This is a great aerial view from the northeast looking at the Royal Derwent Hospital (Lachlan Park) and beyond towards the township of Lachlan. Each building is clearly marked for its use and Wards are numbered. Some interesting points are the Hayes Prison Farm Grazing property, although this was owned by the hospital, two secure Wards, Ward 7 and Ward 10, many of the supporting infrastructure is clearly marked including the coal storage area, the boiler house was later converted to oil fired and heater the whole site including the west side of the hospital. At the height there were approx 50 artisans working throughout the site.
There’s a new book about the history of the hospital, “The Royal Derwent Hospital, the first ten years 1968-1977: was researched and written by ex employee, Lyell Wilson. This is now available for purchase by emailing Lyell on rdh.research.yahoo.com.au
On a number of occasions I have been asked what I am talking about when I refer to the “East side” or “West side” of the Royal Derwent Hospital during tours. The original side of the hospital is the West side which has the oldest buildings including the Barracks (1827) and the site of the Invalid Depot (early 1820’s) which was reported to be “beside (Troubled Asylum)” the Barracks, although no archeological evidence has been found to substantiate this recording.
Below are hand drawn maps of the ‘East and West side’ of the hospital. What is not contained in these maps are the old demolished buildings.
Part of the record management and accountability at the hospital meant that good documentation needed to be kept. “Official Visitors” were able to witness a list of patient treatments and visit the site at any time. They were considered the independent advocate for the hospital patients.
One such Visitor was Vincent W Shoobridge who was appointed in 1925 after the resignation of Philip S. Seagar who had been an Official Visitor from 1891-1925. Official Visitors would witness the log books and sign under the last entry for the month.
The lists identified patients who needed to be restrained, secluded, had received injury, had a seizure or who had died at the hospital during the month of June 1935.
Looking through the female pages of the log book and you can see that there is sometimes a correlation with the use of restraints or seclusion and the death of the patient in the following weeks. This was most likely indicative of the person’s deteriorating mental health at the time.
June 1935 Female Patient log bookJune 1935 Male Patient log book
The log book had a corresponding page for male patients. Each of the medical conditions being treated would also be logged along with new admissions and any discharges for the month. The Visitors would always sign in retrospect and the pages would show a date stamp or written date of the visit. There were 307 Male and 323 Female patients in the hospital in June 1935 and there was also a record of “out-patients” recorded on one page.
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.
From the early 1830’s patients and beds go hand in hand at the hospital over the 174 years of operation and the styles have changed over that time. In the 1830s, due to a critical shortage of beds, the District Surgeon Dr. Officer ordered iron beds from NSW (50 arrived) along with permission to make more iron beds on site. This type of bed was used at Willow Court until the 1960s ref: (‘Troubled Asylum’, Gowlland,1981, p13-14).
This bed could be folded in half for easy storage and transportation. The picture below shows what was commonly used as a mattress right up to the 1960’s.
‘There was no mattresses or rubber beds; they were all straw, every bed was straw and you had to go out and fill these jolly things. When they go flattened a bit, you know; when they started to get comfortable … you had to go and fill them up again’.
(ref: June Purkiss, ‘Living In Living Out’ exhibition).
The next style is a bit of a mystery as to the time it was used in the hospital. This clever style could also convert into a seat. It is thought it could’ve been used in the 1900th century. It is a folding, tubular metal bed (chair) with side rails with an adjustable head height. Fabric strips tie the metal base to headboard.
Not dissimilar to the Port Arthur patterned bed but built with modern white square tubular steel and a wired spring base. This late 20th century bed was used throughout the hospital. Similar beds are seen in a 1970’s photo of a dormitory at the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London.
The bed base is missing from this round aluminium tubing headboard with 3 vertical struts and footboard. Similar beds are seen in a 1970s photo of a crowded dormitory in the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London. In the photo, round tubing framed beds like this alternate with square tubing framed beds (above photo). (Ref: Archives Office of Tasmania AA193-1-291)
A bed wouldn’t be complete without a bedside table like this one. This cream metal bedside cabinet with a single drawer and door is marked with ‘under pants’ written on masking tape on the drawer and ‘track pants’ on the door. The Acne beds name plate is on the rear.
