Past to Present. Memory to Action
Before the internet, before video, before photographs and cameras the only way a traveler could describe the journey and scene in front of them was to write it down in such detail that allowed the reader to formulate a picture in their head. There were a number of travelers visiting Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) who described visiting the hospital at New Norfolk. Today we’d call them travel bloggers. This is one such article.
Back L-R: Pat Murray, Steve Balmforth, Val Costarelli, Nigel Graham, Nicola Rouleston
Middle: Graham Gourlay, Sharon Hutchison, Peter Rouleston
Front: Anne Salt, Fran Hartz, Jon Grant, Darryleen Wiggins
A new community group is looking to chart a way forward for the Willow Court precinct in New Norfolk, signalling a more stable future for the troubled 200-year-old historic site.
The group, which has been meeting informally for the past few months, has arranged this professionally facilitated workshop to identify common ground about how the former mental hospital can and should be developed by the private and public sectors.
Currently, the buildings and spaces in the Willow Court precinct around the 1830s Barracks building are owned and managed by Derwent Valley Council.
Originally established to cater to convicts, the core site of three hectares in New Norfolk’s centre evolved through multiple eras of mental health treatment, disability care and PTSD therapy until its closure 23 years ago.
Its ownership and management was subsequently turned over from state to local government.
But while extensive research into the precinct’s deep history has produced archaeological and conservation plans, business development and management strategies, their implementation has been stymied by a conflicting decision at government level, funding failures and a lack of community consensus.
This sixteen-hour three-day workshop being held at the New Norfolk Bowls Club over November 10, 11 and 12 is intended to draw from the local Tasmanian community workable ways to allow the site to be restored and made financially self-sustaining through public-private sector collaborations.
Already, sections of the site have new lives as an aged care facility, a popular antique store and an upmarket restaurant.
Any plan needs to acknowledge the significance and deep sensitivity of a place that has a chronological span four times longer than that of the better-known Port Arthur.
There’s a real risk, says the community group, of continued decay of the site and its multiple assets, the Barracks – the original hospital designed by John Lee Archer – the high security section known as Carlton and Allonah Wards and Occupational Therapy, and Frascati House, home of the Colonial Secretary John Burnett.
“We expect over these three days in November to identify current options and develop a vision and action plan with a shared understanding of the Willow Court Barracks precinct’s future,” says group spokesperson Jon Grant.
“What’s needed is a plan that the New Norfolk community owns and sees to fruition,” “Because this Willow Court site is unique and nationally significant, we expect to hear a wide spectrum of voices and views.”
For further details about the three-day workshop or to book a place please email
willowcourtcommunityworkshop@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/822596072685174/announcements
The Friends of Willow Court have released their tour dates for the next three month. Tours include ethical and well researched knowledge about treatments and past patients by trained guides and local historians, some have past employment history on the site.
The next Willow Court History tours are coming up this Sunday, 17 April.
FREE ENTRY
Come along and learn about the history of this site from 10am Sunday.
Booking for tours can be made on 0419 213 232
Friends of Willow Court
Derwent Valley Tasmania
Tyga FM Community Radio
Derwent Valley Arts
Part of the new look accessible website that was installed some time ago excluded the search function for the whole of the website when using any mobile device. Thanks to https://masterit.tech/ we now have that back in place located at the bottom of the main page. One of the most popular searches people use is for “family history”. Try it and let us know how you go.
Last weekend anyone passing along the Avenue might have noticed a number of signs outside the front of Frascati House, these were placed there by a member of the Friends of Frascati House, a committee of the Derwent Valley Council.
The committee has been at odds with the decisions of the Derwent Valley Council to make a car park at the front of Frascati House and Gardens. Both the gardens and the home were created in the early 1830’s and the DVC put together a committee of community representative to assist with managing and preserving the site, it’s history both physically and socially.
The house was built by John Burnett, Colonial Secretary to Van Diemen’s Land. The Colonial Secretary occupied the home from 1834, after it’s construction, while the Governor was in residence at the Government retreat know as Turriff Lodge. The home was later sold to the Hospital and was used as a residence for the Medical Superintendent and his family. Two granddaughters of Dr Charles Brothers took the time to write a letter to the local news paper (New Norfolk News).
Committee member Sandra Hetherington also wrote a letter to the New Norfolk News (above) expressing her discontent at the Council’s decision to keep making ad hoc decisions about the site in the absence of a master plan. The approved car park will be located next to an existing empty car park. The new car park is meeting demand from the Derwent Valley Arts group, who have taken a short term lease of the east wing of the Barracks for a number of events and exhibitions, the Agrarian Kitchen and the New Norfolk Distillery’s paranormal night tours, which have been subcontracted to Tasmania’s Most Haunted. The proposed New Norfolk Distillery tasting room, function centre and multi story hotel which was approved over two years ago has yet to appear beyond The Public relations companies contract to sell the idea to the local community.
As an update to the story there is an increasing number of signs appearing on the front lawns of Frascati House in a silent but determine protest at the lack of Council’s planning despite already paid for plans which are being ignored.
Like many institutions that housed people with disabilities and the mentally ill around the world during the 18th and 19th century they operated as self contained townships and Willow Court was no exception. “It was like a town within a town” one ex-employee stated, which could only mean that it catered from birth till death for the patient population. All your needs would be supplied and catered for if you were a permanent resident, but if you were a temporary patient, after treatment you would return to the community.
