Louise Miles

alt=Woman with dark hair and glasses with handbag in white coat and black shoes. Louise Miles on the occasion of receiving the British Empire Medal 'for the care of handicapped children', c.1969.

Louise Miles (4 January 1918 – 26 December 2005) was a caretaker for disabled children in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Biography Born as Louisa Spencer on 4 January 1918, in Wellington, her father, Harry was a coal merchant and her mother, Mary-Ann ( Stewart), from Newtown, was a foster carer. By the time Louisa was 21, her mother had fostered 50 children. Louisa had five siblings, and was known within her family as Lou. She would later change her name to Louise at some point in the early 1960s.

On 6 February 1939, she married Ronald (Ron) Charles Miles (1914–1986), a Christchurch garage attendant. Ronald was the son of Christchurch carter Charles and Georgina Miles (née Giddy). From around 1946, the couple lived at 132 Aldwins Road, Phillipstown in Christchurch. Here they initially established a day-nursery, but it was unsuccessful, so they began taking in 'handicapped' 'permanent children boarders' (sic). The street is named incorrectly: the women lived in nearby Jerrold St (now renamed after street reconfiguration as 476 Barrington St). The residence at 226 Lincoln Road does not survive and the site is now part of the Raceway Motel.

From 1958 to 1971, Louise was on the committee of the Canterbury branch of the Epilepsy Association, initially as secretary-treasurer, and in 1964 as welfare officer.

Publicity, community fundraising and support (1959–1973) Throughout the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s Little Acre appears in the local newspapers as the recipient of much community goodwill and supplemental funding, with Louise regularly giving interviews to journalists and associated photographers. In this period, Louise was uncritically praised in the press for being 'gentle and sympathetic' and having 'mental empathy...with a high sensitivity for the physical and emotional states of the children' in her care, in her 'Home with a Special Touch'.

Inspired by this article, in September 1961, Christchurch Lions funded and relined a room in the house, where five bedrooms had been fire damaged before they moved in,

In April 1964, as a 'disability organisation' Little Acre received 800 pounds from the proceeds of the national Golden Kiwi lottery, while in September 1970 the Canterbury University Engineering Society donated the $50 proceeds of a spring fashion show. A set of images taken by the Christchurch Star in 1971 show Louise outside the home with a number of children in her care around her. Little Acre received the proceeds of a 'Monster Auction' at Cashmere School in July 1972. The Red Cross donated parcels of clothing and toys to Little Acre in December 1972.

In December 1968, it was announced that a four-year-old child with Down Syndrome who lived at Little Acre, Tony Reilly, was chosen to front the 1969 Intellectually Handicapped Children (IHC) Appeal for funds. Tony's image appeared in newspapers under the headings 'Help a handicapped child grow up' and 'What will happen to me when I grow up?...Tony alone cannot answer this'. The IHC magazine of December 1968 also featured an article about Louise Miles who said that caring for 'handicapped children' was her 'private hobby' and that she had a 'gift' for it. In a photograph taken by the Christchurch Star as Little Acre was about to move in to Huntsbury House, Louise is shown looking out over the balcony of the home, and also inspecting the kitchen with Valerie Joan Henry. The home had 60 beds and was maintained by the Presbyterian Social Service Association, who leased the building from the North Canterbury Hospital Board. A community group fundraised for furnishings. The sign at the front of the home read 'Little Acre' in yellow writing overlain with sequins, on a blue background. In 1979, Louise Miles estimated that between 36 and 38 children were cared for here by the Miles' at any one time over the next seven years. In 1993, Huntsbury House was demolished along with the rest of the former Cashmere Sanitorium buildings to make way for a new development called Broad Oaks.

