As a bit of fun we have been going through some photos of the often lost things on the Heritage site. They can be lost because there is simply so much to take in and these things are over looked but they played an important part at the site.
The first picture I put up on the Willow Court History Group’s Facebook group was of a red button. We had a number of people attempt to answer where they thought it was and what it was used for.
It is always good to have ex staff on the Facebook site as they not only know the answers to these questions, they can often add details that had not been known either to me or in records that help us all know what went on behind the walls.
“Matty Graham: That’s an alarm button in the office on the floor in A ward.”
The answer was 100% correct but Matty went on to inform us that C Ward and the Admin Building also had similar foot operated panic alarms.
We also had Carla who had insight into A Ward and stated;
“This button came in handy when the men escaped from C ward and came to get their girlfriends out in A ward.”
She is referring to one of the most recent and well known escapes from the secure hospital Wards. This is when male patients broke out of C Ward and entered A Ward “to get their girlfriends out”.
The other side of this was from a residents view. If you lived in the town of New Norfolk there were different reactions, Paul Mayne remembers growing up and stated;
“When i was a kid and the alarm went off and we were seen on the streets .. you got to feel the wooden spoon across your ass !!!”
So one photo and we have enjoyed three different perspectives and learnt some new stuff along the way. Thanks guys for participating.
Here is what the Book Troubled Asylum stated about the siren when it was sounded.
“The Lachlan Park Hospital will sound a siren when a patient is considered dangerous escapes” The medical administrator of the hospital (Dr J.R.C. Weatherly) said yesterday the alarm would be three ten-second blasts at five-second intervals. If the patient were recaptured within five hours of the alarm being given. an “all clear”, one thirty second blast would be sounded. Dr Weatherly said the siren would be tested each Friday at noon. The test would be a single 15-second blast. (Troubled Asylum)
Cheers Mark Krause