Willow Court reveals three locations that were used to house the dead, known as the dead house and later the morgues, each would house the departed until arrangements were finalised.
The first known Dead House was in the Barracks east wing, the part closest to the Agrarian Kitchen today (two story building, far left above). It shared its space with the Soldiers urinal and quickly became far to small as the hospital’s population grew beyond it’s holding capacity.
The second known site was at the rear of B Ward (above) or the old male refractory of which only the foundations can be seen in any geophysics report showing the large C Ward exercise yard. Aerial shots show a number of buildings behind the Ward, so we are unclear which one it actual was but we do have witness accounts for the location being accessed from Humphrey Street, through an opening in the original outer asylum wall.
The final one was built behind Olga or O Ward (Currently the antiques centre above) and was constructed in the 1960’s. It is still there and is among a group of the old hospital buildings that are privately owned. At one stage the owned wanted to use the facility as a spooky accommodation. It still contains autopsy tables, large sinks and fridges to keep the bodies. This was also used by the local community and it’s last known use was after the Port Arthur massacre.
For those people who have visited the “numbers wall” at Willow Court you would know that it is growing increasingly fragile in its unprotected state. This wonderful example of human interaction with the physical structure is exposed to the elements and any and all visitors.
Todays investigation revealed some dates which might suggest a time period for this person’s time at the institution. With other knowledge we have from a witness who started working in the 1960’s as a Ward Aide, we can most likely determine that a patient from “B Ward” (pictured below) was responsible for the works. The witness saw the room that this man slept in and remembered it being covered in the same work. Similar writing can be found on the roof of the soldiers niche and on the rear of the Agrarian Kitchen (B Ward or Bronte House).
During an archology dig a few years ago Flinders University Associate Professor Heather Burke had a mathematics expert look the the work to determine if the numbers were the work of brilliance or madness. The conclusion was, brilliance beyond the Mathematician’s knowledge or most likely madness.
Some of the photos below contain some hints as to when this work occurred. A date range was left for us to determine it was created between 1947 and 1964.
It is believed this was written by a tall, right handed male patient. Male because this was done when the site was gender divided, right handed because of the slant of the writing and tall because of the height on the wall it was written.
While our witness was able to help us with his ward location, the patient’s name and his motivation for writing these numbers and messages is still a mystery.
Thanks to Pete Smith (Guest Speaker) last weekend for this wonderful photo of the hospital taken from Peppermint Hill in New Norfolk. It captures both the west (Willow Court Centre) and east sides (RDH) of the hospital but also the other major employer at the time in the Derwent Valley, the Australian Boyer Paper Mill.
Over the last few decades it has been reported that there is an asbestos dump on the land at New Norfolk that was formerly under the control of the Royal Derwent Hospital. The asbestos was removed from the Royal Derwent Hospital/Willow Court Centre buildings after completion of a major asbestos audit. Parts of the site are still contaminated with asbestos which is mainly found in old electrical equipment such as switchboards and gaskets in the old heating system.
During the latest restoration an audit was undertaken, but the cost of removal was deemed too costly. The only way to remove these gaskets was to cut away large and heavy sections of metal pipes either side of the gasket, so as not to disturb the toxic material. Proper disposal of asbestos is costed by weight, the metal would add to the cost, so it was deemed safe while in situ.
The potential sale of the site was affected by two reported dump sites;
“While it was a large property, the Valuer-General established a value of just $500 000, taking into account heritage constraints as well as the poor state of many of the buildings. Furthermore, significant industrial contamination, including asbestos and hospital waste, existed at the site.”
The Valuer General’s 2013 report recognised that any developer would have to undertake remediation of the site at considerable cost so as to develop the area;
“However, at least $16m expense for service upgrades, sub-division, demolition of buildings and asbestos removal appeared unavoidable.”
The report goes on to mention the successful sale;
“After a two-year negotiation, sale was agreed to the Lachlan River Community Holdings Pty Ltd: a consortium of Derwent Valley Council and a private company, Mototo Business Group Pty Ltd.”
Given this report it appears that all documentation about the hospital waste site and the asbestos dump site were known to the Derwent Valley Council before, during and after the sale of the former RDH land.
To date it is believed there has been no remediation of the site, however the Gateway Estate housing development on the hill near the dump sites was approved by the Derwent Valley Council. It is unclear if the Council, as the previous owner, or the current developer undertook any safety audits or environmental reports of the land before development started to protect residents and construction personal.
In a report named “Preliminary Environmental Assessment of the Royal Derwent Hospital/Willow Court Centre” by Stoklosa Engineering PTY LIMITED dated 1996, a map shows the sites of the Hospital Waste and the Asbestos Dump Site (circled in red).
Below is another image from Google Earth which has been aligned, as much as it was possible, to the above image. The red circled area is a close proximity to the matching red circle from the above report.
An earlier report on this website raised many questions about the possible location of the dump site. A number of people suggested that the dump site was closer to the Lyell Highway, opposite Millbrook Rise. Previous stories.
In 2016 a “Structure Plan (Draft)” from the Derwent Valley Council reported; previous unknown location of an “asbestos dumping site”, even though, as the part owners of the site, the Derwent Valley Council had access to all the reports and information pertaining to the toxic dump site.
On Tuesday I visited the site and spoke with a local resident who informed me that the surveyors were working on the site in the area of the above red circle. This was believed to be in preparation for the next stage of housing development.