Global – Page 41 – Willow Court Tasmania

Tasmanian Budget tomorrow

May 22, 2013 1 Comment

The Tasmanian State Budget will be handed down by the Treasurer on Thursday 23 May 2013.

We are interested to know how the State Government will look after it’s State Heritage Assets after Port Arthur announced that it needs 6 million dollars for restoration and ongoing maintain of the current structures. Mercury article.

Willow Court is also in need of more funding for this new financial year if restoration works are to continue. We are interested in looking at how the Tasmanian Government lead the way in restoring and protecting our Heritage sites of Tasmania. The full cost of restoration for Willow Court is in the order of 9 million dollars.

It is unclear if the Conservation Committee, Derwent Valley Council or Heritage Council have been lobbying for any funding.

Global

Tunnel discussed in Agreement 1941

May 19, 2013 No Comments

Taken from an agreement between Local Council and the Minister for Lands and Works this document talks about joining Lachlan Park to the new New Norfolk Sewerage system and abandoning the old system which runs under Burnett Street.

“AN AGREEMENT made the 18th day of June one thousand nine hundred and forty-one between THE HONOURABLE THOMAS HENRY DAVIES being and as the Minister for Lands and Works for the time being in the State of Tasmania (hereinafter called “the Minister”) of the one part and THE WARDEN COUNCILLORS AND ELECTORS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF NEW NORFOLK (hereinafter called” the council”) of the other part WHEREAS for many years past the sewage from Lachlan Park Hospital (hereinafter called “the hospital”) at New Norfolk in Tasmania owned and controlled and managed by the Crown under the Mental Diseases Hospital Act 1858 has flowed through a drain beneath Burnett-street (hereinafter called “the drain”) and has been emptied into the River Derwent at New Norfolk aforesaid AND WHEREAS the council has recently undertaken the construction of a modern sewerage scheme for the Town of New Norfolk and it is desirable for reasons of health and sanitation that the sewage from the hospital be emptied into the sewers so to be constructed by the council and that the use of the drain for the passage of sewage be for ever afterwards abandoned”

Government agreement, document (full) 1941

Old story Click Here

Global

Willow Court, New Norfolk, was the site of a wonderful event over the week-end

May 13, 2013 1 Comment

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Derwent Valley Players, in conjunction with the Friends of Willow Court, presented two original plays, written by Sharon Hutchison and directed by Vivienne de Bressac. Sharon played Matron Coates, Lin Hopkins was Mrs. Smythe-Jones, the Vicar’s wife, and Denise Rushworth was Sarah, the Matron’s maid.

The South Wing of the Barracks was transformed into a small theatre and a beautiful Tea Room, complete with white linen table cloths, flowers on every table and beautiful crockery. High tea was served between the two plays, with patrons being offered cucumber sandwiches, asparagus rolls, both chocolate and lemon cake, and little chocolate nibbles, not to mention scones, presented in lovely flowered boxes, raspberry jam and cream, and a choice of tea or coffee!

There were two performances each day, with great audience attendance for all four shows. The patrons left the Barracks with many a “thank you”, “it was wonderful” “we didn’t expect the tea room to be so lovely”, “the scones were delicious” “you’ve done a lot of work” and generally an air of great appreciation for the overall experience. A wonderful time was had by all.

We would like to thank Ilene, at Pennyworth, for the loan of much of the crockery, platters etc, her friend Kaye, for the generous loan of the beautiful table linen and Aurora Disability for baking the scrumptious scones. And, of course, those few members of FOWC who were able to help (you know who you are)

Cheers, Vivienne

Global

Last event before closure for restoration

April 30, 2013 No Comments

Friends of Willow Court & Derwent Valley Players will present:

“Meet the Matron” and “Tea & Charity” with high tea

The Barracks, Willow Court

Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 May

1pm & 3 pm

A working bee will happen on Friday 10th May in The Barracks beforehand for Committee Members. Cost $15, tickets available from the Derwent Valley Council.

Meet the Matron Willow Court

Global

Want to add to the site?

April 26, 2013 No Comments

Not all posts are written by the website owner, I am happy to put posts up that pertain to Willow Court’s sensitive re-development. All posts submitted must have links to the quotes if they are being used or I must sight the original documentation. In particular we would like stories of the past from previous Residents, Staff and those people who have been connected with Willow Court in some way.

We are increasing our documentary library every month at the moment and we are happy to share works that you have permission and or copyright to share. The website has unlimited storage and bandwidth so can contain as much information as can be supplied. Digital loans of exhibitions can be catered for for long or short term loan period. Some shared material can be secured to only allow access to certain groups i.e.. Educational, Tourist, previous Staff, Residents or Parents and Friends groups. Passwords can be managed between those groups.

Any upload must comply with the groups objectives which can be summed up in this statement: DO NO MORE HARM.

Contact me through this site at mark@willowcourttasmania.org

Global

Friends of Willow Court Meeting

April 8, 2013 No Comments

The Friends of Willow Court have a meeting this Thursday evening at the New Norfolk Community House. Mr Brett Noble (Project Officer of the WCCC) is believed to be attending and will discuss the access to Willow Court while restoration projects are underway. It is believe that works will commence this month and continue for 6-9 months.

