New Norfolk – Page 6 – Willow Court Tasmania

Built Heritage

February 15, 2015 No Comments

The Friends of Willow Court and the Derwent Valley Council are each putting a submission into the Legislative Council’s Inquiry into Built Heritage Tourism in Tasmania. I think that Australia’s oldest Asylum that had run continuously on the same location deserves the utmost priority from our elected leaders. So we need to keep this in front of Governments so this great site can go beyond stage one conservation.

In other news for Willow Court, Associate Professor Heather Burke and a group of ten students from Flinders University arrived last Friday and are working around Willow Court this week. Access to the site is still unavailable.

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2003 Conservation Report release for public viewing.

February 10, 2015 No Comments

Added to the growing open public documentation we now have a copy of the Willow Court Conservation Management Plan by Nelson, Barwick, Slatyer & Loveday which was created in 2003. Although there are some pages missing the document has 121 pages of information, photos and plans about twelve main buildings for Stage One, these include:
Ladies Cottage (privately owned)
Nurses Home (privately owned)
Administration Building (privately owned)
Olga (privately owned)
Masonic Lodge! K2 Ward (privately owned)
Lyprenny (privately owned)
Neighbourhood House (School) (privately owned)
Alcheringa (privately owned)
Weatherboard (demountable) building (privately owned)
Mortuary (privately owned)
Lions Club (privately owned)
Lachlan (privately owned)

Kate Loveday – Consultant Town Planner give an introduction to the site and it’s values.

This was a bold plan to conserve a large number of buildings and their surrounding landscape. History has already chosen a different path as all of the buildings in this plan (stage one) are now in private ownership.

Click on the link below to go to the Document Page.

Willow Court Conservation Management Plan Nelson, Barwick, Slatyer & Loveday 2003

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Administration Building

February 5, 2015 1 Comment

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Draft Logo’s for Willow Court Tasmania

December 14, 2014 1 Comment

The possible logo for Willow Court Tasmania was designed by Zefiart of New Norfolk and was created from a joint idea from Cr. James Graham at a past working bee at the front gates of Willow Court and myself. James suggested a t-shirt design with the spikes of the fence that surround parts of Willow Court which was a great idea, the remaining stylised image and simple name was added and discussed at a meeting with the designer. After a couple of drafts a number of designs appeared and were presented to the Friends of Willow Court for consideration last week. The well known image of the Barrack building capitalises on the invalid heritage of the site which started in the early 1820’s in a wooden structure and paved the way for the barracks as we know it today. The fence design reminds us of the convict heritage and to the locked and enclosed nature of the site.

There are a number of options for use with the images, this t-shirt is just one and could be worn by staff at the site or sold as a locally produced item to the visiting tourist market. Marketing of goods like this will be part of the business plan that is almost finished and will be presented to the owners of the site, the Derwent Valley Council. The polo top below is another example of a garment that can be sold or for staff identification at the site. This was locally designed and printed in the valley.

Local

Derwent Valley Community House plans at Willow Court

December 12, 2014 No Comments

The Derwent Valley Council have been asked to make a decision about co-locating the Derwent Valley Community House DVCH into the Heritage Precinct at Willow Court at the next meeting, according the the agenda on the DVC website. The plan put forward three options for co-location but doesn’t consider if this is the best long term out come for the Heritage site or the Derwent Valley Community House.

Willow Court is older than Port Arthur, which doesn’t contain anything like this proposal and has a specific vision to cater for the tourist market, a thought that we also have. We are concerned that knee jerk reactions are driving the DVC agenda instead of good long term planning for the site. The new Derwent Valley Council can lay this proposal on the table and review this decision and do what is best for both the Derwent Valley Community House and the Willow Court Heritage Site.

Some of the issues that have not been considered are the share facilities with school group tours and tourists.

Most schools require a checked and safe environment for young children. How can the DVC guarantee this will occur. It would be a bit hard to ask all DVCH users to complete a police check and a working with children check and would most likely be in appropriate.

Open access to any displays and exhibitions in the building and tours.

