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PURKISS Juanita (June)

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January 9, 2018
PURKISS Juanita (June) Died peacefully at New Norfolk District Hospital on January 8th, 2018. Daughter of Bill and Jean Herbert (both dec). Sister to Bill Herbert and Sheila and Rex Cleary. Loving aunt to her nieces and nephews. Now at peace.

Published in: The Advocate

Wards K1 and K2

It is with great sadness that Willow Court has lost one of its longest serving staff members and keepers of the history. I had the privilege of recording an interview with June Purkiss a couple of years ago with Anne Salt the chairperson of the Friends of Willow Court and found her to a knowledgeable, warm and respected lady.

June was able to shed light on much of the history from her start at the Hospital in 1946 and even was able to remember earlier than that when her father William (Bill) Herbert worked as a bricklayer on Wards E and D around the oval in the early 1930’s. Bill also became a long serving and respected staff member in 1938.

I have included a previously unreleased section of that interview and another podcast that was a recording of June’s memories for the “walking through time” project which can also be found on the Derwent Valley Council Website.

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Reflective Garden

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Last week I had the opportunity to speak with some of the Friends of Frascati House (FoFH) as they inspected the new layout and progress of the Reflective Garden, sited between the rear of the Frascati House (1834) and The Avenue.

Over the past 2-3 years the “Flourish Mental Health Action in Our Hands” self advocacy group have been in discussions with the Derwent Valley Council and the Friends of Frascati House to see if it is possible to also contribute a plaque for the Gardens.

I have been involved in this committee for over twelve months and while there has been some progression, little physical evidence has happened. Last week I was able to have a discussion with Councillor Bester and Mr Greg Winton, General Manager along with three members of the Frascati House Committee who agreed to further discussions with Flourish. 

It would appear that the wording of the proposed plaque that the FoFH have submitted to Council and the wording on the plaque that Flourish self advocacy group have proposed are almost identical.

I am currently waiting for Jess Dallas who is the Council’s Project Manager to contact me back with the wording*. If both groups can agree, there is an opportunity for a plaque to be installed to remember past residents, staff and community members that were involved in the Hospital’s 174 years of operation.

Frascati House Committee and the Derwent Valley Council have also considered some proposed insensitive activities in the old home but it is nice to see that there is an opportunity to have some respectful and sensitive activity on the site. 

*p.s. Jess Dallas had sent the wording but due to a communication issue I only received it yesterday. Thanks Jess.

APIU, DVC may approve tour of “Satan’s House”!

Friends of Frascati House looking at the Reflective Garden
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Unlock Willow Court

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Dr Helen Norrie listens and facilitates discussions

Last night I attended a gathering at Willow Court with Dr Helen Norrie and Dr Tamas Oszvald, both from the University of Tasmania. They are working with the Derwent Valley Council and the New Norfolk community to scope potential collaborative projects that could facilitate the activation of Willow Court, engaging with past, present and future narratives and histories.

This initiative was funded by a grant from UTAS Creativity, Culture and Society research stream, and the project aims to develop a list of potential future projects, and collaborative partners.

The key focus of the meeting and the whole project involved piecing together information that exists, identifying gaps in knowledge/information as documented, identifying key ‘knowledge custodians’ and understanding the complexities of recent and past histories.

There was representation from:

Linking and Networking Supper

New Norfolk High School,

Derwent Valley Council,

Friends of Frascati House,

Friends of Willow Court,

New Norfolk Business Alliance,

Local Tourist operators,

Derwent Valley Players,

Owners of the Agrarian Kitchen and other interested parties.

Can Seng Ooi, Professor in Cultural and Heritage Tourism, Hamish Maxwell- Stewart, Professor of History and the co-author of a previous report into the reuse of Willow Court, Professor Lucy Frost were in attendance.  

We were presented with a scope of the project by Dr Helen Norrie and Dr Tamas Oszvald and then we were asked to introduce ourselves and our connection with the site. A moderated discussion of possible future projects on the site and the interconnection they could have with the community, locally, Statewide and nationally were then discussed. A short time of questions.

Previous Reports and General Information Table.

An update on the DVC’s “expression of interest” process was given by the General Manager Mr Greg Winton.

