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Unlock Willow Court

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Dr Helen Norrie listens and facilitates discussions

Last night I attended a gathering at Willow Court with Dr Helen Norrie and Dr Tamas Oszvald, both from the University of Tasmania. They are working with the Derwent Valley Council and the New Norfolk community to scope potential collaborative projects that could facilitate the activation of Willow Court, engaging with past, present and future narratives and histories.

This initiative was funded by a grant from UTAS Creativity, Culture and Society research stream, and the project aims to develop a list of potential future projects, and collaborative partners.

The key focus of the meeting and the whole project involved piecing together information that exists, identifying gaps in knowledge/information as documented, identifying key ‘knowledge custodians’ and understanding the complexities of recent and past histories.

There was representation from:

Linking and Networking Supper

New Norfolk High School,

Derwent Valley Council,

Friends of Frascati House,

Friends of Willow Court,

New Norfolk Business Alliance,

Local Tourist operators,

Derwent Valley Players,

Owners of the Agrarian Kitchen and other interested parties.

Can Seng Ooi, Professor in Cultural and Heritage Tourism, Hamish Maxwell- Stewart, Professor of History and the co-author of a previous report into the reuse of Willow Court, Professor Lucy Frost were in attendance.  

We were presented with a scope of the project by Dr Helen Norrie and Dr Tamas Oszvald and then we were asked to introduce ourselves and our connection with the site. A moderated discussion of possible future projects on the site and the interconnection they could have with the community, locally, Statewide and nationally were then discussed. A short time of questions.

Previous Reports and General Information Table.

An update on the DVC’s “expression of interest” process was given by the General Manager Mr Greg Winton.

Personal thoughts: For me this is the last ditch effort to get some common ground and for all parties to work towards one agenda. Failure to work together will simply add another report to the already high pile of the 16 previous reports and this would be a serious concern for the site. 

I have a good feeling about this. We can only contribute and work towards Willow Court becoming a place to visit in Tasmania and hope that other agendas will be left behind. I know that both Helen and Tamas are working hard to see that happen.

On a not so related matter, meetings at Willow Court Barracks without toilet facilities are a sure test of endurance for invited guests!

 

 

 

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Study into Willow Court use.

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Last week I had the opportunity to meet with both Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald about the engagement project that they have been investigating at Willow Court. They explained the project and stated that this will be approximately the 15-16th report into Willow Court. We were able to explain some of the history and the complex and mixed history of the site and plan on returning to have more input. 

The reports range from the Architectural values through to the large McDonald Report (found in the documents tab on this site) created to plan for the future use of the site. This project was put forward by The New Norfolk Business Alliance which is a Special sub committee of the Derwent Valley Council. The study will look at future community engagement opportunities for the site and is seeking interested groups and individuals to have an input into the process.

As I reported in an earlier report, the Derwent Valley Council are currently also looking at an expression of interest process for the site, which they have been announcing for nearly two years. The Council are looking at interested parties to restore, occupy and use the site.

Interested parties are yet to see the conditions and details that are set out but the Council have been looking at the advertising costs and options up to $76, 960 (+GST) which they admit is unfunded from the ratepayers at this stage. The proposal from the DVC agenda is below.

University of Tasmania Community Engagement Project
The New Norfolk Business Alliance has been exploring how a community arts project could be used to promote visitation to New Norfolk. As a result of discussions Dr Helen Norrie (Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design) and Dr Tamas Osvald (Research Assistant at the College of the Arts) from the University of Tasmania have shown an interest in the collation of information and undertaking a short community mapping exercise which will inform future community engagement opportunities.
Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald have been successful in receiving approximately $5,500 through an internal University of Tasmania grant (Creative Culture and Society Research) to further explore the potential for collaborative and interdisciplinary projects with Willow Court as the basis of the discussion. The project is a short term program which will be completed by December 2017 and will collate information, map the community and identify potential future collaborations and opportunities for future projects. Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald intend to provide the results of their project to the Council for further discussion once completed. This project does not involve any financial commitment from the Council and the outcomes may assist in future funding applications. A brief outline of the project is attached.