The DVCH is open all hours to cater to their market and peoples needs and wants, this is not the same as the Heritage Precinct’s needs, so securing valuable and very precious historic items or art works that are on display is not easy. During events and tours that are paid entry, do the users of the DVCH have free access to the heritage site?

Department of Health and Human Services having key funding and a say in the Heritage Precincts ongoing operations

The funding that come with moving the DVCH into Willow Court has stings attached and these need to be known, discussed and a simple consultation process entered into.

Once the site is Heritage listed, opportunities for funding for that next stage of preservation work are considered much greater, but how will having a sitting tenant in a Heritage listed site effect the ability for grants? How will having ten years of historical archaeology around the site affect the DVCH operations including archaeology digs sites?

At the height of the hospitals history there were 50 odd buildings but through fire sales, mismanagement, vandalism and arsonist work, what is left is is a small representation of what was. The DVC has a last opportunity to preserve Tasmania’s Mental Health and Disability history or what little is physically left.

Item 10.10 of the DVC agenda contains three options which I have included and each of these options come with a cost which will have to be met.

The alarming thing is this building is about to be handed back to the DVC as a finished project and now with this revised plan, a lot of extra work will have to take place, ramps built, kitchens and bathrooms, toilets and accessible facilities installed, including running sewage and sewerage into areas it is currently not installed.

How much more tax payer money needs to be spent before a final idea come to fruition?

Will the next lot of work close the site again and stop the public from seeing the work that has already been done?

Option 1 looks at the red areas being for the use of the DVCH and the Green areas being for multi-purpose area. Office suites are installed in the enclosed verandah area, this isn’t suited to the task during a cold winter in the valley. this option also requires a second kitchen to be installed for the community house in the rear of Bronte. The computer room and day space are installed in what is a hallway which will be disturbed with passing traffic. The Caretakers apartment is reduces in size to cater for an access toilet facility for DVCH guests and employees. No tours can be conducted through the DVCH areas, again reducing the size of the DVC owned and managed tourist area.

Option 2 introduces the idea of shared areas (blue area) and as discussed earlier, this raises all sorts of issues for school groups that access the site for education and could potentially put the participants of the DVCH programs at some level of discomfort. The multi-use area again sits just outside of the female toilets and in what was a hallway, this isn’t approprate at all. The office area again is in an inappropriate area for winter occupation. While option 2 is the least cost expenditure it is also the most inappropriate of all the options. No tours can be conducted through the DVCH areas, again reducing the size of the DVC owned and managed tourist area.

Option 3 separates the ares again and reduces the size of the facility to the Willow Court visitors and increases the cost significantly with the installation of a new kitchen, access toilet, and male and female toilets. The multi-use area is still in the hallway and outside of the female toilets, offices and access toilets. This was not built for such use. No tours can be conducted through the DVCH areas, again reducing the size of the DVC owned and managed tourist area.

The full plans and the agenda are available from the Derwent Valley Council website. We urge the Derwent Valley Council to stop, think and plan a vision with all your partners that will suit the long term good of all involved. Maybe it is time that this Tasmanian asset is give back to be managed by the Port Arthur Authority? The Derwent Valley Community House deserve better than a co-location, their work in the community is vital and should be given priority for a purpose build property with access for everyone and for their exclusive use, the same as these Community Houses:

Bridgewater Community Centre
Bucaan Community House
Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre
Dowsing Point Community Centre
Dunalley/Tasman House
Gagebrook Community Centre
Geeveston Community Centre
Goodwood Community Centre
Karadi Aboriginal Corporation
Maranoa Heights Community Centre
Okines Community House
Pittwater Community Centre
Risdon Vale Neighbourhood House
Rokeby Neighbourhood Centre
Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre
West Moonah Community House
West Winds Community Centre

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2014 report card and statistics

December 7, 2014 No Comments

We started of this year with a number of questions for the Derwent Valley Council including their lack of communication with their own committees and the public at large. This theme continued in the 2014 Local Council Elections where a number of candidates raise communication as a major issue. Media coverage for the opening of Willow Court? This remains a concern and is still an unresolved issue including the domain name owned by the Council that was reserved for Willow Court nearly three years ago.