Personal thoughts: For me this is the last ditch effort to get some common ground and for all parties to work towards one agenda. Failure to work together will simply add another report to the already high pile of the 16 previous reports and this would be a serious concern for the site. 

I have a good feeling about this. We can only contribute and work towards Willow Court becoming a place to visit in Tasmania and hope that other agendas will be left behind. I know that both Helen and Tamas are working hard to see that happen.

On a not so related matter, meetings at Willow Court Barracks without toilet facilities are a sure test of endurance for invited guests!

 

 

 

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Study into Willow Court use.

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Last week I had the opportunity to meet with both Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald about the engagement project that they have been investigating at Willow Court. They explained the project and stated that this will be approximately the 15-16th report into Willow Court. We were able to explain some of the history and the complex and mixed history of the site and plan on returning to have more input. 

The reports range from the Architectural values through to the large McDonald Report (found in the documents tab on this site) created to plan for the future use of the site. This project was put forward by The New Norfolk Business Alliance which is a Special sub committee of the Derwent Valley Council. The study will look at future community engagement opportunities for the site and is seeking interested groups and individuals to have an input into the process.

As I reported in an earlier report, the Derwent Valley Council are currently also looking at an expression of interest process for the site, which they have been announcing for nearly two years. The Council are looking at interested parties to restore, occupy and use the site.

Interested parties are yet to see the conditions and details that are set out but the Council have been looking at the advertising costs and options up to $76, 960 (+GST) which they admit is unfunded from the ratepayers at this stage. The proposal from the DVC agenda is below.

University of Tasmania Community Engagement Project
The New Norfolk Business Alliance has been exploring how a community arts project could be used to promote visitation to New Norfolk. As a result of discussions Dr Helen Norrie (Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design) and Dr Tamas Osvald (Research Assistant at the College of the Arts) from the University of Tasmania have shown an interest in the collation of information and undertaking a short community mapping exercise which will inform future community engagement opportunities.
Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald have been successful in receiving approximately $5,500 through an internal University of Tasmania grant (Creative Culture and Society Research) to further explore the potential for collaborative and interdisciplinary projects with Willow Court as the basis of the discussion. The project is a short term program which will be completed by December 2017 and will collate information, map the community and identify potential future collaborations and opportunities for future projects. Dr Norrie and Dr Osvald intend to provide the results of their project to the Council for further discussion once completed. This project does not involve any financial commitment from the Council and the outcomes may assist in future funding applications. A brief outline of the project is attached.

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Patchwork Cafe

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A long history has been had for the demountable building that we know today as the Patchwork Cafe in the privately owned section of the hospital grounds at New Norfolk.

In the documentary that recorded the last six months (Six Months to go and counting) before the closure of the institution there is a scene where you can see the steam rising from the grate just in front of the door of what is now the cafe, in it’s current location. This was part of the steam loop heating system that went to each Ward of the Hospital. Many people have a vivid memory of steam rising up in the middle of winter in the hospital grounds.

The demountable building was first located beside K1 (building with the clock tower) then moved after the construction of K2 (current Masonic Lodge). It wasn’t in the plan in 1883 but appears in the picture above and it is the building with a pitched roof located about one third along in the photo from the left.

Some people have only ever know this buildings as Patchwork Cafe and others have known this demountable building as a school and an Occupational Therapy building. Today it sits in it’s third location and still bears the marks of being part of the Institution. If you look carefully inside at the windows you will notice that the glass on some of the lower pains is quite thick and around the wooden window frame there is are holes where metal bars once were installed to stop escapes.

This picture shows the building in it’s current location before the gardens and the strange and sometimes controversial old car bodies that currently surround it. The picture below shows the side and rear view and lacks the gardens that have been put in around the Cafe.

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Memories

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Last week was a tremendously powerful week for evoking memories and reflection with “Remembrance Day” activities being broadcast on the television and ceremonies being held in our community. It was also a week that I found out that a number of people I knew had died.

This has had me thinking about remembering, reflecting and the social normal methods we share and speak to each other about the death of friends, relations and colleagues.

