New Document Released

New Norfolk Asylum, Historical Background. Report to Austral Archaeology June 1996, by Dr Warrick Pearson has now been uploaded for public viewing. This Report is a detailed archaeological document of the whole site, containing many facts, figures, photos and data about Willow Court from 1827. The documents also covers the underground assets from the Barracks in the 1880’s including the barrel drain. All manner of documents surveys and plans have been gathered to form this definitive document. Release for the first time for public viewing this will keep the Willow Court historian busy for some time. The document is well referenced, however the scan is a little faint on some pages.

In the first section the author talks about a letter dated 1828 in which Dr Officer complains about the”dilapidated state” of the buildings, which suggest that the state of the building would indicate that the structure that predated the Barracks was old and unkept for some time. The author suggests that the early 1820’s is most likely a time frame. The location of the wooden structure is not clearly known and there is hope that this location would be found by the Archeology team that will be working at the site for the next ten years, plus.

Click on the picture to take you to the document, enjoy.

The Barracks 1888
The Barracks 1835

 

 

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Lachlan Park Memorabilia sold today

helmets

Today I attempted to buy two Lachlan Park Fire Helmets at an auction so they could be placed in the Hospital’s Historical Inventory. After discussing the top price that could be paid with the Chair of the Friends of Willow Court I placed a number of bids, only to be outbid. The items dated back to pre 1965 when The Lachlan Park Hospital changed it’s name to the Royal Derwent Hospital and would have been a good inclusion to the historical items that are logged and ready for display. They would have gone nicely with the original fire cart which is in the inventory.

The Collection of historical items was recorded on a number of inventories which are being upgraded by students working with Associate Professor Heather Burke from Flinders University. A lone copy of the 1996 inventory was found and saved to a digital copy a couple of months ago. It will be very interesting to see if all the 1996 items still appear on the latest inventory. It is believed that some of the precious items have disappeared over time. The current Derwent Valley Council appear to have stopped this flow of historic items disappearing, which is good to hear.

Rebecca Tudor from the Friends of Willow Court stated at a recent meeting that she is concerned for the state of the items and how they are stored. She is also hopeful that these items could be cataloged similar to those at her workplace, at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The condition the provenance and other available information about the item should be stored with the item so when it is taken from storage to display, it will carry all the essential information with it. This is a better way to ensure that items on display are time and subject related to the actual display they are going to appear in.

The Helmets sold for $150,00 plus a buyers premium of 15%

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Metal fabricated ramps in place.

The long awaited metal fabricated ramps are now in place at Willow Court, these buildings will, for the first time have mobility access. The placement for the ramp in the Barracks has been done so it doesn’t affect the Heritage building. Also the front gate now has it’s backing metal plate fixed. This is a see through black plate which took me a while to notice as I was looking at the buildings behind. The site was rumored to be handed over to the Derwent Valley Council at the end of June, but no comment has been made from the Council and in the light of no restoration of the landscaping and the ramps still some way off completion we can only assume that the work still goes on. It was reported that no late clauses were in the contract that would normally penalise the contractor for being over the estimated finish time which is a standard part of most contracts now days.

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A piece of history “For Sale”

A piece of history has come up for sale on, of all things, Gumtree. The old ward at Willow Court is owned by the Pierce family who own a number of buildings in the private section at the old hospital. Available for the grant price of $875,000 it is described as: Georgian masterpiece with 46 rooms built as a prison for the criminally insane females. Situated in the oldest colonial hospital complex in the southern hemisphere at New Norfolk on the Derwent River 30 minutes from Hobart g.p.o.zoned special development ,which would allow commercial or residential development. The surrounding heritage buildings have already been developed into Antique shops ,Coffee shops, Motel, Retirement apartments etc. 50 metres from Woolworths and 150 metres to Town Centre.

Gumtree advertisement. 730 report

 

What isn’t mentioned in the advertisement is the land size, if any and what access is available to the property for sale. These things have become very important for other property owners in the same area and have previously lead to disputes between parties in that area.

The Ladies Cottage was separated physically from the barracks building complex and had the wall and a fence around it. It also had a ha ha in front of it so that patients could use the garden and could look out to the landscape but also be secure. James Kerr explains that:

“The ha ha was device popular in eighteenth Century English country estates which provided a barrier to stock but did not interrupt – an important aspect of landscape planning at the time. It was achieved by the simple expedient of sinking a wall out of sight in a trench and was supposed to have been named after the surprised ejaculation forced upon a visitor’s lips on discovering that the seeming continuity of sward was a deception. It became an important element in the design of airing yards for Australian asylums from the 1860s on to the early twentieth century. It enabled the patients to relate to the carefully landscaped surroundings and to whatever views were available.” (Kerr p158)

The emphasis on providing pleasant grounds was an aspect of therapy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. There was a belief in the power of nature “to recruit the flagging spirit” says Kerr 5. Not only were the gardens carefully laid out but they were populated with fauna including alpaca, deer, kangaroos and emus like those seen in the above photo of the Ladies Cottage at New Norfolk.

In 1903 a second storey was added to the building providing a further 25 beds, In 1908 the violent and noisy patients from the Ladies Cottage were accommodated in the newly closed in verandah section of the Female Refractory Division.

Extract from the Willow Court Conservation Management Plan. Nelson, Barwick, Slatyer and Loveday 2003

What has happened to the planning for the Ladies Cottage spotted in August last year is now unknown new norfolk 025

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