The main part of the year was dedicated to the ongoing conservation of the Barracks and Bronte buildings, we have been getting good reports of information from the Senior Project Manager Mr Brett Noble and being informed about the many holdups and issues that would come up during the restoration and conservation of such old and important buildings.

We have been very fortunate to have been supplied reports and have loaded them on the ever expanding document page, some of these documents have never been publicly released and one has to question why that would be the case. We have also released, for the first time in 50 years, two short silent films from the ABC archives. We have added more podcasts about Willow Court. We have seen a State and Federal election and the outcomes including Willow Court being raised as a site of national importance at the Federal level by the newly elected candidate for the seat of Lions, Mr Eric Hutchinson.

We saw some artefacts that are making their way back to Willow Court through donations from interested people.

We have also seen a call for more volunteers for the Friends of Willow Court Special Committee this year leading up to the opening of the site. There has been a good response to that call with a diverse range of people with a multitude of skills to offer Willow Court.

We have seen the Mayor criticising the Tourism Tasmania promotion of the Derwent Valley and Willow Court, he thought the image was unsuitable, calling it “untasteful” however he is refusing to protect the previous residents and staff from having their image untastefully portrayed as Council considers more rate payer funds to underwrite, produce and distribute a amateur paranormal film.

We have received a copy of the History of Lachlan Park Hospital and are waiting to see if the author’s family will allow us to publish this on the website as a reference document.

We heard of an investigation into the underground tunnels in the area in 2015 by Associate Professor Heather Burke from Flinders University.

Announced openings from Willow Court Conservation Committee Members and DVC staff continues but never arrived creating frustration and confusion among the public and the Friends of Willow Court who were trying to prepare for days that never happened.

We also attended another Willow Court working bee to finalise the front gate.

A thematic interpretation workshop was attended in preparation for tours of the opened site, professionally facilitated by Phil Fitzpatrick and well attended by many interested people.

Again we saw a push for an apology from an ex-patient who reported abuse while being treated at Royal Derwent Hospital. “Politicians facing renewed calls for formal apology to Royal Derwent Hospital mental health patients”

We have seen the start of a possible ten year plus archaeology investigation as part of the tourist experience at the site.

The friends of Willow Court also have participated in three training days in the long preparation for conducting tourist, educational, historical, archaeological and architectural tours at the site.

Social Media and Website:

In the short time that we have been running we have reached fantastic statistics with members, posts, hit on the website, and posts with Willow Court information. Here are a few:

Hits to website: over 422,000 thousand

Posts on website: 268

Facebook group members: 600 (joined of their own request)

Facebook page 194 likes. (joined of their own request)

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Friends of Willow Court on another educational behind the scene tour

December 2, 2014 No Comments

Another training and information gathering day last Monday, this time at the Cascades Female Factory.

First we had a tour of the site which took over 50 minutes and explored all three yards that have been interpreted. Two further yards are in private ownership and are not accessible. The lessons learnt here are, how can you offer value for money when the only things that are still in some yards are the four walls? This has been done to amazing effect and a tour without the guide would be hard to imagine. The life that the place takes on with stories and pictures from Convict Illustrator and leading authority, Simon Barnard is factual and superb. The yards are well set out according to the archaeology and are now signed and illustrated beautifully with part walls and pathways. The importance of archaeology was clear at this site. The main difference for most of the Willow Court site is that it is still standing, all but smaller, but still standing.

We then had a catch up meeting for the behind the scenes workings of the site and the training systems that are involved for each of the guides. We also explored the education and commercial side of the tours here and the activities that the site has tied to the State curriculum for grades 5 and 9.

There has been a lot of training for this group over the last couple of weeks and a brain storming sessions and meeting of the Friends of Willow Court will be held tomorrow night. There is expected to be a considerable amount of research and further work for the volunteers, who give their time and energy to seeing the vision for the Derwent Valley to own, operate and be proud of the long history of Willow Court as an international tourist attraction fully realized.

