Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the daughter of Eric Cunningham Dax at the Dax Centre attached to the University of Melbourne. Before our meeting Elizabeth Dax AM; MD, BS; PhD GAICD was lecturing a student group about mental health and the intersection of art.
I was given a tour of the storage and preparation facility and the Dax Museum. There are over 17,000 pieces of art created by people who have experience mental health issues, trauma, war or deep lose.
Some of the collection was gathered by Doctor Dax during his employment in Tasmania as the senior mental health expert. He also regionalised mental health services throughout Tasmania and extensively modified practices at the Royal Derwent Hospital. This was inline with his earlier, 1962 report to the Tasmanian Government about a modern approach to mental health.
This idea was the Psycho-social model which had been practiced and taught in the UK for sometime, mostly with good results. There were a number of staff at the hospital that were from the UK or some local people who training in the UK before return to Tasmania and taking part in training other staff and regionalising services throughout the state.
We had favorable discussions about some of the works returning to Tasmania at some stage for display. Elizabeth was very interested in hearing my proposal. More news as and when I know more.