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Patchwork Cafe

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A long history has been had for the demountable building that we know today as the Patchwork Cafe in the privately owned section of the hospital grounds at New Norfolk.

In the documentary that recorded the last six months (Six Months to go and counting) before the closure of the institution there is a scene where you can see the steam rising from the grate just in front of the door of what is now the cafe, in it’s current location. This was part of the steam loop heating system that went to each Ward of the Hospital. Many people have a vivid memory of steam rising up in the middle of winter in the hospital grounds.

The demountable building was first located beside K1 (building with the clock tower) then moved after the construction of K2 (current Masonic Lodge). It wasn’t in the plan in 1883 but appears in the picture above and it is the building with a pitched roof located about one third along in the photo from the left.

Some people have only ever know this buildings as Patchwork Cafe and others have known this demountable building as a school and an Occupational Therapy building. Today it sits in it’s third location and still bears the marks of being part of the Institution. If you look carefully inside at the windows you will notice that the glass on some of the lower pains is quite thick and around the wooden window frame there is are holes where metal bars once were installed to stop escapes.

This picture shows the building in it’s current location before the gardens and the strange and sometimes controversial old car bodies that currently surround it. The picture below shows the side and rear view and lacks the gardens that have been put in around the Cafe.

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Memories

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Last week was a tremendously powerful week for evoking memories and reflection with “Remembrance Day” activities being broadcast on the television and ceremonies being held in our community. It was also a week that I found out that a number of people I knew had died.

This has had me thinking about remembering, reflecting and the social normal methods we share and speak to each other about the death of friends, relations and colleagues.

It wasn’t that long ago that I noticed another cherished colleague, too many at the Royal Derwent Hospital, had died and as expected there was a wonderful response and out pouring from past friends and colleagues, all sharing their condolences and stories of who that person was to them and their loss and sadness felt. As a small community there was a joint grieving that could be felt even through the digital social media that we commonly use today.

This has made me think as I was dealing with grief, the grief and loss of two people. This was on top of the news of the last six people in a short space of months that have died and yet some of this news I hadn’t heard for weeks afterwards.

There had been no opportunity to show that out pouring of grief, no opportunity to attend public funerals to celebrate the lives of these people and the contribution they had made to society and the people around them. There was no Facebook group to share this knowledge, no place to write your thoughts. It was allowed to quietly pass.

This is the life (and death) of the past Residents of Willow Court.

What is stopping this from happening? Doesn’t true inclusion look the same as other people’s lives or is the need to maintain the “Organisation’s” privacy and confidentiality policy stopping real inclusion, even in death?

The only characteristic that is different was an intellectual disability. Maybe we have a long way to go.

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Troubled Asylum For Sale (NOW SOLD)

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This copy has now been sold.

 

We have too many copies!

For sale, a second edition copy of “Troubled Asylum” by author Ralph Gowlland. This second edition, soft cover edition was published in 1996.

This version contains an extra forward by the then Minister for Community and Health Services, Peter McKay MLC.

This is a very clean copy with some writing on the inside cover (see picture below).

This is a hard to find book which covers the troubled history of the hospital from 1827.

All profits go toward the maintenance and continued research of this website.

$200.00 plus postage

Please contact me through my email address: mark@willowcourttasmania.org

Payment details PAYPAL 

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Bed styles at Willow Court

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From the early 1830’s patients and beds go hand in hand at the hospital over the 174 years of operation and the styles have changed over that time.  In the 1830s, due to a critical shortage of beds, the District Surgeon Dr. Officer ordered iron beds from NSW (50 arrived) along with permission to make more iron beds on site. This type of bed was used at Willow Court until the 1960s ref: (‘Troubled Asylum’, Gowlland,1981, p13-14). 

This bed could be folded in half for easy storage and transportation. The picture below shows what was commonly used as a mattress right up to the 1960’s. 

