hugely well informed on) boxing. Lloyd is equally inspiring to rap with on the subject of imagination, a theme he explored with outstanding success in his novel Mister Pip. While I never explained this book’s schema to him in as many words, his comments during these sparring sessions helped sharpen my focus, as well as reminding me what a powerful shared experience it was for some of us growing up in the cultural shadow of those old fights.

  So, here’s to Ali and Frazier and Foreman and Liston and Norton and Tyson, and all the rest of them too.

  Pamela, my wife, sat through more late-night conversations about Epuni Boys’ Home than any one person ever should, and she did so with great enthusiasm and an ongoing commitment to the project. Okay, Pam, so the final bell’s gone now. Wanna take a walk in the park?

  NOTES AND SOURCES

  This book is based on first-hand reporting, original research, published material and my own experience living at Epuni during the winter of 1975. It is not an authorised account or meant to serve as a work of historical scholarship. The text was not vetted by any outside organisation or individuals. No person I interviewed was given copy approval on how their quotes might be used, although I invited everybody I interviewed to contact me within a reasonable period of time if they had second thoughts about anything that had been discussed on the record. Nobody did. All the main interviews were taped.

  In order to get the fullest access to some of the records held by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), I agreed not to identify by name any former ward whose details I came across in the ministry’s files.

  Except where noted, any official and internal correspondence I have quoted from was contained in files made available to me by MSD, Archives New Zealand or else provided in response to requests made under the Official Information Act. In addition, I drew on hundreds of pages of ‘discovered’ material and records relating to some of the abuse cases brought against the MSD, as well as published newspaper reports. Finally, I reviewed virtually all of the annual parliamentary reports on residential children’s care tabled between 1902 and 1990, and read through all the available annual reports filed by Epuni between 1960 and 1991.

  WONDERLAND

  The opening scene of this book is based on my own experience of being admitted to Epuni. Sonny Liston’s fixation with the song ‘Night Train’ has been written about by others, most notably the American writer Nick Tosches in The Devil and Sonny Liston.

  The brevity of my interview with Arthur Taylor — two scheduled interviews with him were cancelled by the prison before we finally managed to speak, and the word to me was to keep it brief — made it necessary for me to glean some of his background information from other published sources, most helpfully the profile ‘My wasted years of crime’, by Paul Yandall, The New Zealand Herald, September 29, 2001.

  The question of how many inmates passed through Epuni and the wider residential system is somewhat stymied by the lack of data on readmissions or multiple admissions to different institutions. Officially, 130,065 admissions were processed nationwide in the 40 years to 1990, roughly 90 per cent of them in the years covered in this book; the Ministry of Social Development gives the number of individual admissions during the same period as 106,985. No overall data exist for Epuni, but working through what statistical analyses and annual reports remain suggests the number of admissions at that institution was at least 8000.

  MOON OVER EPUNI

  My recreation of a typical day at Epuni Boys’ Home is based on dozens of conversations and emails with former inmates and staff members, reading the relevant departmental manuals and my own memories. To imaginatively retrace the Ali-Frazier fight, I reviewed footage of the event and combed through press reports and other published accounts, in particular Mark Kram’s Ghosts of Manila.

  LITTLE CRIMINALS

  Horiana Te Puni’s eulogy was quoted in the Evening Post of December 10, 1870; the same edition of the newspaper described the weather conditions on that day.

  My account of Lower Hutt in the 1950s relies on a variety of standard accounts while also drawing on my personal knowledge of the region I was born and raised in. I read several accounts of the Mazengarb inquiry, by far the best being Redmer Yska’s All Shook Up. The social historian Bronwyn Dalley’s Family Matters presents many of the historical pivots in the evolution of state guardianship that I follow in a more haphazard fashion.

  Some of the data I use in relation to the industrial schools first appeared in the lengthy article ‘Our industrial schools: Opinions of the Education Department’, Evening Post, September 6, 1900.

