The paddock that became a grave for the people New Zealand branded ‘defective’ – and chose to forget

Nearly 500 patients consigned to the Tokanui psychiatric hospital died there, their only legacy a memorial wall in a field

It was, remembers Caroline Arrell, just another paddock. Grazed by sheep under the wide Waikato sky, it gave no hint of its past – except perhaps that her labrador, Lucy, had an odd aversion to it. The dog would veer away from it, skirting the fence line.

But out riding her horse, Alice, on a quiet Sunday in early 1991, Arrell was about to discover a grave on the 200-hectare farm she called home. Beneath the feet of the sheep, under the grass and soil, nearly 500 people lay buried.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/sOnc9Tq