‘There was no mattresses or rubber beds; they were all straw, every bed was straw and you had to go out and fill these jolly things. When they go flattened a bit, you know; when they started to get comfortable … you had to go and fill them up again’.

(ref: June Purkiss, ‘Living In Living Out’ exhibition).  

The next style is a bit of a mystery as to the time it was used in the hospital. This clever style could also convert into a seat. It is thought it could’ve been used in the 1900th century. It is a folding, tubular metal bed (chair) with side rails with an adjustable head height. Fabric strips tie the metal base to headboard. 

Not dissimilar to the Port Arthur patterned bed but built with modern white square tubular steel and a wired spring base. This late 20th century bed was used throughout the hospital. Similar beds are seen in a 1970’s photo of a dormitory at the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London.

The bed base is missing from this round aluminium tubing headboard with 3 vertical struts and footboard.  Similar beds are seen in a 1970s photo of a crowded dormitory in the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London. In the photo, round tubing framed beds like this alternate with square tubing framed beds (above photo). (Ref: Archives Office of Tasmania AA193-1-291)

A bed wouldn’t be complete without a bedside table like this one. This cream metal bedside cabinet with a single drawer and door is marked with ‘under pants’ written on masking tape on the drawer and ‘track pants’ on the door. The Acne beds name plate is on the rear. 

This late 20th Century wooden and steel framed bed has two drawers under the bed and had a mottled green vinyl on the headboard and footboard. There is one of these in C ward but it is in poor condition.

This ‘Hendicare’ adjustable brown metal framed bed has a metal grid base and is on casters. It has flexible pull out mesh on one side of the frame and melinex footboard slots into the base. Most likely dating from the late 20th century.

Another modern bed, this adjustable steel bed, on casters has a pull out flexible mesh sides and wood grained plastic laminate headboard. Manufactured in Australia by Siltex Engineering Pty. Ltd. Patent No. 544268, it was supplied by Joyce Hospital Equipment, c.1970-1980s.

Lastly this Child’s metal cot with adjustable height base. Similar cots are seen in a 1970s photo of a children’s dormitory in the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London.

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Return to the Community

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This book isn’t that rare, but the stamp, “WILLOW COURT PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION” on the front cover makes it rare.

RETURN TO THE COMMUNITY, THE PROCESS OF CLOSING AN INSTITUTION was a published book from a case study on how to close an institution and return those who were residents to their community.

Published in 1987 in Canada, the book documents the closing of Tranquille, which institutionalised people with intellectual disability.

The follow text explains the complex context that all institutions started the closure process and Willow Court was no exception as evident by the presence of this book and another copy that was used by the Management.

The book is available by clicking on the image below. 

Closing an institution for people with disabilities must be seen in the context of several interrelated social trends.

• During the 1970s and 1980s the disability field in Canada has literally seen an explosion in emphasis on human rights. People with disabilities are increasingly seen as a significant minority group who have been marginalized in almost every area of life. The International Year of Disabled Persons and the Canadian Charter of Rights proclaimed in 1982 raised awareness about the discrimination faced by people with handicaps. Rights activists have also advocated for more institutional closures and community living alternatives (Day, 1985; Savage, 1985).

• Since Goffman’s (1961) classic work on the total institution twenty-five years ago, numerous critiques of institutions and ‘back wards’ have been vividly presented (Blatt, 1970; Rivera, 1973; Rothman, 1981; Wolfensberger, 1975.) This body of work has raised awareness about the limits of the asylum, including the fact that institutions labour under too many conflicting models of service. This knowledge is widely used by citizens demanding community options to institutionalization.

• Normalization and community living increasingly became accepted as the guiding ideology for services for people with handicaps. These principles have emphasized the value of people with disabilities having ordinary life experiences (Wolfensberger,1973). Proponents of normalization have been very critical of institutions and have strongly supported community integration and participation (Perske, 1980; Ri.chler, 1981).