  For my description of Te Puni’s political and tribal activities, I leaned on Angela Ballara’s useful online entry about the ‘paramount chief’ in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

  A PLACE CALLED HOME

  To describe the opening of Epuni Boys’ Home and some of its initial challenges, I drew on archival material and interviews with the individuals identified in this section. Reporter Rita Thomas’s upbeat observations on Epuni were published in the article ‘Time spent in boys home can be a turning point for many young men’, Evening Post, December 17, 1969.

  My descriptions of Kohitere and Hokio are based on a number of visits I made to these institutions in the late 1970s, including an impromptu three-night stay at Kohitere in 1979. I also drew some of the information I use from the annual reports produced by each of these places.

  My description of Ernie Foote’s boxing skills relies on local press reports: ‘Highlight on first night’, Weekly News, September 20, 1939; ‘Match for Newtown Cup’, Evening Post, June 9, 1938.

  JERUSALEM

  To describe the educational challenges at Epuni, I drew on internal memos and the recollections of individuals quoted. Here, as elsewhere, I opted for the standard (mis)spelling of ‘Wanganui’, both for the sake of stylistic consistency and because it was standard usage during the period.

  To describe the activities of Vincent Calcinai, I relied on interviews with a number of former colleagues and the recollections of pupils he taught in Epuni, Khandallah and Pipiriki. The description of Calcinai’s time in Pipiriki and Jerusalem, including his friendship with James K. Baxter and his opinions of the place, are drawn from court records and newspaper reports published after his death. Calcinai’s educational resume was in a file I chanced upon in 2010 at the Ministry of Health.

  The issue of sexual problems among some wards was first raised in a July 10, 1963 memo — ‘Sexual misbehaviour’ — from Maurice Howe to the Child Welfare Division’s district office in Lower Hutt.

  The line about Sonny Liston dying on the day he was born first appeared in Nick Tosches’ Liston biography.

  The scene at Epuni during the screening of Romeo and Juliet was described to me by the teacher Dave Kelsey.

  THE BLACK LIGHTS

  The activities of the disgraced doctor Selwyn Leeks have been the subject of a number of media reports published in New Zealand and Australia. Especially helpful here were two articles filed by the Melbourne Age reporter William Birnbauer: ‘Anger as child-shock doctor avoids scrutiny’, July 23, 2006; ‘“Shock” doctor loses appeal against payout’, March 2, 2008. I interviewed three of Leeks’ former patients, as well as discussing the subject at some length with Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia. Another source of information on the controversial aspects of ECT was Linda Andre’s Doctors of Deception.

  An account of the bellicose young fatherless elephants appeared in the report ‘An elephant crackup?’, by Charles Sierbert, The New York Times, Octo
ber 8, 2006.

  The material I present on autism was first gathered in an interview I did in England with the Cambridge University researcher Simon Baron-Cohen for a report I filed for an American newspaper, ‘Men, empathy and autism’, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 5, 2004.

  HEY, CHARLIE!

  My account of the armed boys returning to Epuni is based on court reports and several internal memos, an account of the incident prepared for the then Social Welfare minister Lance Adams-Schneider, as well as interviews I did with Paul Newrick, one of the policemen dispatched to the scene on the night. I also spoke with a ward then living at the institution. ‘Charlie’ was not the boy’s real name, although the other details are factual.

  My account of the breakdown in relations between the institution and its departmental overseers is based on a flurry of internal correspondence, including an October 10, 1972 memo — ‘Deficiencies in the Epuni Boys’ Home’ — from Bernard Baker to Lewis Anderson. The sequence of events culminating in the riot of June 23, 1972 was described by Maurie Howe in an internal report he filed on June 27, 1972, as well as an unsigned document detailing the incident which I obtained from the Ministry of Social Development by way of a request made under the Official Information Act.

