Early this week the Friends of Willow Court, members of the Derwent Valley Players and a representative of the Willow Court History Group conducted an educational tour for students from Sacred Heart College at Willow Court. This was a Thematic interpreted tour with dramatized, evidence based stories, all presented and linked to the school curriculum.
The students first met with Matron Coates (Sharon Hutchison) who explained, within her busy schedule, the rules for visitors the Hospital. A short history of the development of Social Services within Van Diemen’s Land was presented, this put the New Norfolk Invalid Barracks into a context and explained why a Hospital needed to be built on the site.
A number of historical characters presented themselves throughout the Barracks building and along the tour path including Ruth Montgomery who played the part of a Nurse circa 1960’s. The nurse advocated on behalf of a patient at the time and read the patient’s account of being incarcerated in the Hospital.
Ruth also played the part of Mary Dingle a Convict who found herself transported to Tasmania and ending up in the Hospital. Mary’s story was referenced 36 times to ensure a high degree of accuracy, likewise all the stories, were either first hand accounts or came about because of research.
Jeff Windsor (Patient C Ward Criminal Division) waited in the Carlton yard ready to tell his story of being in the secure ward during the 1968 mass escape. A number of security staff were brutality beaten during the escape. He describes the scene before and during the escape and the energy levels before the attack on two security staff. The aftermath and consequences were still in his mind as the free patients were returned to the hospital and the ring leader sent back to Risdon Prison.
All the tour guides have been trained in thematic interpretation by Phil Fitzpatrick who was instrumental in thematic guide training in other Tasmanian Heritage sites like Port Arthur and Sarah Island. Tour guides continued their training in 2015 at both Port Arthur and the Cascades Female Factory in a behind the scenes applied learning experience.
https://willowcourttasmania.org/2014/10/10/thematic-interpretation-workshop/
A great email was sent to the Friends of Willow Court, Derwent Valley player and the Willow Court History group.
“I wanted to send you an email to let you know how fantastic the experience was at Willow Court earlier this week. The feedback I got from students was that they had never experienced the “thematic” approach that you and the actors delivered and they found this to be really interesting to hear these primary accounts within the confines of the rooms that these people worked in, students came away with some incredible insights, shocked by the tragic circumstances of some of the people incarcerated at this facility, as well as a deeper appreciation of the history of the site”
Teacher; Sacred Heart College
Missing from the pictures was Derwent Valley Player, Linley Hopkins who played the role of Mrs Smyth-Jones.