Timeline of History

Establishing Queensland's first asylum

The site opened in 1865 as the Woogaroo Asylum and occupied 311.05 hectares on the banks of the Brisbane River at Wacol, approximately 19km southwest of the Brisbane CBD. One of only three institutions for people with mental illness established by the Queensland Government during the 19th century, it later incorporated several mental health facilities and ancillary services.

Since the late 20th century, new uses for some areas of the site have evolved, with the repurposing of buildings. Before 1859, people within the later colony of Queensland, who were certified as insane, were sent to Sydney. Immediately following Separation, they were loaded at the Brisbane Gaol. In 1861, the government instructed Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin & Richard Suter, an architect with an interest in the design of asylums and hospitals, to report on a suitable site and draw up plans for a 400-bed asylum. Tiffin recommended an area of land on the banks of the Brisbane River halfway between Brisbane and Ipswich. This site was rejected by the Government in favour of a nearby site, upstream at the junction of the Brisbane River and Woogaroo Creek at Woogaroo (Goodna).

The site of the new asylum was originally part of the lands of the Yuggera Ugarapul People. The residence of Dr Stephen Simpson, the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Moreton Bay District, had occupied it. Simpson was appointed in 1842 when the area first opened for free settlement following the closure of the penal colony. An 1861 survey plan indicates the presence of a dwelling between the mouth of Woogaroo Creek and a small dam that still exists east of the current Wolston Park Golf Club clubhouse today, known as South Dam. Late 1860s plans of the asylum's original buildings indicate that they were located at the east end of the current clubhouse, where the current car park is located.​

 

Asylum Era (1865 - 1908)

Tenders for the first stage of construction of the asylum were issued in January 1863, and by the end of 1864, sufficient buildings had been completed for the asylum to begin operations. Woogaroo Asylum opened on 10 January 1865. On 12 January, seven prison warders (two of them women) and ten police constables escorted 57 male and 12 female inmates from Brisbane Gaol to Woogaroo, travelling by river. The 69 patients were accommodated in a two-storey brick building originally intended as the administration block. Male patients were accommodated on the first floor and part of the ground floor. Females occupied a section of the ground floor.

A tall timber fence surrounded the building, and timber outbuildings accommodated a kitchen, bathroom and staff areas. Dr Kersey Cannan was appointed as Superintendent, and a residence was constructed for him on site, northeast of the main asylum buildings. This first stage of the asylum was located at the southern end of the site between the Brisbane River and Woogaroo Creek, with the river providing access. Site plans dated c1869 and 1878 indicate that a cemetery was established at the site's far western end, near the confluence of Woogaroo Creek and the Brisbane River. An 1878 survey plan shows the developments on the asylum site: men’s ward, hospital, cottage, a steam saw beside Woogaroo Creek, land under cultivation, a footbridge over Woogaroo Creek, wharf into the Brisbane River, and on the ridge to the north of the main buildings, the female ward and a doctor’s house to its south. In 1866, a ward for fee-paying patients was constructed on an adjacent ridge approximately 400 metres northeast of the main buildings. The building (later Female Wards 1 and 2) was built from local sandstone extracted from a nearby quarry owned by Joshua Jeays, which also supplied stone for the construction of Old Government House (1862) and Parliament House (1865) The superintendent, Dr Cannan, claimed responsibility for the building's design, based on principles recommended in the standard treatise on asylum construction at this time. However, the Woogaroo Asylum was not in a position to accept fee-paying patients, and the building remained unoccupied for two years until alterations were made to facilitate the transfer of female inmates to this block. A partial second storey was added, constructed to the design of Charles Tiffin in 1875, and other substantial alterations and additions were made to the building in 1905-6, 1923, 1937 and 1951. This building accommodated female inmates for over 100 years, and was the first of several in the separate ‘female area’. In 1867, the first of many Government inquiries into the asylum's operations took place, with the Queensland Government appointing Dr Henry Challinor to investigate conditions there. Two further inquiries occurred in 1869.

Dr Cannan was dismissed from his post following the first inquiry.

