Six month before the closure of the Willow Court Training Centre a group of people with disabilities from Cosmos Recreation Services and their support workers entered the hospital to document the final months for the residents in the remaining Wards and related activities at the hospital. The result was this video (below)
The video is approximately 40 minutes in length and the last minutes include the “final” leaving party held at the community centre which was the old school. The late film maker, Fiona Richardson, amassed a number photos and spare video footage that wasn’t used in this film. The finished film was only available for the last residents, Cosmos and Disability Services (South). This photo is of the original copy.
4 Comments
Mark, your archive of the New Norfolk asylum/Willow Court is such a valuable resource for generations to come. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Anne,
Most of the costs of the website are paid from my own pocket with a few donations from a few interested people. Despite this the traffic through this website is huge with many millions of hits since 2012, there is clearly interest in the community about what was a closed history, much of this affected families who are still searching for information and an understanding of how their family member was treated.
Cheers
Mark
As the sister of one of the last residents to leave Willow Court, we were never informed of this video. It would have been interesting I’m sure.
Hi, This was give to the last 52 residents just before to closure, so anyone who had left before November of 2000 wouldn’t have got a copy. Many copies have disappeared over the years, some people recorded over the top of the film as video tape were used over and over for important things like the football, little did the owners of this film know, this was a piece of history. Maybe one day there will be a public screening for previous residents and their families.
Cheers
Mark