This new report was given to members of the Friends of Willow Court during an oral history gathering session.

The ex-staff member offered the report so it could be digitised and used for future education.

The Report refers to new ideas and experiments that were allowed by Senior Staff to have a better service for people who lived at Willow Court (Lachlan Park Hospital). The exact date of this report is unclear, but it would appear that it was pre 1965 because “Lachlan Park” is used. The names of the male “patients” involved were also included and are helpful in dating the document. The subject matter is about, new methods of treatment in a social, small setting with skill development of life skills. The report looks at the hypothesis of people with disabilities being able to receive and respond to training and skill development. The timeline for this report becomes critical here, because within Tasmania this could be one of the first, if not the first formal training programmes for the development of living skills of the seven young boys that it refers to. It was a handwritten document of 5, A3 pages. During the early 1960’s, skill development in life skills in a block treatment system was not only difficult, but considered quite impossible and in some cases fruitless. As soon as I receive permission to reprint I will load the document up for public availability when approved by the FoWC.