The second revealed numerous errors and incompetence, and several of its conclusions concerned the inadequate and inappropriate on-site accommodation and the need for improved cooking facilities and a reliable water supply. On the recommendation of the select committee, the Queensland Government introduced the Lunacy Act 1869, based on legislation in other Australian colonies and Britain. It was not until a royal commission was established in 1877 to investigate Woogaroo Asylum and other reception houses in the colony that the government was forced to take the continuing problems at the asylum more seriously. Despite the construction of two cottage wards in the early 1870s, overcrowding remained a chronic problem, and the commission urged the construction of additional wards, improvements to existing cells, upgrades to services, the planting of shade trees, the establishment of recreation facilities, and the provision of employment for patients. A modest building program began in 1878, with the construction of a cottage ward for 60 female patients, and continued with a block of cells for troublesome female patients in 1879; two wards, each for 35 patients, in the male and female areas in 1880, as well as the construction of a kitchen and laundry building to service 500 inmates [these buildings are not extant]. A boom in the Queensland economy and a significant increase in expenditure on public works were the impetus for a more substantial building program at the asylum during the 1880s. At the same time, the state's population was increasing rapidly, and accompanying social changes led to increased admissions.

The hospital population doubled in the two decades from 1880. Two new cottage wards (Female no 6 ward, 1885, later known as Bostock House; and a refractory ward) were erected in the female area, while in the male area, a new refractory ward was constructed [not extant] and significant additions to the existing Male no 1 ward were undertaken. Despite this latest work, conditions for patients scarcely improved, as the additional accommodation barely kept pace with the growth in patient numbers. The Insanity Act of 1884 introduced new legislation, replacing the Lunacy Act of 1869. Modelled on New South Wales legislation, it reflected the growing medicalisation of the treatment of madness. The term lunacy was replaced by insanity, and the institution where such persons were treated became known as a hospital for the insane rather than an asylum. This Act consolidated the state's role in the treatment and regulation of ‘insane’ people and remained in force for more than 50 years. The institution was renamed Goodna Hospital for the Insane in the same year.

In 1890, the asylum experienced severe flooding when the Brisbane River rose to 40 feet (12.19m), the highest level ever recorded. The entire male area was inundated; buildings, fences, and other structures were seriously damaged, and patients had to be relocated. Consequently, the low-lying area near the river was abandoned, with the main male area moved to higher ground to the northeast, where two male wards had already been erected [not extant]. The relocation brought the complex closer to the railway line (opened in 1875), which supplanted the river as the hospital's primary means of access. A Recreation Hall was erected in 1890, serving as a sewing room for female patients during the day and as a venue for dances, concerts, and church services, as well as a temporary timber building to alleviate overcrowding. In 1892, a substantial two-story brick building for male patients was opened. Severe flooding in February 1893 further damaged the male area. It inundated the primary staff residences and the original cemetery, as well as the original two-story brick building, which then comprised the Woogaroo Asylum and was situated on Woogaroo Creek. Local Mrs Carroll vividly remembers the destruction of this building in the flood of 1893, and the great difficulty of rescuing the 400 patients, which had to be effected in the middle of a pitch-dark night, with heavy rain pouring down, and the creek a seething, rapidly spreading body of water. The rescue was splendidly effected, and only one life was lost, that of a patient who jumped from a boat and was swept away by the rushing water.

 Following the decision to relocate to higher ground, work began on an outdoor recreation area and two similar single-storey wards to accommodate 75 patients each (by 1896) [not extant]; male no 5 ward (later Fleming House), a two-storey brick building (c1896); and a second two-storey block (male no 10 ward) opened c1900. These buildings overlooked the cricket oval that had been laid out by patient labour. In 1898-9, a substantial brick Medical Superintendent’s Residence, plus outbuildings [later Manor House, Offices], replacing a timber house badly damaged by the 1893 flood, was erected for the new medical superintendent, James Hogg, appointed in 1898. The residence was located on high ground with its main elevation facing southeast, away from the asylum complex. Ellerton Drive, Hogg Lane, and the western half of Boyce Road had been formed by 1896 to link buildings and areas on the site. The southernmost part of Barrett Drive led to a new cemetery (cemetery no 2) established north of the asylum buildings and adjacent to the cricket ground, which was used until the early 1910s. From 1898, the complex was known as the Goodna Hospital for the Insane for the next 42 years. The most significant building project of the early 1900s involved extensive alterations and additions to the original female ward. The first floor was extended across the entire building, which considerably increased the accommodation. A large two-storeyed block, the Male no 4 ward was also completed, bringing the male area to a well-defined group of eight buildings. A new morgue and two brick bathroom blocks were constructed in 1902 (the Female Bathroom Block was later known as Dawson Annexe, and the Male Bathroom Block was later converted into a pathology laboratory).​​​​​​