Publicity, community fundraising and support (1973–1979) In June 1973, the Christchurch Garrison Band donated $150 from a concert at the Hillsborough Tavern to Little Acre. The Woolston Buffalo Lodge donated $150 to the home to 'help make Christmas brighter in December 1973.' In February 1974, the Miles' were presented with a large cheque for $3,000 from the United States Navy Antarctic Support force, where a broadcaster Al Bray had broken a record for a continuous radio show over Christmas at McMurdo Station. The couple were photographed with a 'shopping list'. In December of that year, a set of Christchurch Star photographs show a Father Christmas unveiling a colour television set for the children at Little Acre, also donated by the United States Navy Antarctic Support Force, along with gifts for the children .

A documentary about the children's home and Louise Miles' work was televised via the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ) in 1974, filmed in colour by local Christchurch company Robbins Recordings, and produced by Keith Robbins . It was called 'Four in the Morning: Handicapped Foster Children', In this documentary Louise revealed that the name of the home was because the couple 'thought we had God's Little Acre, for it wasn't only us doing; God was always helping us'. She said 'I seem to have a gift for healing the handicapped. I think that loving them brings back something they're missing'. A large playhouse arrived in April 1976 from the president of the Christchurch Lions Club. In November 1977, Little Acre was one of the two recipients of funds from a City South Charity Auction, presented by local Radio Avon D. J. Murray Inglis. In December that year an anonymous Christchurch family gave gifts, including a trampoline, to the children at Little Acre as they were about to embark on their annual holiday camp at Pleasant Point. October 1978 saw a delegation of Associated Contract Cleaners donate their time to cleaning the home 'from top to bottom'.

Witness testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care In 1962, a 6-month-old baby named Renée Grace (later Habluetzel) was taken into care at Little Acre and later adopted by Louise and Ronald Miles. In August 2022 she gave witness testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, set up on 1 February 2018 to understand what happened to children, young people and adults in State care and in the care of faith-based institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand between 1950 and 1999.

In her testimony Renée described what happened to her and other children over 17 years at Little Acre. She appears in the 1974 documentary 'Four in the Morning' as 'a willing helper', and is shown distributing meals in the dining room, holding babies and peeling potatoes.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care noted 'that Presbyterian Support South Island commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations made [about Little Acre] between 2005 and 2007 [after Louise Miles' death, and the demolition of both Little Acre sites] but they were unable to be corroborated. The matter was also referred to the New Zealand Police and no charges were laid'.

"Little Acre: The friendly children's home run by a 'monster On 16 November 2024, an extensively detailed investigation titled "Little Acre: The friendly children's home run by a 'monster was published in Christchurch newspaper The Press in its Mainlander section. Written by senior features writer Charlie Mitchell, it included interviews with three survivors of Little Acre: Renée Habluetzel, a woman known only as Christine, and a man with the pseudonym 'Jack'. The interviews with Christine and 'Jack' corroborated Renée's testimony provided to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, recounting seeing and/or experiencing regular beatings, kicking, hair-pulling, prolonged chest-deep cold baths with their heads held under the water, humiliation, theft and starvation at the hand of Louise Miles, who 'gathered up children like she collected dolls'.

Mitchell writes that, 'like the castle at the centre of Disneyland, Little Acre was a facade, a beautiful edifice that was hollow inside...enabled by a system that ignored obvious warning signs, one that fell under the spell of a woman who sold herself as the kind face of institutionalisation'. ), as unpaid slaves to care for the children, rising at 5.30am to 'get several disabled kids fed, toileted and medicated'. She then went to work in a local factory for the day, returning to feed, medicate and put the children to bed. Miles controlled her finances, discouraged her education and limited her activity until she escaped at the age of 28.

Award In the 1969 Birthday Honours Louise Miles was awarded the British Empire Medal 'for the care of handicapped children.'

Retirement In December 1978, Louise Miles was reported as suffering from ill-health, which was forcing her to retire. In February 1979, Louise and Ronald Miles closed Little Acre, and left Christchurch for Tauranga, taking six children and a foster daughter with them. The press reported on a farewell community luncheon at St Martin's Church, Christchurch on 23 February, at which Louise estimated that she had cared for more than 500 children over 40 years. Ronald Miles died in Tauranga on 19 June 1986 aged 72.