More Info →Evans Family Collection: At the Dental Clinic, Intermediate Normal School

A photographic series prepared by the Prime Minister’s Department in 1947 to attract British migrants. The Evans family of 5 Mansford Place, Palmerston North were selected to show the living conditions of a typical New Zealand family. The Dental Clinic at the Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School was opened in 1946. It was at first staffed by a qualified dentist and in 1947 by school dental nurses, A A Wilkinson and G H Duff. Ten year old John Evans is the patient but the nurse has not been identified. The School Dental Service was established in 1921. After 1935 it expanded rapidly and by the mid 1940s there were 456 dental clinics offering free treatment and dental education to over 226,000 children. The excellence of this service attracted overseas attention. The Dental Clinic termed by children ‘the murder house’ was a memorable feature of school life.