​​

Moral Treatment or Therapy Era (1909 - 1937)

Following the death of James Hogg in 1908, Henry Byam Ellerton (c1871-1951) was appointed as Medical Superintendent of Goodna and Chief Inspector of Hospitals for the Insane. Conscious of the need to find the very best possible candidate, the Queensland Government had advertised widely for the position, including in Britain. Ellerton was chosen from a list of 26 applicants and had 14 years of experience in English asylums. He was an ardent advocate of 'moral treatment' or ‘moral therapy’. Moral treatment marked a major turning point in the understanding of madness and insanity. Formerly regarded as the total absence or distortion of reason and incapable of cure, insanity came to be seen as a product of an immoral or defective social environment; thus, people with mental illnesses could be improved in an appropriate and elevating environment. A critical aspect of moral treatment was the provision of a pleasant environment, emphasising well-lit, well-ventilated buildings with adequate bathing facilities and reasonably sized rooms with sufficient openings and views of the landscape. Recreation and employment were also considered vital parts of the therapeutic process. Ellerton was Superintendent of the hospital for 27 years, retiring in 1936. During this period, Wolston Park assumed its modern form through the construction of its core buildings and the consolidation of its institutional environment. As Ellerton's vision was to create an integrated and self-sufficient community, the grounds were converted into gardens, and wooden fences were replaced with less claustrophobic wire fences. A large bush house, 100 yards long and 20 yards wide (91.44m x 18.29m) [not extant], was established in 1911 to maintain a steady supply of pot plants for the wards and the Recreation Hall and to provide seedlings and young plants for the gardens throughout the hospital. The institution was open to visits from relatives and friends, and recreational activities became integral to its operations. While aesthetically pleasing gardens and views were considered integral to the therapeutic process, the grounds were also important to the institution's public image. A pleasant, landscaped environment with gardens, bushland, and open space suggested that the hospital was a benign institution and belied its true character as a place where overcrowding was chronic, and inmates were strictly controlled and managed. During Ellerton's administration, an extensive building programme was undertaken, with Ellerton providing specialist input at the design stage for medical buildings. An Assistant Medical Superintendent’s Residence (later Offices) was added east of the male area, and the Recreation Hall extended to its front (south) in 1912. Existing male wards were demolished, and Male no 9 and 10 wards (later Lewis House), Male no 11 ward (later McDonnell House) and Male no 12 and 13 wards (later Noble House) were completed in 1915.15. The Hospital Ward Block (later Hospital) was completed. A cedar, three-panel, World War I (WWI) Honour Board was unveiled in 1916. A new main entrance bridge over Woogaroo Creek, a female admission ward, Female no 7 ward (later Anderson House), the Administration Block (staff offices in 2020), the Powerhouse (offices, stores and small hospital museum in 2020), water reservoirs, and pumping stations were completed in 1914. The Laundry was completed in 1918. Male no 14 ward (later a ward for difficult female patients; afterwards Osler House) was completed in 1929, and Male no 15 ward for difficult male patients (later Pearce House) was completed in 1934; while the Male no 6, 7 and 8 wards (later Gladstone House, Jenner House, and Kelsey House respectively) were completed in 1936. Upon Ellerton's retirement, the male area comprised 13 blocks, all constructed of brick and designed to accommodate between 20 and 120 inmates. However, the upgrading of facilities and the increase in beds from 1910 to 1936 failed to offset the rise in patient numbers, and overcrowding remained a chronic problem. Compared with the extensive building program in the male area between 1910 and 1936, improvements in the female area were extremely modest. Ellerton felt that the expansion of the female area was constrained by the site's topography and advocated additional female wards at other institutions, such as Ipswich Mental Hospital (established 1878) and Toowoomba Mental Hospital (established 1890).19 However, a brick and concrete shelter shed with a fireplace was added near Female wards 1 and 2 in 1929 for ‘difficult patients. During 1910-20, the number of female inmates decreased by 20%, from 491 to 389, and the 1910 level of female population was not regained until 1929. The number of male patients, including war veterans, increased by 30% during this period, rising from 779 to 1010.21. The second cemetery (cemetery no 2), located north of the main buildings and adjacent to the cricket ground, closed in the early 1910s to allow construction of the two-storey male wards, which opened in 1915.

