takapuna

Children lying in their beds in the solarium at the Wilson Home for crippled children in Takapuna, Auckland, 1943.

The crippling disease Paralytic Poliomyelitis (Polio) affected hundreds of children before it was virtually eliminated by a mass vaccination campaign in 1962. It wasn't until 2000 that New Zealand was officially declared Polio free.

Takapuna school war memorial showing names.