Access by Various artists

But the Janet Fraser Memorial School was never built. The residents of Oriental Bay took a petition against allowing disabled children to be educated in their neighbourhood and the new National Party Minister of Education acceded to their wishes and withdrew funding.

Ye gods. You’d like to think this would be a scandal nowadays.

Would the Parliamentary Library have a copy of the actual petition? Sadly, it falls just outside the range of Papers Past.

I became interested in Janet Fraser in the 1990s when Michael King got ill and couldn't do his research for the essay on her in the Dictionary of NZ Biography. With my long time interest in lefty feminism I grabbed the opportunity. It was very hard to find any published material about her so it became one of those tricky but ultimately satisfying detective projects through primary sources, including an interview with her granddaughter, the actress Alice Fraser. Peter Fraser really needed Janet in order to do all the good stuff he did. Peter was also a very hands-on, accessible MP and accessible local MP for Wellington Central (later called Brooklyn) for many decades.

I haven't searched for the petition itself but there is a correspondence about it in the IHC files including some patronising words towards the angry parents by the incoming Minister. The National Government readily sided with the residents who did not want those children in their midst.

It was very hard to find any published material about her so it became one of those tricky but ultimately satisfying detective projects

Very satisfying, I'd imagine. Thank you for doing that work.

Really interesting, Hilary. Thank you.

I also had to research an early female social reformer for the DNZB and can confirm it is a task made much harder than it might be by the attitude of contemporary press that reporting what women wore to social functions was much more relevant than reporting on anything they did.

Times have changed. But not enough.

The education minister at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Algie

Great story Hilary. Thanks :)

Basin Reserve stand, one time school and centre for children with intellectual disability, likely to be demolished.

More stroppy parents...

It was unfair, unjust, mean, nasty and discriminatory ....
....we will not let the MoH treat families like dirt....
....it was about time that the MoH stopped being vindictive and nasty...
....The couple regarded the ministry and its Minister as bullies...

One of the things I love about this Access blog on Public Address is that the posts can have another whole life outside the PA umbrella (wonderful though it is). This post led to good discussions on various Facebook parent groups where many people related to the issues raised. It was also the basis of a short presentation I gave last week to the NZEI seminar on Inclusive Education. So thank you, Russell, once again, for this nurturing niche.

Newsroom covers parents battling for education support for disabled children.

The Wellington City Council has recently decided to restore the Basin Reserve stand. That was the site of the temporary venue for the school while the Coromandel Street site was developed. I hope there is a plaque or something in the restored building to record this important little piece of Wellington's disability history.