A third cemetery (cemetery no 3), located in the northeast sector of the hospital site, appears on 19th-century survey plans. Still, it is unclear whether it also operated in the late 19th century alongside cemetery no. 2. Nevertheless, cemetery no 3 became the sole cemetery for the hospital from 1913 until 1945, as Ellerton reported in 1913 that the ‘disinterment of remains from [the] old cemetery and re-internment in[to the] new cemetery – to make room for new wards’ had been completed. During Ellerton's tenure, the institution underwent considerable material improvements, and several essential services, including a hospital, electricity, and water, were established. For example, pump houses, a water tower (demolished) and a rendered brick Reservoir, located adjacent to the main drive (later called Ellerton Drive) and connected to the Brisbane pipeline from Mount Crosby, were completed in 1914. Also formed was the backbone of the road network and upgraded paths that became the basis of the current layout. The main drive from Goodna (Ellerton Drive, 1870s) was realigned opposite the female wards for their extension c1913, and its level was altered. Foundation stones and kerbing and guttering stones for the drive were quarried from the sandstone ridge beside the river, while the surface gravel came from gravel pits in the institution’s grounds. After a new bridge was erected over Woogaroo Creek in 1916, a new road connecting with Ellerton Drive was formed in 1917 and planted with bunya pines and fig species. Hogg Lane, accessing Male no 5-8 wards, had been formed by 1896. Barrett Drive, which led to the cemetery. 3 (truncated in 1946), was established by 1932 28 but may date to the cemetery's inception in 1913. The track to the new Farm Ward (1916; realigned and upgraded to a road in 1950; later renamed Explorers Walk) was also constructed during this period. Many of the new buildings were well-designed and excellent examples of the Queensland Department of Works' output during this period. Some of the buildings demonstrated a refinement in approaches to patient care, such as the minor, domestic-scale Female no. 7 ward (later Anderson House), which was designed to accommodate female patients upon admission for observation and to receive more individualised treatment than was possible in a large ward. Recreational facilities had vastly improved, and the complex now included three tennis courts, a Cricket Pavilion, terraces, and a Cricket Oval (later the Recreation Ground, now known as the Eddie Gilbert Memorial Field), considered one of the best cricket grounds in the state. A golf course was constructed by patient labour in the 1920s and became the well-regarded Gailes Golf Course (1925), which continued to employ patients in the upkeep and maintenance of the greens. A small hexagonal, timber Visitors Pavilion was erected near the main drive within the landscaped Visitors Garden (1912) below the Administration Block in c1920.32 Patients were also employed in farming activities that aided the hospital's self-sufficiency and conformed with the moral therapy model of treatment. Farm activities included a piggery, a dairy, a small cattle herd, and vegetable and crop production, including oats, maize, and lucerne. These activities were extended with the addition of a Farm Ward (1916; later Community Hall, Pappora) [not extant], attached masonry Kitchen with scullery (c1916), masonry Dairy (1916), Sheds (1916) [not extant], and an Overseers Cottage (1918; later Quarter Way House, Residence) [relocated onsite], all about two kilometres northwest of the main hospital complex, set in a rural landscape with mature plantings, built landscape works, and views. However, no new techniques or treatment methods had been introduced. Even the later Male Wards 6, 7, and 8 (Gladstone, Jenner, and Kelsey) remained firmly grounded in the moral therapy model, despite their new designs featuring unusual plan forms. The institutionalisation of people with mental illness in Queensland had become an efficient system of control and regulation, with an emphasis on confinement rather than treatment or care. More patients than ever were admitted to Goodna, and no other solution to the treatment of mental illness was even considered possible.

