Local

Willow Court is significant to the Disability Sector

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Willow Court is significant to the Disability Sector! It has a rich and powerful history, and if we want to preserve it  we need to take some positive action. We need as a sector to find ways to work with the council and community to assist them in their efforts to find the future direction for this site. We don’t have answers but as a collective group we can start to find them. What we do need is support! Please join this page and invite all people who think have an interest and some passion.

Janet Presser

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A Site of Conscience

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A Site of Conscience interprets history through historic sites; engages in programs that stimulate dialogue on pressing social issues; They also draw explicit connections between past and present; foster dialogue among diverse stakeholders; and open avenues for citizen participation in other human rights or transitional justice efforts.

Janet Presser

Well my involvement apart from being on the Willow Court & Barracks Working Group is that I worked at WC in the 70’s…not a good experience, mainly because of the system.  I had a family member there also, who I didn;t know about until I went to work there..some families kept some things secret and when I managed a residential service I was involved in moving people who had lived most of their lives in WC out into the community.

Anne Salt

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Global

‎12 years of neglect ended for ward F or Franklin on Saturday night

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Franklin House gutted by fire
Franklin House burned down. March 2012, not valued, neglected and left for arsonists. A history ignored and it’s residents forgotten.

 ‎12 years of neglect ended for ward F or Franklin on Saturday night, Buildings that have looked not wanted, not looked after and not valued are easy prey for destruction. Council have now placed a fence around all the oval buildings at Willow Court. This area is up for tender, it’s the fifth call! Is this what our history is worth? We need to talk to our community and let them know what happened here.

Cheers

Mark Krause

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Global

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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What is a Site of Conscience? Sites of conscience are a worldwide network of historic sites, museums, and initiatives dedicated to remembering past struggles and addressing their contemporary legacies. Around the world People with Disabilities and their families started to advocate to stop Institutionalisation of people with disabilities, along with new social theories of support, a new dawn arrived of hope, dignity and respect for people with disabilities. … Formalised by the United Nations (http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml ) and signed by the Australian Government this is now being embedded into law in Australia. Sites such as Willow Court lay abandoned and have fallen victim to vandals and arsonists. Local authorities have been give the huge jobs of utilising these old structures, some buildings have been sold to developers and have been destroyed in the name of progress. A small part of Willow Court remains.See More

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

www.un.org

The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all
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Global, Local

Teachers ruffle APIU feathers

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Below is a conversation about a meeting Janet and I (Mark Krause) had with the Willow Court and Barracks Working Group and members of the DVC. We expressed that the only information that was available to our students was through the Paranormal website. Students were starting to being hijacked by paranormal interests instead of being able to gain the real information about the previous staff, residents and the training and education opportunities that exist on the site.

We encouraged the DVC to take the leadership and own the sites social history as well as the physical structure by creating their own website that contains facts not myths. The Barracks working group at the time was made up of a number of people, some named below, who have only one interest in the site. This interest had become clear over the history of the committee and that is they personally wish to run paranormal tours through this valued historic site.

We clearly didn’t have an issue with pursuing a paranormal hobby or business however we disagreed about using previous residents\patients and staff for that form of entertainment.

History has clearly discriminated against this group of people, housed away from their families and their communities and isolated within old buildings with a history of poor quality block services in a medical facility that to this day hasn’t cured anyone of their intellectual disability.

A colorful past history including extremes of ongoing abuse is well recorded. The other side of the extreme was the extra that staff went to, to be the best they could under difficult circumstances. For most people the reality was in between these two extremes.

We still struggle with portraying people who still don’t have a voice as objects of entertainment for a few people with an interest in paranormal activities.

Clearly our presences at this meeting posed a real risk to the future potential of their business concerns.

 

Royal Derwent.com, APIU and anyone interested in Paranormal at Willow Court will be under the spotlight!

January 27th, 2012 | Author:

Royal Derwent.com, APIU and anyone interested in Paranormal at Willow Court will be under the spotlight at the next meeting.

I received this in my inbox this morning from the secretary of the Willow Court & Barracks Working Group WC&BWG.

“All councillors are invited to attend the WC&BWG meeting on 9 February at 7pm.  Attending the meeting will be two teachers in Disability at Polytechnic who will talk about their interest in Willow Courtand the importance of it to Disability students, their concerns with the information on the WC paranormal website on Disability students”

I have a lot of thoughts about this which I won’t get into cause I will be here all day. I just hope that they have done their research about who we are, how we operate in regard to Willow Court in general and the paranormal.

 

 

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9 Responses to “Royal Derwent.com, APIU and anyone interested in Paranormal at Willow Court will be under the spotlight!”

  • avatar Max:

    So… what are they trying to accomplish, this sounds like a witch hunt, and like the “witch hunts” of long ago, there is no reason for it, in reality its just people enforcing there point of view. Gr.

  • I think so mate, spot on.

  • avatar Tony:

    Nick, Can you point me to any of the information on this site to which they may be referring? I’d like to have a look at what they think you’re saying, and possibly help prepare some answers for you to throw back art them. The problem with many people who come gunning for a ghost tour operator is that almost all of them fail to take into account that we have done a hell of a lot of historic research and cross-checking before we even dare open our mouths to a single punter. I’ve had to deal with this kind of thing in the past. You can never be too prepared, and being properly prepared usually lays these arguments to rest.

    Cheers, Tony Kempton Historic, and Ghost Tours

  • avatar mathew tennant:

    Teachers in disability hay what would they know about rdh/wc did they ever work there no i dont think so they need to get a life and worry about there two bit course they so called teach. In my opinion any one that did a tafe course and came to work with me didnt know what they were doing. Go hassle someone else like the vandals and arsonists that are ruining the place

  • LOL go Mate!!! You wanna come along to the meeting?

  • avatar Lesley:

    Best of luck with the meeting. I do hope they are all open minded and realise that paranormal investigation is not only very popular with people all over the world as a recreational past time it is also a very important field of study for many.

    Unfortunately though I have to agree with Max. Sounds like someone has a bee in their bonnet.

    I think what Towns and Councils need to realise is working with a reputable paranormal group or ghost tour operators for the purpose of accessing buildings not only educates people as to the history of these places, such as Willow Court, but can also generate a lot of income for the local Council and businesses within that community. I would love to be able to visit Willow Court one day. (Lesley NSW)

  • avatar Darlene:

    I honestly dont understand what they are on about?? disability students??? So the council will have to undertake a study for sure/ employ someone to research it / pay someone to write the report and print it… and then waste another few council meetings on it??? .. how much will that cost and what slant are they getting at? pretty please explain?

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