This late 20th Century wooden and steel framed bed has two drawers under the bed and had a mottled green vinyl on the headboard and footboard. There is one of these in C ward but it is in poor condition.
This ‘Hendicare’ adjustable brown metal framed bed has a metal grid base and is on casters. It has flexible pull out mesh on one side of the frame and melinex footboard slots into the base. Most likely dating from the late 20th century.
Another modern bed, this adjustable steel bed, on casters has a pull out flexible mesh sides and wood grained plastic laminate headboard. Manufactured in Australia by Siltex Engineering Pty. Ltd. Patent No. 544268, it was supplied by Joyce Hospital Equipment, c.1970-1980s.
Lastly this Child’s metal cot with adjustable height base. Similar cots are seen in a 1970s photo of a children’s dormitory in the Royal Derwent Hospital, taken for display in the Tasmanian Agent General’s Office, London.
A couple of months ago I received a beautiful copy of Troubled Asylum to be sold on behalf of a friend. I receive, what I would consider the best copy I have yet seen and inside found a four page document. The document is original and is clearly marked “Royal Derwent Hospital, New Norfolk, Tasmania” and is titled
“Historical Notes. Present Day Statistics, Objectives and Functions”.
It was written by the then Psychiatrist Superintendent
Dr R. V. Parton, dated, August 1978.
A copy of this four page document is stored in the Archives of Tasmania LINK, however there are differences of the creation date. It is believed that the copy of Trouble Asylum was given to the then local Anglican Minister of New Norfolk as a thank you for his ongoing support to the Author, Ralph W Gowlland. It is believed that the four page document was owned and used by the author, Ralph Gowlland for his book.
Dr Parton was the Psychiatrist Superintendent from 1976 (acting) 1977 and wrote the Forward to a Troubled Asylum a book containing the history of Willow Court from 1827 til 1981 when the book was first published. The soft cover second edition which contains extra information was published in 1996.
On another Troubled Asylum note, the last copy sold from “Just Tassie Books” in Campbell Town Tasmania was sold to David Walsh, owner of the Mona Museum and was reported to have been purchase for the Museum’s Library.
It is great to know that there is a copy available for the public to read besides those at the Tasmanian Library.
This footage shows the Barracks from the rear enclosed yard which was demolished in the early 1960’s, H Ward and I Ward which were both female Wards, the old clock tower and accommodation rooms on the west side of the hospital including the old metal fold up bed which came from Port Arthur. Black & White silent footage.
I have many requests from people who are searching for Patient file of their family member. There are complications when searching, one of those is to know what the Hospital was called during the time your family member was a Patient, because the institution had many names during it’s 174 year history.
At this stage we can’t offer a search facility or assistance because of the groups limitations. People can always post on the Facebook Group to see if there is anyone who would know your family member.
Its also great to see the Tasmanian Government recommending the Willow Court Tasmania History Group’s website as a credible place for information about the hospital and it’s history.
Below is one of a number of replies I received from this article and is the often untold message from families. Thank you Lauren for allowing me to share this.
“Hi Mark,
you directed me to the Linc a few weeks ago, I was looking for my mum’s long lost brother who died as a boy at New Norfolk, all we knew was his name and a very rough timeline of when he was born and admitted to RDH. Our trip to Linc recovered the details of his condition, admittance, birth and death dates, who admitted him…and best of all, we found his unmarked grave at Malbina Cemetery.”
This 1988 colour coded map, shows how much land was owned and operated by the hospital. 333.6ha of land was managed by the administrators of the hospital, some land was farmed and the remaining either housing patients, staff or administration and support services for the hospital.
The hospital was ready for major expansion with all the land it managed, but due to the change of philosophy in care provision, the hospital started down sizing in the early to mid 1970’s.
The purple dot is the Derwent Valley Council Building in Circle Street which gives the viewer an idea of the scale of land under management.
On another Troubled Asylum note, the last copy sold from “Just Tassie Books” in Campbell Town Tasmania was sold to David Walsh, owner of the Mona Museum and was reported to have been purchase for the Museum’s Library.