 

Mental Hygiene Era (1938 - 1962)

Ellerton was succeeded as Medical Superintendent by Dr Basil Stafford, the former Superintendent of Ipswich Mental Hospital, in 1938. Ellerton's retirement provided the opportunity to review the entire mental health system in Queensland and, in particular, Ellerton's total commitment to moral therapy. By the late 1930s, psychiatry was a well-established specialty internationally, though still in its infancy in Australia, and Stafford was alert to the changes psychiatry was bringing to the treatment of mental illness. In 1937, he was sent by the Queensland Government to attend the 2nd International Congress on Mental Hygiene in Paris and to undertake a study tour of hospitals, psychiatric clinics, and universities in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. On his return, Stafford recommended various changes to the mental health system, including the implementation of new legislation. These recommendations led to the enactment of the Mental Hygiene Act of 1938, which closely resembled the British Mental Treatment Act of 1930. It required active treatment for the mentally ill, attempted to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness, and allowed for voluntary admission to mental hospitals. Until this time, hospitals such as Goodna received only certified patients, most of whom were sent there under a magistrate's order. However, the transition to a less coercive approach to treatment was slow, and in 1947 Stafford reported that only 34 of the 570 patients had been admitted under the Act's voluntary provisions. The changes were mirrored by the institution’s renaming to Brisbane Mental Hospital in c1940.

The ideas of modern treatment introduced by Stafford emphasised the development of a comprehensive psychiatric approach supported by an adequate number of qualified medical staff. Insanity was seen as a disease of the brain and, like any other disease, required hospitalisation of patients and treatment with drugs. 'Modern treatment, ' he noted, 'demands exhaustive mental and clinical case histories, as well as in-depth physical examination. This cannot be done by a skeleton staff, however willing. This approach also introduced a degree of specialisation among staff and hospital procedures. Stafford advocated separating chronic wards from those for admission, convalescence, and hospital cases. He believed that mental illness demands active therapy, and treatment must not become merely custodial, and urged the use of new types of treatment such as insulin, cardiazol, and electrotherapy. 

The first building at Wolston Park to reflect Stafford's modern ideas was Female Ward no 4 (later Dawson House), completed in 1944.

It accommodated 60 patients and was located on a sloping site near the existing female wards. It was recognised that a building with a basement could be built on such topography, with the basement accommodating treatment rooms for cardiazol therapy, insulin therapy, malaria therapy, somnifaine or continuous narcosis therapy, and other medical treatments. The most striking difference was the minimal attention paid to the external environment; this building was inward-looking, signalling the decline in the importance placed on the environment in 'moral treatment' and the increasing medicalisation of mental health treatment. Another critical building project for female patients at this time was the construction, between 1951 and 1955, of a special female recreation facility of approximately 2.5 hectares on the western edge of the reserve, adjacent to the Brisbane River.

The principal building in the area was a brick Cafeteria with facilities to serve 500 patients (later the Ballroom at Wolston Park Golf Clubhouse). Patients could spend the entire day in the recreation area without returning to the wards for midday meals. Other facilities in the area included a packing shed, sewing room [not extant], tennis court [not extant], bowling green [later putting green], a large playing field, nine viewing shelters [not extant] and storage sheds [one extant]. The grounds were landscaped by staff and inmate labour. By 1957, more than 200 patients were regularly using the facilities, underscoring the institution's rigid gender-based segregation across all facets. In 1956, a small brick and timber Visitors Shelter [not extant] was erected west of Ellerton House on Ellerton Drive.