It wasn’t that long ago that I noticed another cherished colleague, too many at the Royal Derwent Hospital, had died and as expected there was a wonderful response and out pouring from past friends and colleagues, all sharing their condolences and stories of who that person was to them and their loss and sadness felt. As a small community there was a joint grieving that could be felt even through the digital social media that we commonly use today.

This has made me think as I was dealing with grief, the grief and loss of two people. This was on top of the news of the last six people in a short space of months that have died and yet some of this news I hadn’t heard for weeks afterwards.

There had been no opportunity to show that out pouring of grief, no opportunity to attend public funerals to celebrate the lives of these people and the contribution they had made to society and the people around them. There was no Facebook group to share this knowledge, no place to write your thoughts. It was allowed to quietly pass.

This is the life (and death) of the past Residents of Willow Court.

What is stopping this from happening? Doesn’t true inclusion look the same as other people’s lives or is the need to maintain the “Organisation’s” privacy and confidentiality policy stopping real inclusion, even in death?

The only characteristic that is different was an intellectual disability. Maybe we have a long way to go.

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Troubled Asylum For Sale (NOW SOLD)

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This copy has now been sold.

 

We have too many copies!

For sale, a second edition copy of “Troubled Asylum” by author Ralph Gowlland. This second edition, soft cover edition was published in 1996.

This version contains an extra forward by the then Minister for Community and Health Services, Peter McKay MLC.

This is a very clean copy with some writing on the inside cover (see picture below).

This is a hard to find book which covers the troubled history of the hospital from 1827.

All profits go toward the maintenance and continued research of this website.

$200.00 plus postage

Please contact me through my email address: mark@willowcourttasmania.org

Payment details PAYPAL 

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Bed styles at Willow Court

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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.

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Return to the Community

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This book isn’t that rare, but the stamp, “WILLOW COURT PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION” on the front cover makes it rare.

RETURN TO THE COMMUNITY, THE PROCESS OF CLOSING AN INSTITUTION was a published book from a case study on how to close an institution and return those who were residents to their community.

Published in 1987 in Canada, the book documents the closing of Tranquille, which institutionalised people with intellectual disability.

The follow text explains the complex context that all institutions started the closure process and Willow Court was no exception as evident by the presence of this book and another copy that was used by the Management.

The book is available by clicking on the image below. 

Closing an institution for people with disabilities must be seen in the context of several interrelated social trends.

• During the 1970s and 1980s the disability field in Canada has literally seen an explosion in emphasis on human rights. People with disabilities are increasingly seen as a significant minority group who have been marginalized in almost every area of life. The International Year of Disabled Persons and the Canadian Charter of Rights proclaimed in 1982 raised awareness about the discrimination faced by people with handicaps. Rights activists have also advocated for more institutional closures and community living alternatives (Day, 1985; Savage, 1985).

• Since Goffman’s (1961) classic work on the total institution twenty-five years ago, numerous critiques of institutions and ‘back wards’ have been vividly presented (Blatt, 1970; Rivera, 1973; Rothman, 1981; Wolfensberger, 1975.) This body of work has raised awareness about the limits of the asylum, including the fact that institutions labour under too many conflicting models of service. This knowledge is widely used by citizens demanding community options to institutionalization.

• Normalization and community living increasingly became accepted as the guiding ideology for services for people with handicaps. These principles have emphasized the value of people with disabilities having ordinary life experiences (Wolfensberger,1973). Proponents of normalization have been very critical of institutions and have strongly supported community integration and participation (Perske, 1980; Ri.chler, 1981).

• In the last decade, research and planning efforts associated with deinstitutionalization in the United States and Canada have produced a wide range of reports and understandings. By 1983, there was a growing sense that we knew how to effectively implement deinstitutionalization by redesigning community service systems (Provencal, 1980; McWhorter and Kappel, 1983).

• The era of fiscal restraint that swept over British Columbia and other parts of Canada in the early 1980s seemed to be a further impetus to accelerate the deinstitutionalization process. Capital and operating expenditures for total institutions were enormous and, increasingly, governments, and advocates saw the economic benefits of community living (Canadian Council on Social Development, 1985; Copeland, 1982).

These trends have encouraged widespread interest in closing institutions
and in related policy initiatives.

 

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