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.