Presented to the Governor-General by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, June 2024
Released, 24 July 2024, along with Whanaketia, the final report

The Kimberley Centre was one of four large psychopaedic institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand. It operated under various names for 61 years from 1945 to 2006. In the terminology of the day, the term ‘psychopaedic’ was used to describe people with a learning disability to distinguish them from people who were mentally ill. Due to the government policy of institutionalisation, together the four psychopaedic institutions came to house thousands of disabled children, young people and adults. At its peak in 1964, there were 780 children, young people and adults at the Kimberley Centre alone.

This case study summarises the evidence the Inquiry received about the Kimberley Centre. Survivors experienced a dehumanising environment where they were stripped of their individual identity, stigmatised and devalued for being disabled. In this environment, survivors’ right to human dignity was not respected. Abuse was commonplace, severe and chronic, and the Inquiry heard of abhorrent sexual and physical abuse. Survivors experienced neglect of basic needs as well as pervasive neglect – neglect across all facets of their lives. Children, young people and adults were not educated, stimulated or treated with dignity and respect. Their emotional and medical needs were not met, and their cultures were not acknowledged or fostered. The severe neglect they experienced had significant long-term impacts. (From the website).

This is one of the case studies published by the Royal Commission throughout the course of the Inquiry, which investigate abuse and neglect in a number of State and faith-based institutions across Aotearoa New Zealand. There are seven case studies in all. (From the website).

Record #8818