Friends of Willow Court AGM

476 (c) 2016 Anne Salt (Chairperson Friends of Willow Court) volunteering on the wall at the Willow Court restoration project.

On Thursday the 4th August the Friends of Willow Court had their Annual General Meeting which is open to the public. I attended and was allowed to record the Chairperson’s report. Mrs Anne Salt read out the years activities that the committee participated in or arranged. She also gave thanks to Haydn and Penny Pearce, Bernie and Janine Clifford for their support during the Heritage Month tours.

There was also a presentation from Mr Rodney Dunn. Mr Dunn showed the gathered committee his plans for an extension to his already highly successful business, the Agrarian Kitchen. (podcast to come later). Mr Dunn is keen to work with the Friends of Willow Court and the Willow Court History Group once the Derwent Valley Council finalise their long processes for a lease on the Bronte Building.

 

 

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Elizabeth Dax

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the daughter of Eric Cunningham Dax at the Dax Centre attached to the University of Melbourne. Before our meeting Elizabeth Dax AM; MD, BS; PhD GAICD was lecturing a student group about mental health and the intersection of art.

IMAG1369I was given a tour of the storage and preparation facility and the Dax Museum. There are over 17,000 pieces of art created by people who have experience mental health issues, trauma, war or deep lose.

IMAG1354Some of the collection was gathered by Doctor Dax during his employment in Tasmania as the senior mental health expert. He also regionalised mental health services throughout Tasmania and extensively modified practices at the Royal Derwent Hospital. This was inline with his earlier, 1962 report to the Tasmanian Government about a modern approach to mental health.

This idea was the Psycho-social model which had been practiced and taught in the UK for sometime, mostly with good results. There were a number of staff at the hospital that were from the UK or some local people who training in the UK before return to Tasmania and taking part in training other staff and regionalising services throughout the state.

We had favorable discussions about some of the works returning to Tasmania at some stage for display. Elizabeth was very interested in hearing my proposal. More news as and when I know more.

 

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Dark MOFO Time Lapse

Toward the last days of Mike Parr’s exhibition and standing in the cold, I started to witness for the first time the sun setting behind the hills of the 1827 Barracks Building and the array of dim incandescent light bulbs that lite the building in a soft yellow glow, highlighting the sandstone colour. I placed the camera on the ground and set it to time lapse and watched as people mill about from door to door, building to building.

httpv://youtu.be/c4Qi_rjLPEY

 

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