Past to Present. Memory to Action
New and exciting ways to get from Hobart to New Norfolk are being planned by 
Rod Howard from Hobart Ferry and water Taxi Services. Rod presented a marketing plan for the years 2013-14 to the Derwent Valley Council for the October meeting.
See full plan HERE
With the heritage trail walks, antique shops and Willow Court about to come online as a tourist venture the future is looking bright for New Norfolk. Lets hope that it gets a good hearing.
The latest agenda item from the Derwent Valley Council has this welcome addition from Cr. Bester. The large above ground pipe works do not fit into any heritage site. He has called for them to be re-installed under ground, in keeping with the street scape.
9. MOTIONS ON NOTICE
9.1 TAS WATER
Decision
Date: 17/10/13
File: 197
Moved: Cr Bester
That the Council instruct TasWater to remove the large water meters along The Avenue at Willow Court and reinstall them underground in consultation with the Willow Court project officer; and to review its procedures to be followed when working on heritage sites.
The next meeting of the Friends of Willow Court will be held next Thursday at the Community House at 7 pm.
AGM elections on the 26th September resulted in the follow people being elected
Chairperson: Anne Salt
Deputy Chairperson: Denise Rushworth
Secretary: Vivienne de Bressac
Treasurer: Graham McLean
Ordinary Committee: Mark Krause, Anne McKinstray, Janet Presser, Sharon Hutchison, Zefi Famelis, Rod Quarrell & Lyn Hopkins
Dewernt Valley Council Represetative was not in attendance.
Volunteers restoring historic garden
A group of Tasmanians is starting to transform the grounds of one of the state’s most historic houses, at Willow Court in New Norfolk. Click below to watch News report
Tonight’s annual general meeting of the Friends of Willow Court Special Committee had special guest, Mr Brett Noble who gave us an update on works at Willow Court. The development application plan will be submitted to Heritage Tasmania and will take at least 42 days before works can begin. The Heritage council were invited to visit the site and have accepted to tour with Mr Brett Noble.
A maintenance/development plan will be submitted to local council for approval and will be open for public consultation for 14 days. Willow Court Advocacy Group have been included in the electronic distribution of that information so stay tuned.
Some new and changed aspects from the last restoration report are; the plant room attached to Bronte Ward was originally thought to be an area which would be left with a Perspex viewing door. Now this will form part of a Care Taker’s Apartment.
Also the Recreation room in Bronte Ward will have the false ceiling removed which will expose the cell/room structures that once served as bed rooms. The carpet tiles will be removed and the old linoleum that is below will be cleaned up and some minor repair completed. This floor is in good condition.
The veranda will replace the toilets that were a later edition to the rear of Bronte. It was initially thought that this veranda would be open, but now it will be closed and the floor will be evened out with timber for easy level access for all visitors.
The Barracks will have all the doors and windows that face the courtyard fully restored and will be operational. The wooden rails will be painted. The roof will be painted with a modern product which is based on an old tar surface. It is believed that this roofing surface will give the building 10-20 years extra life. There is an issue with the galvanised iron and aluminium rivets reacting and causing a detrition and rust. It may be a future option when Willow Court is up and running that the roof can be replaced when the funding is available.
Frascati House will have some structural work to support the fireplace which has some large cracks.
The Derwent Valley Council policy about the collection and de-accessioning of Willow Court artefacts has been released.
There has been a lot of activity about artefacts that people have acquired when the Willow Court/ Royal Derwent Hospital buildings were abandoned on social media. People seem to be measuring their collection against other people’s collections while other people are returning artefacts, loaning artefacts and having the history recorded of the artefacts that has come into their family’s possession and doing so quietly. Most people want to share artefacts so they can be shown to the public when the restored site reopens and exhibitions can be put together. This photo was give to the collection through the official channel and it’s history recorded for all to share and know. Outside the Barracks 1908
Chief Attendant W. H Bennett with his uniformed attendants. (a copy can be found in “Troubled Asylum” page 140)
A conversation yesterday morning with a member of our team confirmed that the Derwent Valley Council, Mayor Martyn Evans will not be representing the ex-patients like Chas Canden when meeting with Premier Lara Giddings on October 2nd. In this divisive community move the Mayor will only be representing the ex-staff who had a choice about whether they worked in WC, but ignoring the rights of families and individuals who had no choice about their involvement with WC.