  My description of Anderson’s loquacious reputation is based on a number of accounts of his administrative style published in a collection of departmental stories and reveries edited by D.J. McDonald, Working for the Welfare.

  My account of the typical afternoon routine at the Lower Hutt divisional office of what became the Department of Social Welfare is based on my own knowledge gained from having worked at the same office in the late 1970s. The details of the chaotic inspection of Epuni conducted by Elsie Feist appeared in the report she subsequently filed.

  NIGHT TRAIN

  The evolution of cellblocks at residential institutions is the subject of a fact-sheet put together by the Ministry of Social Development. In addition to this, I drew on official accounts of similar practices that appeared in several editions of the annual Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives published between 1900 and 1959. My descriptions of the girls’ residences are based on interviews with former residential manager Mike Doolan and a reading of a 1977 departmental report, Weymouth Girls’ School: A study of what is, with a view to what might be, by Nicola Atwood.

  THE GIRL WHO KICKED IN DOORS

  My account of Ali’s arrival in the Hutt Valley is based on a conversation with Bernard Lagan, who covered the visit for The Dominion, a trawl through other newspaper articles and snippets that appeared at the time in The Dominion, Evening Post and Upper Hutt Leader, and my own recollection of the visit.

  The remarks about visiting Maori parents at Epuni were made in a December 19, 1980 memo — ‘Public relations visit to the Epuni Boys’ Home’ — from G.C. Underwood to the assistant director of Wanganui’s Department of Social Welfare.

  The official reports and inquiries of note here included the transcription of a public forum held in Auckland on June 11, 1978, convened by a group called the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination; a 135-page independent report looking at the practices and procedures of the children’s institutions, which was released on October 29, 1982; and the department’s 89-page blueprint for reform, titled New Horizons, which also appeared in October 1982. Another 70-page report dealing with the Maori perspective on residential care, Puao-Te-Ata-Tu (‘day break’), was released in September 1988. For a much fuller discussion of these documents, see Bronwyn Dalley’s Family Matters.

  TIME!

  A useful summation of Epuni’s relationship with the local community appeared in the article ‘Fear in the neighbourhood’, by Barry Hawkins, Evening Post, August 18, 1997.

  For my account of Vincent Calcinai’s arrest and the final hours of his life, I interviewed the officer who led the investigation, John van den Heuvel, and drew on a couple of relevant media reports: ‘Awful things at boys’ home’, by Erin McDonald, Evening Post, December 27, 1996; ‘Toddler’s HIV anguish’, by Donna Fleming, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, December 23, 1996.

  The commentator Matthew Hooten offered his opinion on Sonja Cooper’s firm and the abuse claims it handles in a September 4, 2009 piece in The National Business Review entitled ‘The $4.4 million advertisement for legal aid reform’.

  A BOXER’S HEART

  Trainer Cus D’Amato’s words about Mike Tyson first appeared in Reg Gutteridge and Norman Giller’s study Mike Tyson: The release of power (Harpenden, UK: Leonard Queen Anne Press, 1995).

  On the history of boxing as a means of addressing juvenile delinquency, I drew on a couple of published newspaper accounts: ‘Boxing for boys’, New York Police News, April 25, 1905; ‘Delinquent boys: Special club formed in Auckland: Encouraging result’, The Dominion, October 7, 1940.

  Billy Graham’s current work was also the subject of this illuminating news profile by sports writer Nick Venter: ‘Academy of dreams’, The Dominion Post, September 16, 2006.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Andre, Linda. Doctors of Deception: What they don’t want you to know about shock therapy (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009).

  Bates, Arthur P. A Pictorial History of the Wanganui River (Wanganui Newspapers, 1986).

  Boddy, Kasia. Boxing: A cultural history (London: Reaktion Books, 2008).

  Dalley, Bronwyn. Family Matters: Child welfare in twentieth-century New Zealand (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1998).

