‘Unfortunate Folk’: Essays on Mental Health Treatment 1863-1992

2001

Special Collections

Dunedin: University of Otago Press

When Truby King and his wife Bella arrived to work at Seacliff in April 1889, the institution was best described as ‘dreary’. King wasted no time in transforming the place, and improving the general living conditions of the patients. He did not tolerate violence towards any of the patients by staff and was ahead of his time in advocating for his patients’ return to live in the community. King was a keen photographer and often took photographs of the inmates. On the cover of Unfortunate Folk (2001) is Johanna Beckett, a 44 year old Gore woman who was photographed by King at Seacliff in 1890. She spent several months at the asylum.