• In the last decade, research and planning efforts associated with deinstitutionalization in the United States and Canada have produced a wide range of reports and understandings. By 1983, there was a growing sense that we knew how to effectively implement deinstitutionalization by redesigning community service systems (Provencal, 1980; McWhorter and Kappel, 1983).

• The era of fiscal restraint that swept over British Columbia and other parts of Canada in the early 1980s seemed to be a further impetus to accelerate the deinstitutionalization process. Capital and operating expenditures for total institutions were enormous and, increasingly, governments, and advocates saw the economic benefits of community living (Canadian Council on Social Development, 1985; Copeland, 1982).

These trends have encouraged widespread interest in closing institutions
and in related policy initiatives.

 

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New document released

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A couple of months ago I received a beautiful copy of Troubled Asylum to be sold on behalf of a friend. I receive, what I would consider the best copy I have yet seen and inside found a four page document. The document is original and is clearly marked “Royal Derwent Hospital, New Norfolk, Tasmania” and is titled

“Historical Notes. Present Day Statistics, Objectives and Functions”.

It was written by the then Psychiatrist Superintendent

Dr R. V. Parton, dated, August 1978.

A copy of this four page document is stored in the Archives of Tasmania LINK, however there are differences of the creation date. It is believed that the copy of Trouble Asylum was given to the then local Anglican Minister of New Norfolk as a thank you for his ongoing support to the Author, Ralph W Gowlland. It is believed  that the four page document was owned and used by the author, Ralph Gowlland for his book.

Historical Notes, Present Day Statistics, Objectives and Functions

Dr Parton was the Psychiatrist Superintendent from 1976 (acting) 1977 and wrote the Forward to a Troubled Asylum a book containing the history of Willow Court from 1827 til 1981 when the book was first published. The soft cover second edition which contains extra information was published in 1996.

On another Troubled Asylum note, the last copy sold from “Just Tassie Books” in Campbell Town Tasmania was sold to David Walsh, owner of the Mona Museum and was reported to have been purchase for the Museum’s Library.

It is great to know that there is a copy available for the public to read besides those at the Tasmanian Library.

 

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Looking for a “Dirty Weekend” of PD?

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Willow Court, Dirty Weekend Facebook Page

Getting ready for 2018 at Willow Court means a new Archaeology Dig. As part of that there is a professional development event for teachers who wish to get down and dirty onsite at a real archaeological site and event. Information is available on the two above links.

Attention teachers of History!

One season just wasn’t enough and the ‘Dirty Weekend’ of archaeology for teachers is on again for 2018!

Have you ever wanted to participate in a genuine archaeological excavation, but never thought you would have the opportunity?
For those who dream of getting their hands dirty, a joint project between Flinders University and the University of Tasmania will give you the opportunity to get in the trenches with real archaeologists and help uncover Australia’s material culture history.

The Dirty Weekend of Archaeology for teachers will be held at Willow Court, New Norfolk, Tasmania from 9th – 12th February 2018.

There are 8 places allocated for in-service teachers! Applications close Friday 15th December 2017. The first step is to fill in the Expression of Interest form at:

Expression of Interest Document

After completing this, a link to pay a $600 Professional Learning Fee (PLF) will be emailed to you so you can arrange electronic payment. This will secure your place on the team. Full payment of the PLF is due by Tuesday 19th December 2017. Once we have confirmed your place in the program and you have paid your fee it will not be refundable.

The PLF will cover:
• Preparatory video lectures and site orientation.
• Information booklet and suggestions for classroom activities.
• On-site instruction and supervision from archaeologists and team leaders.
• Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
• All excavation equipment.
• Certificate of Completion from the University of Tasmania as evidence of your participation in Professional Learning.

The Dirty Weekend of Archaeology at Willow Court is an amazing opportunity for teachers to learn practical archaeological skills, more about Australian history, and how to translate this learning into classroom activities to engage students.

Here is this year’s Southern Cross coverage of the open days that went with this event.

 

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