  Dalley, Bronwyn, & Tennant, Margaret (eds). Past Judgement: Social policy in New Zealand history (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2004).

  Glasser, William. Reality Therapy: A new approach to psychiatry (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1965).

  Graham, Billy. A Motivational Memoir (Auckland: Hodder Moa Beckett, 1998).

  Hampton, Ross E. Sentencing in a Children’s Court and Labelling Theory (Research Section, Justice Department, New Zealand, 1975).

  Jackson, George. Soledad Brother: The prison letters of George Jackson (Middlesex: Penguin, 1971).

  Kaplan, Fred. 1959: The year that changed everything (New Jersey: Wiley, 2009).

  Kram, Mark. Ghosts of Manila: The fateful blood feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (New York: HarperCollins, 2002).

  Layden, Joe. The Last Great Fight: The extraordinary tale of two men and how one fight changed their lives forever (New York: St Martins Press, 2007).

  Lee, John A. The Hunted (Wellington: Price Milburn, 1975).

  McDonald, D.J. (ed.). Working for the Welfare: Stories by staff of the former Child Welfare Division (Christchurch: Social Work Press, 1994).

  McGill, David. Lower Hutt: The first garden city (Lower Hutt City Council, 1991).

  Mirams, Doris Meares. Orphanages Without Orphans (Christchurch: Gordon & Gotch, 1950).

  Oates, Joyce Carol. On Boxing (New York: Dolphin/ Doubleday, 2006).

  O’Brien, Brian F. Kiwis with Gloves On: A history and record book of New Zealand boxing (Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1960).

  Oliver, W.H. James K. Baxter: A portrait (Auckland: Godwit Press/Bridget Williams Books, 1994).

  Philipp, Eileen. Juvenile Delinquency in New Zealand: A preliminary study (Wellington: NZ Council for Educational Research, 1946).

  Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks: A writer’s year at juvenile hall (St Louis: Turtleback Books, 2007).

  Savage, Jon. Teenage: The creation of youth, 1875–1945 (London: Random House, 2007).

  Schrader, Ben. We Call it Home: A history of state housing in New Zealand (Auckland: Reed Publishing, 2005).

  Tosches, Nick. The Devil and Sonny Liston (New York: Little, Brown, 2000).

  Yska, Redmer. All Shook Up: The flash bodgie and the rise of the New Zealand teenager in the fifties (Auckland: Penguin, 1993).

  INDEX

  A

  Adams, Douglas 1

  Ali, Muhammad

  affinity with Maori 1

  ‘black lights’ and 1

 
controversies of, 1, 2

  emergence of 1

  Hutt Valley visit by 1

  Parkinson’s syndrome of 1

  Tryon Boys’ Home visit 1

  Vietnam war and 1

  Ali, Muhammad, fights of Foreman 1 Frazier (1971) 1

  Frazier (1975) 1, 2, 3

  Holmes, 1

  Liston 1

  ‘All Along the Watchtower’ 1

  Anderson, Lewis 1, 2

  ANZ Journal of Psychiatry, 1

  Asperger, Hans 1

  Auckland Prison (Paremoremo) 1, 2, 3

  autism 1

  Alzdorf, Baron C. 1

  B

  Baron-Cohen, Simon 1

  Baker, Bernard 1, 2

  Bartle, Joseph 1, 2

  Baxter, James K. 1, 2

  Beck, Frank 1

  Beck, John 1, 2

  Bishop, H.W. 1

  Blomfield, Kelly 1

  Bollard Girls’ Home 1, 2

  ‘Born to be Wild’ 1

  boxing 1

  Brett, General 1

  Brinkley, Christie 1

  Brown, Gordon 1

  Brown, James 1, 2

  Burnham Industrial School 1, 2, 3

  Burns, Tommy 1

  Burton, Graeme 1

  C

  Calcinai, Vincent

  arrest of 1

  crimes of 1, 2, 3

  death of 1

  professional activities of 1, 2