It is extremely disappointing that the Derwent Valley Council’s representative will ignore the rights of people who live or have lived in the Derwent Valley who have a disability. The Mayor’s ignorance on the issues around Willow Court has astonished many ex-staff members who advocated for the rights of the previous residents when they worked at the site.
It is acknowledged that the majority of staff operated to the highest ethical standards at all times and that an apology is not a slight on them. Some former patients who were not treated as well as they should have been, against the standards of the day, deserve some representation from their elected representative but it seems that this will not happen.
On another positive note Eric Hutchinson, Lyons newly elected Federal Government representative is meeting with Members of the Willow Court Tasmania Sites Of Conscience Advocacy Group.
This article has been censored from “Our New Norfolk” Facebook Group. Disappointed! Let the people decide for themselves.
Tomorrow the Derwent Valley Council will open the “Walking Through Time” walking trail at Tynwald Park New Norfolk at 2 pm.
“Follow the “Walking Through Time trail to discover the fascinating history of New Norfolk” with interpretation panels located around New Norfolk. Be guided as you walk around this historic town by downloadable podcasts.
Willow Court Heritage Precinct is included and has it’s own interpretation panel describing the building and staff history and the different names that this institution had over it’s 173 years life span.
No social history is included from the patients and we would have liked to see more information about the rights movement of people living with a disability as this is the place this movement started. Willow Court Conservation Committee had input before the final product was sent to the printers. Each of the panels are linked with a downloadable podcast, the Willow Court and Frascati podcasts are below.
The first Podcast, Allan Pearson is a great example of how staff and the board chairman actively supported the rights of the previous residents and the working and living conditions, while the second podcast, June Purkiss gives us a wonderful trip to that earlier era when Willow Court was known as Lachlan Park Hospital. The Third story is about growing up at Willow Court as the Doctor’s children and the community that existed at this site. The final podcast is Margaret Reynolds who was the first Teacher at Willow Court at the first school. While the tour takes people all over New Norfolk I have only included the podcasts that directly relate to Willow Court.
The full walking tour can be found HERE
June Purkiss discusses nursing at Willow Court. © Copyright Derwent Valley Council 2013
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/75968469″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
The Mayor of the Derwent Valley Council will meet with the Premier of Tasmania on October 2nd to further discuss the proposed apology to the previous Residents of Willow Court according to the 
September agenda of the Derwent Valley Council.
The Mayor, Martyn Evans is also a supporter of the insensitive Paranormal documentary about Willow Court which contains images of previous residents (without their permission) and is still on the agenda of the Council to deal with at it’s next meeting. This long waiting agenda item has had some issues according to Film Maker Aiden Sullivan “we have hit a few more legal speed humps in our efforts to release our documentary of willow court”.
Some Parents and ex-patients have also expressed concern about any release of a documentary containing and linking the suffering of people with mental health issues who were undergoing treatment and the hobby and past time of a small number of paranormal enthusiasts.
We are keen to have a position statement from the Mayor in regard to the previous Resident’s right to be represented by Council during the meeting with the Tasmanian Government, and the enthusiastic support of the Paranormal Documentary which was a joint Derwent Valley Council project with the film maker.
The Greens candidate recently wrote to this website and explained the apology in this way which we have found to be a wonderful explanation and extremely well written;
Today, Tasmania’s dedicated Willow Court website ticked over 160,000 hits which means the message of Willow Court is getting out. This is great news for those that are Willow Court supporters.
