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Site Profile Operational Names: Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum 1865 - 1880 Goodna Asylum for the Insane 1880 - 1898 Goodna Hospital for the Insane 1898 - 1940 Brisbane Mental Hospital 1940 - 1963 Brisbane Special Hospital 1963 - 1969 Wolston Park Hospital 1969 - 2001 The Park - Centre for Mental Health Treatment, Research and Education - The Park- Centre for Mental Health 2001 - current Operating Under Government Departments: Colonial Secretary's Office 10/01/1865 to 06/08/1896 Home Secretary's Office 06/08/1896 to 05/12/1935 Health and Home Affairs Department 05/12/1935 to 26/09/1963 Department of Health 26/09/1963 to 03/04/2012 West Moreton Hospital and Health Service 01/07/2012 - Current Heritage Classification: State Heritage Register status: Entered Date entered: 21 October 1992 Archaeological: Archaeological potential Artefact scatter Burial ground: Cemetery - Private Education, Research, Scientific Facility: School - Special Farming - Agriculture/Dairying/Grazing/Horticulture: Accommodation - Barracks, huts Farm - Dairy Farm Piggery Health and Care Services: Benevolent Institution - inebriate home. Benevolent institution home - physically/intellectually disabled Office/Office Building/Administration Centre Benevolent institution/home Hospital - psychiatric/mental institute/asylum Hospital - repatriation/veteran’s Mortuary/morgue Recreation and Entertainment: Golf course Swimming pool/Baths - in-ground Cricket ground Religion/worship: Chapel Residential: Villa Retail, Wholesale, Services: Laundry Utilities - Gas and Electricity supply: Electricity Power Station - coal/gas/oil Utilities - drainage, sewerage, waste disposal: Rubbish dump Utilities - water supply: Dam/reservoir Pumping station Themes: Peopling places: Family and marking the phases of life Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Pastoral activities Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Agricultural activities Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Managing water Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Valuing and appreciating the environmental landscapes Working: Unpaid labour Building settlements, towns, cities and dwellings: Developing urban services and amenities Maintaining order: Policing and maintaining law and order Creating social and cultural institutions: Worshipping and religious institutions Creating social and cultural institutions: Sport and recreation Educating Queenslanders: Providing primary schooling Providing health and welfare services: Providing health services Providing health and welfare services: Caring for women and children Providing health and welfare services: Caring for the aged and infirm Architects: Queensland Department of Public Works Tiffin, Charles Designer: Cannan, Kersey Construction periods: Former Simpson Residence Site (1843-44), 1843 - 1865, Early Asylum Site (1865) 1860, Former Sandstone Quarry and Track (1860s) 1866 - 1951, Female Wards 1 & 2 (1866 additions and modifications added in 1868, 1870, 1875, 1905, 1906, 1923, 1937, and 1951) 1866 - 1978, Wolston Park Hospital Complex (1866 - 1978) 1870 - 1950, Early Road Network (1870s - 1950s) 1885 - 1924, Bostock House (1885, extended 1901, c1924) 1890 - 1958, Residence (1890s - 1910s, relocated c1958, c2000) 1890 - 1972, Recreation Hall (1890, extended c1914, remodelled c1972) 1895 - 1910, Male Recreation Grounds (by 1895) and Cricket Pavilion (1910) 1895 -1912, Former Cemetery Site (1895 - 1912) 1898 - 1917, Fleming House (1898, extended c1917) 1898, Medical Superintendent’s Residence and Garden (1898) 1902 - 1949, Morgue (1902, extended 1949) 1902 - 1955, Female Bathroom Block (1902) 1902, Male Bathroom Block (1902) 1912 - 1920, Visitors Garden (c1912) and Visitors Pavilion (1920) 1912, Assistant Medical Superintendent’s Residence and Garden (1912) 1913 - 1945, Former Cemetery Site (c1913 - 1945) 1914, Reservoir and Pump Houses (1914) 1915, Lewis House, McDonnell House, and Noble House (all 1915) 1916 - 1919, Piggery Remnants (1916 - 19) 1916, Early Farm Ward Kitchen and Dairy (1916) 1917, Powerhouse (1917) 1917, Anderson House (1917) 1917, Administration Building (1917) 1917, Hospital (1917) 1918, Laundry (1918) 1918, Farm Overseer’s House (1918, relocated within complex area c2009 - 13) 1920 - 1925, Gailes Golf Club Course (1925) 1934, Osler House (1928), Pearce House (1934) 1936, Gladstone House, Jenner House, and Kelsey House (all 1936) 1944, Shelter Shed for Female Patients (by 1944) 1944, Garage (by 1944) 1944, Dawson House (1944) 1948, Repatriation Kitchen Block (1948) 1948, Repatriation Wards A, B, and C (all 1948) 1950 - 1956, Dam (1950) and Pump House (by 1956) 1951 - 