When the siren went off at RDH Tasmania at the asylum, the local community knew what to do, children and adults ran indoors and waited until the siren sounded again to indicate the all clear. What was this about? The siren indicated that a patient had escaped the hospital and different sounds meant different levels of alert and danger. How did visitors and the children feel about this? This conversation between New Norfolk Councillor James Graham, Anne Salt and Mark Krause discusses some of the stories about the alarm. Recorded during the restoration of the front gates in 2012.

“I think children’s reactions depended on if they had parents who worked in the hospital. As kids 10-12 years old, if the siren went off a group of us got on our bikes and went to see what ward the action was going on at. We were taught not to be scared of the people there just because they had physical or mental health issues…” Lyell Wilson

“The Lachlan Park Hospital will sound a siren when a patient is considered dangerous escapes” The medical administrator of the hospital (Dr J.R.C. Weatherly) said yesterday the alarm would be three ten-second blasts at five-second intervals. If the patient were recaptured within five hours of the alarm being given. an “all clear”, one thirty second blast would be sounded. De Weatherly said the siren would be tested each Friday at noon. The test would be a single 15-second blast. (Troubled Asylum)