By January 1942, 110 returned soldiers were inmates of Goodna Mental Hospital, and the Commonwealth Government expressed concern about the increasing number of admissions. War veterans had become a significant minority of the hospital population since the final years of WWI, and Ellerton had decided that using existing institutions was preferable to building new facilities. During World War II (WWII), however, the Commonwealth agreed to fund the construction of three special wards, with the Queensland Government agreeing to responsibility for the maintenance of the buildings and staffing. The Department of Public Works prepared plans for a complete repatriation unit in consultation with Basil Stafford. Their design essentially resurrected the principles of 'moral treatment' – the buildings were designed to minimise the sense of confinement associated with mental hospitals, and freedom was emphasised by wide verandahs and dining areas opening onto grassed courtyards and lawns. Construction of the wards began in 1946, and Governor John Lavarack opened the Wacol Repatriation Pavilion on 26 January 1948. It comprised three wards: Wards A, B, and C (later named Jacaranda, Silky Oak, and Lilly Pilly, respectively), each accommodating 88 patients, and a Kitchen/canteen block. An Occupational Therapy and Recreation Hall was erected in 1961. A cricket oval (later called Sports Oval) in 1954- 55.41 In 1943, the Superintendent of the Goodna Hospital had advised the Director General of Health and Medical Services that the existing burial ground (cemetery no 3) was ‘almost completely occupied’ and a new one was needed. Instead, the Department of Health and Home Affairs decided to use the local Goodna cemetery and ‘provide a motor hearse for funerals.

Another possible reason for closing the cemetery was the proposed location of the new repatriation buildings between the male area and the cemetery. After the cemetery closed, headstones and grave markers were relocated to the Goodna cemetery. Bodies were re-interred, but the number is uncertain. In June 1947, the Courier Mail reported in a critical article on the hospital that the patients were ‘to disinter 4000 bodies from the hospital cemetery and re-bury them in Goodna town cemetery’. However, a heritage plaque at Goodna cemetery notes that 192 bodies from the former Woogaroo Asylum were exhumed and relocated to two areas of the Goodna general cemetery, along with about 2,300 grave markers.

Between 1946 and 1951, as part of the site's agricultural expansion, a large dam was constructed south of the farm and irrigation plants were installed. A pumping station on the northern side of the lake supplied water from the dam to both the farm and the vegetable gardens near the male wards. The pre-existing track (later Explorers Walk) between the leading hospital site and the farm was realigned around the dam. In the late 1940s, planning began for a new farm ward complex. Farm wards at the hospital had traditionally operated as semi-independent units, in which patients enjoyed greater freedom and autonomy, unlike the central wards, where patients were locked in their cells. A new site on the summit of a hill east of the existing farm wards was chosen, and a building comprising two large wards, Farm Ward Block A (east) and B (west), with accommodation for 175 patients and a central dining/recreation block, was erected in stages between 1953 and 1957. Access was via a road completed in 1952, which partly follows a small track evident by 1946 (now called Aveyron Road). Patients included both people with intellectual disabilities and people who had responded well to treatment and had the potential for recovery and discharge. In 1958, part of the farmward complex was set aside for patients regarded as having intellectual disabilities and in 1964, a five-teacher school was established to teach the 160 children who lived there. In 1967, a new school building, providing educational and therapeutic facilities comprising classrooms, manual training, domestic science, and special-purpose rooms, grouped around a central courtyard, was completed. Gradually, this complex became occupied by children with intellectual disabilities and was renamed the Basil Stafford Centre. Villa-style patient accommodation was constructed nearby by 1978. 49 From an early period, visiting clergy conducted religious services, but the government provided no specific facilities until after the appointment of three full-time chaplains to the Brisbane Mental Hospital in 1959. To assist them in the conduct of services and in the counselling of patients, three chapels of similar design were erected in a semi-circular pattern at the eastern end of Ellerton Drive in 1961.

These were the Anglican Chapel of Christ the King [not extant], the Roman Catholic St Dymphna Chapel, in honour of the Catholic Patron Saint of people with mental illnesses [not extant], and the Council of Churches’ Chapel of Hope (later renamed the Chapel of Resurrection, adapted for use as the Forensic Administration after 1996). In 1963, Brisbane Mental Hospital was renamed Brisbane Special Hospital.