1955, Female Recreation Grounds (1951-5) 1951, Cafeteria (c1951) 1951, Change Room and Stores Shed (c1951) 1951, Packing Shed and Patients Shelter (c1951) 1954 - 1955, Repatriation Recreation Grounds (c1954 - 5) 1954, Farm Ward Building and Grounds (1954-6, Basil Stafford Centre) 1961, Repatriation Occupational Therapy and Recreation Hall (c1961) 1961, Chapel (1961) 1964, Later Farm Ward for Male Patients (c1964, later called Weeroona) 1967- 1973, School Building for Child Patients with Intellectual Disabilities (1967), Swimming Pool (c1973) 1978, Villas (c1978) Historical period: 1840s - 1860s Mid 19th century 1870s - 1890s Late 19th century 1900 - 1914 Early 20th century 1914 - 1919 World War I 1919 - 1930s Interwar period 1939 - 1945 World War II 1940s - 1960s post-WWII 1970s - 1990s Late 20th century Style: Arts & Crafts Classicism Persons In Charge: Kersey Cannan - 1860 - 1869 Henry Challinor - 1869 - 1872 John Jaap - 1872 - 1877 Patrick Smith - 1877 - 1881 Richard Scholes - 1881 - 1894, 1896 - 1898 James Hogg - 1898 - 1908 Henry Byam Ellerton -1909 - 1937 Basil Stafford - 1937 - 1950 J.E.F. McDonald - 1943 - 1944 Clive Boyce - 1950 - 1965 Orme Orford - 1965 - 1976 Harry (Don) Eastwell - 1976 - 1978 Victor Matchett - 1976 (Acting) , 1978 (Acting) , 1981 -1982 James Wood - 1982 -83 (Acting) , 1983 - 1990 Policy/legislation: Mental Hygiene Act 1938 (Qld) Residency and treatment were influenced by the Mental Hygiene Act 1938 (Qld), which aimed to medicalise mental illness and required active treatment for people with a mental illness. Despite this, the Mental Hygiene Act 1938 (Qld) maintained the custodial and institutional model of nineteenth-century asylums, with broad powers for involuntary detention and no legislated patient rights to be informed of or participate in their treatment plans, or to advocate for their own review or discharge. The Mental Health Act 1962 (Qld) The Mental Health Act 1962 (Qld) saw the commencement of government directions to shift psychiatric services into general hospitals, aiming to focus treatment outcomes on rehabilitation and limit the need for admissions in an isolated asylum setting. Mental Health Act 1974 (Qld) The Mental Health Act 1974 (Qld) shifted language describing people with a mental illness from ‘inmate’ to ‘patient’. A subsequent amendment in 1983 saw the establishment of the Mental Health Tribunal to assess fitness for trial or detainment under involuntary orders. Although the Mental Health Act 1974 (Qld) aimed to modernise terminology and practice, it did not yet provide a statutory definition of mental illness (that was introduced later in the Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld) following the closure of Wolston Park Hospital), or fully provision institutions and treating teams to value patient consent in decision making about their own treatment and/or confinement. Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld) The purpose of this Act is to provide for the involuntary assessment and treatment, and the protection, of persons (whether adults or minors) who have mental illnesses, while at the same time safeguarding their rights and freedoms and balancing their rights and freedoms with the rights and freedoms of other persons Treatments and Medications: Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment that rapidly relieves symptoms of severe psychiatric disorders. ECT involves the delivery of a small, pulsed electrical current to the brain sufficient to induce a seizure for therapeutic purposes. ECT is performed whilst the person undergoing treatment is under general anaesthesia. Insulin Coma Therapy Insulin coma therapy, or insulin shock therapy, is a historical (circa 1930s-1950s) psychiatric treatment used to treat severe mental illness by delivering large doses of insulin to patients to induce a coma. The practice was phased out of mental health treatment plans following the introduction of antipsychotic medications beginning in the 1950s. PRN PRN, or pro ne nata (Latin for ‘in the circumstances’), medications are medications that are administered to manage symptoms as determined by an individual’s assessment of a situation, as opposed to a prescribed schedule. This does not typically mean that a medication is administered to exceed a prescribed daily amount, but rather that it is to be administered only if needed. The administration of PRN medications is required to be monitored, recorded and reviewed by the treating team to ensure that it remains appropriate. Psychotropic medications Multiple psychotropic medications are referenced by either generic or trade names throughout this report. They include the following, with generic medication name first, with the trade names in brackets