Global

Council infighting causes exclusion to Tourism Tasmania advertising campaign.

March 26, 2013 No Comments

Willow Court Heritage Precinct was visited by an International Travel Blogger and a International Photographer who were invited and contracted to write about regional Tasmania and the beautiful Derwent Valley on behalf of Tourism Tasmania. Cr Nicholson took the time out of his busy day of restoring his property after the resent fires through the Lachlan Valley to show the Site off. The following stories were included and will appear on the website however Willow Court will not appear.

Go Behind the Scenery website

24 March

Tassie140 Short story – Flywheel, New Norfolk There is lots to see at Flywheel, one of New Norfolk’s newest antique stores!

Tassie143 Short story – Flywheel, New Norfolk A selection of the beautifully printed stationary and cards available at Flywheel in New Norfolk

27-March

Tassie139 Donna Baird – Drill Hall Emporium, New Norfolk Donna at the Drill Hall Emporium

Tassie137 Donna Baird – Drill Hall Emporium, New Norfolk Just a small selection of the beautiful range of antiques available at the Drill Hall Emporium, New Norfolk

There will also be stories about Redlands Estate and The Agrarian Kitchen to come.

David the International Travel Photographer and the Travel Blogger have “chosen not to post about Willow Court”, It was believed “there was way too much politics around it”.

The visitors toured the site the day after the Long Table Dinner was canceled and we believe this is still the fallout from Cr Bromfield’s decision to stop the Long Table Dinner with her well informed decision to stop new volunteers with the skills to cook and serve alcohol being insured for the event. No insurance coverage during their volunteering meant this event could not go ahead. Cr Bromfield’s disappointing decision

The multimillion dollar advertising campaign will run for the next five years as Tasmania’s invitation to travelers and would not have cost the Council a cent in rate payer’s funds. It would have placed the Historic site in the minds of a diverse range of travelers that are looking for that “behind the scenery” Derwent Valley experience.

We are extremely disappointed by this decision and call for the Council to unite with their Special Committee’s in some commonality about the Heritage site.

You heard it here first advertising campaign inclusion

Global

Restoration process to continue

March 19, 2013 No Comments

After the Friends of Willow Court Committee started restoration of the front gates in October 2012 and concluded in November (Gates Completed) in an attempt to get the ball rolling with restoration at the site we saw yesterday a leak from the Derwent Valley Council to the Mercury about a briefing given by David Llewellyn about further restoration works that are about to start in April. The unsigned article informed the Public that;

“In a briefing to the council, they (David Llewellyn and project manager Brett Noble) said the installation of a power supply was almost complete, giving a kick-start to further works.

Mr Noble said there was about $1.5 million available to do the priority work and it would have to go a long way.

This included the development of a visitor centre in a wing of the adjacent Bronte building (1925).

He said the two buildings were in remarkably good condition and it would be possible to reuse many original features, including doors and windows.

The site would soon close to all visitors for six to eight months”

Full Mercury article.

While this article states that the site will be closed for six to eight months, Project Officer Brett Noble is in discussion with the Friends of Willow Court about holding events that have been planned for the next few months.

The Conservation Committee sort a report from Dr Jane Harrington about restoration and Priority Conservation Works on the Willow Court Precinct and this was presented to the Derwent Valley Council in November 2012. These works are of great importance and the report highlighted three points

The need to preserve and maintain the Barracks building as a matter of urgency

Funding for works to conserve the buildings being immediately available

The potential existing for Barracks and Bronte to be developed as a historic interpretation centre for the site.

Conservation Committee get on with the job.

We (Willow Court Advocay Group) are please that the first official restoration works will occur soon and that this bandage work will assist the site from deteriorating any more. The Friends of Willow Court were informed that Mr Paul Lan and Dr Jane Harrington presented a range of fencing types for Willow Court that would comply with Heritage standards but they haven’t heard anymore about security on the site and hope that something will be in place before work commences and tradesmen are employed.

As soon as talks with Brett Noble have completed a list of events will appear here.

Global

Hacker detected

March 15, 2013 No Comments

Last night and this morning we have detected a local computer hacker attempting to gain access to this website. On the good side this hacker is using a static IP address which is traceable through their Internet Service Provider. It is illegal to access something that doesn’t belong to you. We will report and seek legal recourse for any future attempts.

Mark Krause

Global

Tunnel discovery announced

March 15, 2013 No Comments

Tunnel vision

Engineers are examining videos of historic underground tunnels in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley.

Further investigations revealed tunnels about six metres below the surface.

Derwent Valley Mayor Martyn Evans says the tunnels have now been filmed.

It is believed the tunnels date back to the 1830s and could have been used to transfer convicts and patients to the mental health hospital at Willow Court.

The council has announce the video and investigation after discovering last year a suspected air shaft, which was announced by Cr Bromfield at the Frascati Open day in January 2013.

Just examining the video footage it is clear that while there are older building materials used, there are also some more modern materials in use as well. There is also clear evidence of a drain, either storm water of sewage entering the tunnel.