 

Psychiatric and Expanded Services (1962 - late 1970s)

The hospital population peaked in the mid-1950s, averaging approximately 2500 residents per day (excluding Wacol Repatriation Pavilion patients) and 700 staff. However, by the late 1950s, the efficacy of large-scale, all-purpose institutions for the treatment of mental illness began to be questioned. It was recognised that patients became institutionalised to the extent that living in large institutions perpetuated their mental disorders and did not assist them in recovering. The Division of Mental Hygiene within the Health Department embarked on a program of expanding acute psychiatric beds in general hospitals and transferring elderly senile patients from mental hospitals to nursing homes. This resulted in a decline in patient numbers at Goodna, and in 1960, Director Basil Stafford reported that, for the first time, the hospital had an excess of beds. The complex began to develop a different role. No longer did it cater for every type of patient from every part of the state; instead, the majority of inmates were long-term chronic patients.

The new Mental Health Act of 1962 emphasised the integration of psychiatry with other services and placed a greater emphasis on voluntary admission. The complex was known as Brisbane Special Hospital at this time; in 1969, it was renamed Wolston Park Hospital.

With the reduction in long-term patients at the hospital, the old farm ward buildings at the northern end of the site were repurposed in 1965 as a new alcohol rehabilitation centre, known as the Wacol Rehabilitation Centre. Alcoholics had been patients at Wolston Park since the Inebriates Act of 1892 allowed for their admission to designated institutions; however, there had been no specific facilities for them.

New buildings were erected adjacent to the former farm ward, including four wards, offices, and an occupational therapy area. These were a 1960s brick building [not extant]; a new Farm Ward (later called Weeroona), a two-storey brick building designed by Bligh, Jessop, Brentall and Partners, and completed in 1965, which initially served both male and female patients; and a separate complex for female patients (Melaleuca House and Poinciana House) [not extant], designed by Des Hanman & Associates and established in 1974. 

 

De-institutionalisation Era (late 1970s)

In 1976, the Minister for Health released a paper on the Care of the Intellectually Handicapped, which catalysed significant changes in the delivery of mental health services. The Intellectually Handicapped Services branch within the Health Department was established in 1977 and took responsibility for the Basil Stafford Centre. Research into the long-term effects of institutionalisation and the lack of success in the treatment and care provided in institutional settings led to critical questioning of the institutional model for people with mental illnesses and people with intellectual or physical disabilities. In addition, the increasing criticism of conditions within mental hospitals and the abuse of patients' rights gave impetus to the development of alternative models, in particular, community-based mental health services. The community care model was adopted slowly in Queensland. Institutions were reformed; however, an emphasis on institutional care remained. Short-term care with intensive treatment was the preferred model. Several major building projects, reflecting these changing ideas, were undertaken at Wolston Park during the 1970s, as were extensive remodelling of existing structures.

In 1978, the Barrett Psychiatry Unit was established to provide acute care. It comprised eight separate buildings: a reception and admission block; three wards with 32 beds; two wards with 16 beds; a cafeteria; and a medical officer's flat. In 1984, it expanded to include inpatients and specialised services for young people. A new medical centre opened in 1979, and in 1980, Nyunda Park, which included extensive bushland, Joshua Jeays’ former sandstone quarry, a dam, and tracks, was established as an outdoor recreation area.

The John Oxley Centre, a forensic psychiatric unit, was built on the western side of the site, adjacent to the Brisbane River, in 1990 [not extant].

Several 19th-century buildings were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s, with renovation and rehabilitation of other remaining 19th-century buildings occurring in the late 1990s. At the time, the Wolston Park Hospital Complex was entered into the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. Queensland Health owned the entire site, along with Gailes Golf Course and Wolston Park Golf Course (established c1975), both of which were leased. Afterwards, the Basil Stafford Training Centre was transferred to the Department of Community Services. In contrast, the northern sector of the site was transferred to the Department of Corrective Services, with maximum-security facilities, the Wolston Correctional Centre and Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre opening on this land in 1999.57 The Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, opened to the south of the Basil Stafford Training Centre in 2001.58 In 2020, a new youth detention centre (West Moreton Youth Detention Centre) is under construction beside (northeast of) the existing youth detention centre.59 As part of the 1996 Ten-Year Mental Health Plan for Queensland, Wolston Park Hospital was formally closed in 2001.