and capitals: • haloperidol, • chlorpromazine (Largactil or Thorazine), • paraldehyde, • promazine. Psychotropic medications such as these medications have been used in the treatment of mental illnesses. Promazine and paraldehyde have not been used routinely since the 1970s. Since the advent of newer antipsychotic medications in the late 1990s, the use of chlorpromazine and haloperidol has become less common. They are now used only rarely and in particular situations, including when medications with a lower side-effect burden are not effective. Restraint Restraint refers to practices used as an intervention considered justifiable to protect the safety of patients and/or staff. It may refer to: • physical restraints (e.g. limitations of movement such as holding a patient by the body), • mechanical restraints (e.g. limitations of mobility such as restraining a patient to a bed or chair), • chemical restraints (e.g. the use of PRN psychotropic medications. Note that the use of medications within historical and current mental health services is considered as treatment within an acute scenario as opposed to a mechanism of restraint, or • environmental restraints (e.g. locked wards, isolation rooms or restrictions of movement between areas). Seclusion Seclusion refers to the practice of isolating a patient in a room or area that they cannot leave. It is intended to be used in extreme circumstances only as a measure to prevent serious harm to the patient or others. Click to view Click to view Click to view Opening Up & Closing Down: Notes on the End of an Asylum Wolston Park Hospital, 1865 - 2001: A Retrospect Courtesy of the Queensland State Archives, here we see the paperwork advising of the change from Brisbane Special Hospital to Wolston Park Hospital in 1968. Transfer of Responsibility - Security Patients Hospital, Wacol, from the Prisons Department to the Health Department in 1985 Site Buildings * denotes the oldest remaining building since the asylum's opening Female Division • Female Ward 1 & 2 (Preserved) * • Original Female Ward 1 & 2 (Demolished) • Female Refractory Cells (Demolished) • Female Ward 3 & 5, Female Ward 3, Cameron House (Demolished), named after the former Commonwealth Minister for Health, The Honourable Donald Alistair Cameron OBE • Female Ward 4 Dawson House (Preserved) • Female Ward 6 Bostock House (Preserved)* • Female Ward 7 Anderson House (Preserved) • Female Ward 8(Demolished) • Female Ward 9 (Unknown) • Female Ward 10 (Unknown) • Female Ward 11, Lewis House (Preserved) • Matron Quarters (Demolished) • Nurses Quarters (Demolished) • Female Toilets, Sewing Rooms (Preserved) Male Division • Male Ward 2 (Unknown) • Male Ward 2 Visitors Pavilion (Demolished) • Male Ward 2 Recreation Shelter (Demolished) • Male Ward 2 Visitation Shelter (Demolished) • New Male Ward 2 (Unknown) • Male Ward 3 (Unknown) • Male Ward 4 (Demolished) • Male Ward 5 Fleming House (Preserved)* • Male Ward 6, 7, 8 Gladstone, Jenner, Kelsey House (Preserved) • Male Ward 11 McDonnell House (Preserved) •Male Ward 12 & 13 Noble House (Preserved) • Male Ward 9 & 10 Lewis House (Preserved) • New Male Ward 14, Osler House (Preserved) • New Male Ward 15 Pearce House (Preserved) • Male Ward E (Unknown) Other Wards, Buildings • Farm Ward, Basil Stafford (Preserved) • Farm Block, Basil Stafford (Preserved) • Morgue (Preserved) • Powerhouse (Preserved) • Administration (Preserved) • Recreation Hall (Preserved)* • Laundry (Preserved) • Workshop (Preserved) • Water Reservoirs and Pumping Stations (Preserved) • John Oxley Centre (Demolished) • John Oxley Memorial Hospital (Demolished) • Cemetery Sites 1,2,3 • Riverside Ballroom, Wolston Park Golf Club (Preserved) •Croquet Green (Shelter Preserved) • Soccer Field (Demolished) • Cricket Field, Eddie Gilbert Memorial Field (Preserved) • Staff Residence 10 (Preserved) • Assistant Medical Superintendents' Residence (Preserved) • Medical Superintendents' Residence (Preserved)* • Chapels (Only 1 of 3 Preserved) Chapel - The Resurrection, Chapel - St Dympna, Chapel - Christ the King Residence A, B, E, F, H, J, K Doctors Flat Barrett Block A, B, E, F, G PABX -Speech Therapists Barrett Adolescent School Barrett Adolescent Accommodation Bowling Green & Club House (Demolished) Artisans (Demolished) John Oxley Memorial Hosptial when abandoned Click to view John Oxley Memorial Hosptial following demolished Click to view Cameron House Female Ward 3 & 5 Click to view Cameron House Female Ward 3 & 5 Click to view Female Division before and current Click to view Male Ward no 6 taken in 1911 Click to view Male Wards 4,6,7,8 in 1936 Click to view Ellerton House 1970 Click to view Ellerton House 2001 Click to view 1990s aerial image Click to view 29 January 1974 Click to view 29 January 1974 Click to view 29 January 1974 Click to view 29 January 1974 Click to view Prior to upgrades in 2000s Click to view

