We recently went for a drive around the grounds of the old Kingseat Hospital in Karaka in South Auckland, and were fascinated by the size of the place, the number of apparently derelict buildings, and the beautiful old trees. Can you share a bit of its history please? Maryanne Woods, Auckland.
The construction of Kingseat Hospital, which was named after a hospital in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, began in 1929. Flower gardens, shrubs and trees were grown in the grounds of the hospital, using surplus plants from the Ellerslie Racecourse and Norfolk Island pine seeds from Sir George Grey's garden on Kawau Island.
The hospital opened in 1932. In 1939, the Public Works Department and Fletcher Construction Company agreed on the construction of a two-storey nurses' home.
The hospital grew throughout the 1930s and 1940s to such an extent that by the beginning of 1947, there were more than 800 patients. In 1968, certain nurses at Kingseat Hospital went on strike, which forced the administration to invite unemployed people and volunteers to assist within the hospital grounds with domestic chores. In 1973, a therapeutic pool was opened by the then-Mayoress of Auckland, Barbara Goodman, four years before the main swimming pool was added to the hospital.
During the 1970s and 1980s, there were many places attached to psychiatric hospitals in New Zealand where alcoholics were treated and Villas 4 and 11 at Kingseat Hospital served this purpose. In 1996, South Auckland Health sold Kingseat Hospital after government decisions to replace ongoing hospitalisation of mentally ill patients with community care and rehabilitation units. The land on which the hospital stands was sold to Tainui the same year.