The main hospital became known as The Park - Centre for Mental Health and decentralised its extended care services, placing greater emphasis on rehabilitation and recovery. The Park provided clinical treatment and rehabilitation programs to patients from central and southern Queensland, including care for people with a chronic mental disorder and for people with a mental disorder who also had an intellectual disability; forensic care services; and an extended treatment service for adolescents. New buildings were added, and some of its historical buildings were renovated. Most of the new buildings were of domestic scale and character and included accommodation for patients, as well as medical and administrative facilities. Some buildings were replaced in the 1970s, such as parts of the Barrett Psychiatric Centre. In December 2007, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) acquired a large portion of the former Wolston Park Hospital site, which included more than 30 buildings and other infrastructure, for the site of a new Police Academy and other police functions, including a Centre for Forensic Investigation, specialist operational facilities, and a warehousing and archiving facility. A master plan for the proposed development of the site was created in 2008. In 2009, an additional 41ha, including the early farm site, was acquired by QPS for use as the driver training facility under a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Corrective Services. Since 2011, QPS has undertaken site infrastructure and landscaping changes to roads and paths, services, open space, and car parks; conserved and adapted six existing buildings for new uses; and added new buildings to the site. In 2020, a 37.75-ha parcel of land on the eastern edge of the site remains undeveloped.63 This was part of a 591-acre (239ha) Reserve for a Cemetery at Woogaroo (R591) gazetted in 1878 but never used for that purpose. The cemetery reserve was altered in 1889, cancelled in 1946, and its land (483 acres/195ha) was added to the then Brisbane Special Hospital Reserve (R593).65 From c1960 until the late 1970s, there was quarrying on the site, northeast of the Basil Stafford Training Centre, accessed primarily from Grindle Road. Gravel extraction from pits on the site, for use in landscaping at the Wolston Park Hospital Complex, also occurred. A strong association between the Queensland community and Wolston Park Hospital Complex has existed for a long time. Throughout much of the institution’s history, it served as a place that provided the community, families and friends of patients with hope for the care and treatment of people with mental illnesses. Individuals, Brisbane and Ipswich businesses, and community groups, such as the Country Women’s Association, Returned Sailors’ Soldiers’ & Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia, Red Cross, Women’s Auxiliary of the Queensland Ex-Prisoners of War Association, and the United Protestant Association provided support to patients through entertainments, gifts, donations, outings, and assistance with sports events. By the mid-1950s, Wolston Park Hospital Complex had become the largest mental hospital in Australia with about 2,500 daily average residents and a staff of almost 800.69. One history of the institution stated it: ‘was a self-contained community with a close symbiotic relationship to the adjoining township (later, suburb) of Goodna, where most of the staff lived. For many locals, the hospital was the place of employment for generations of the same family.’ Its workforce included health-care workers and a large team of carpenters, plumbers, blacksmiths, engineers and other tradesmen [who] kept the place running, including the generation of electricity from a…powerhouse. During its long history, more than 50,000 people from throughout Queensland were admitted to the Wolston Park Hospital Complex. This led to strong associations with the place, not necessarily positive. Being sent there had lasting impacts on many patients. For those admitted between 1865 and the 1950s, their experience while incarcerated was often one of overcrowding, insufficient staffing, and unpaid work. Later, when the institution’s efforts turned to proactively treating mental illness and returning patients to the community, patients underwent experimental drug or electroconvulsive therapy. Physical and mental abuse of patients by some staff members was always a possibility, as was sexual abuse. With the transition to primarily community-based services, and the establishment of a patients’ advocate (Patients’ Friend from 1977, changing to Health Ombudsman from 2013) and the Association of Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill (ARAFMI Queensland branch formed in 1977), the experiences of patients with mental illness or intellectual disabilities changed. In 2020, mental health and disability support functions remain on the site, serving patients from the Queensland-wide community (The Park-Mental Health Centre, Basil Stafford Disability Services) other community links to the site continue, through participation in sporting clubs such as Gailes Golf Club, Wolston Park Golf Club, and the Wolston Park Centenary Cricket Club, which utilise former hospital recreation facilities. Beginning in 1995, Project 300 was a Queensland Government initiative that aimed to prepare and discharge some 300 patients from Queensland mental health hospitals to community-based accommodation. Given that Wolston Park Hospital was the largest mental health hospital in Queensland at the time, Project 300 had a significant impact on its operations and purpose in the mid- to late 1990s. ​​​​