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More than tunnel investigation

November 25, 2014 No Comments

At an afternoon tea, hosted by Cr. Julie Triffitt and Mayor Martyn Evans the representatives of the Friends of Willow Court were able to discuss the Willow Court tunnel drain with Assoc Prof Heather Burke from the Flinders University (Dept Archaeology). She was invited to New Norfolk by Eric Hutchinson and networked up with the Derwent Valley Council. Since then there has been an arrangement that students from Flinders Uni will be studying the tunnel from Willow Court to the Derwent River, but today it was announced that there is at least ten years of archaeological work within Willow Court site and beyond.

Assoc Prof Heather Burke will be descending into the tunnel tomorrow and will have the geophysics results by next week for the tunnel drain. There will be a weeks work gathering preliminary data next year followed by the remaining year of analysis. Any dig will start 2016.

I will have an opportunity to catch up with Heather tomorrow and she has kindly offered to be interviewed after her tunnel drain experience.

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Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority take on Willow Court.

November 19, 2014 No Comments

Mayor Martyn Evans reported on Willow Court’s progress to the Southern Tasmanian Council Authority in the June 2014 report, which is available on the Council website, (link below) It would appear that the Mayor will be working on policy issues relating to Willow Court with the CEO of the STCA and that the CEO will be the secondary spokesperson in relation to the ongoing progress of Willow Court. It is heartening to see that the STCA Board will actively support to redevelop and restore the remaining Willow Court site. It is unclear how that help will materialize with the information available, but we can only hope it will help in obtaining funds for future works.

Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority

Quarterly Report to Members

June 2014

Portfolio Positions item 11, Item 10.4 in full on DVC website

Portfolio position: Willow Court

Background:

Willow Court was established in New Norfolk in the early 1830’s. It is a historic precinct that offers the rare opportunity to embrace Tasmania’s convict history whilst also providing a fantastic community asset.

The Derwent Valley Council bought the entire site from the State Government when it was decommissioned as a psychiatric facility. Since that time some of the newer buildings have been sold and are currently under private development. But as an extremely old and historic site it is the Council’s view that it is important that some of the site, particularly the old Royal Derwent Reserve Buildings, remain in public hands.

There has been significant work undertaken on the site in the past few years. With tourism through attractions, festivals and events playing a bigger role in the State’s economy the redeveloped historic Willow Court site provides the opportunity to harness these sectors to deliver economic and cultural benefits.

The site is starting to return to its former glory, but a significant funding injection is still required to finish the project. Recently a number of Mayor’s and the STCA CEO visited the Willow Court site and saw first hand the ongoing development works taking place on the site.

Since 2012 the Willow Court Conservation Special Committee has undertaken works totaling over $2 million. The Committee now has fundraising goals, as well as plans to lobby government for further support to undertake the work on restoration of the heritage precinct. Funding in the order of $8 million is required to complete the site’s restoration.

Position and Actions:

The STCA supports the ongoing maintenance and development of the Willow Court site
The Board undertakes to actively support the project to redevelop and restore the remainder of the historic Willow Court site
Appoints Mayor Evans to work with the CEO on policy issues relating to Willow Court and to act as the secondary spokesperson on the issue
Appoints the Lord Mayor to act as the STCA spokesperson on Willow Court

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1827 Rare coin

November 13, 2014 3 Comments

This coin has recently come into my possession and although it is an old coin, it has a unique story behind it that is more intriguing than the coin itself. It was believed that the entire mintage in 1827 was sent out to Australia from Britain, in particular to Tasmania.

Now the story becomes stranger here as there are differing accounts of its history from this point, the first was that the ship sank off the coast of Tasmania and the mintage was affected by salt and most coins were lost to corrosion.

The second was that the sea spray affected the coins which were stored on the decks of the boat.

Either way, I like this coin because this was the year that Willow Court’s construction started. It replaced a wooden structure that housed invalid convicts that was reported to be in bad condition in the early 1820’s, and it is what we are preserving today. It is so nice to have something that was about when Willow Court started its long history.

It is likely that a few of these pennies rattled around in the pockets of the staff and residents of Willow Court. It is nice to know the providence of a historical item and I look forward to hearing the stories that Willow Court has for us when it opens.

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