Shane Barnes MAIES I tribute this site to my daughter Angel May Barnes 21/05/2019 For nearly 28 years, I have lived across from Woogaroo Creek, near the site of the original Asylum. My interest in history dates back to my senior primary school days at Camp Hill and continued at Redbank Plains and Bundamba high schools, where I developed an interest in politics and local history/geography. I have always enjoyed learning about history, collecting and purchasing historical items, and donating them to museum collections. As a young kid in the late '90s, the stories of Wolston were the stuff of legends, with old women always referring to it as the haunted house. I remember North Dam being fully fenced and jumping over the fence to retrieve golf balls, which I would clean and sell for a dollar to buy soft drinks from the Royal Mail Hotel. I recall the staff sitting outside McDonnell House having a cigarette, the patients helping to the Wolston Park Golf Club's outdoor dining area when it was located in the complex, and exploring the empty chapels. After so years of forgetting about this complex, 2019 was very difficult for me, and always needed a quiet place to reflect. Over the years, I enjoyed seeing the buildings and the odd, fascinating pieces of history. My friend Nathan and I began the Facebook group "There Was Once an Asylum," and our search was on to find everything related to the complex historically. The years of studying this complex its surroundings have been a fascinating journey of learning, but in recent years, about the patients of the complex has been the most personally. I want to thank those who support the group and, at times, have stepped up to protect it, as understand it has significant history not only for Queensland but also on a human level. With the recent review called by the Queensland Government, I hope this will be the final review regarding this complex, which has been scrutinized since its first inquiry in 1867. I was recently asked what I would like to see. I have a few projects in mind: - A Memorial Garden located between the original and current sites. - FREE history walking tours on the original site, showcasing the older buildings on the site from a safe, legal distance. - Each cemetery site should have a form of identification and honor, as remains may still be present. Apart from studying this site in my spare time I am doing a fair bit of work out of Goodna. I am the founder of the emergency radio communications group SEQUEST South East Queensland UHF Emergency Service Team. In 2016, I was awarded the City of Ipswich Medallion in recognition of my valuable contributions to the Ipswich community. In 2019, I received the Queensland Emergency Service Volunteer Pin from the Queensland Government and assisted with its design on the Emergency Volunteer Advisory Forum. I also received a Certificate of Appreciation for five years of loyal and valued service to the community through Marine Rescue Brisbane as a radio and rescue crew member. I am a former QLD/NT Division committee member and a member of the Australasian Institute of Emergency Services (AIES) the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association (ARCIA), currently serving on the Eastern Suburbs Rugby League Past Players and Officials Association as assistant secretary. Whilst in pain focusing on this place eased my pain Nathan Bonnell Contact Us

Opened as the Woogaroo Asylum on 10 January 1865. On 12 January, seven prison warders (two women) and ten police constables escorted 57 male and 12 female inmates from Brisbane Gaol to Woogaroo, travelling by river. History Aslyum Mental Health Established in 1865 , the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum was Queensland's first public health institution, located on banks of the Brisbane River near Goodna on Tuesday, January 10, 1865. A Border Police Station was previously located on the site, serving as a vital outpost for protecting the interests of the growing community. Over the years, the surrounding landscape became home to many of the State's major institutional facilities, including prisons, an army barracks, and a migration hostel.On Tuesday, January 10, 1865, under the supervision of warder John, seven prison warders (two of whom were women) along with ten police constables escorted 57 male and 12 female patients. The female patients were under the charge of the two female warders and were moved from the Brisbane Gaol to the newly built asylum at Woogaroo. Since 1859, Queensland patients had no longer been sent to Sydney; they were instead lodged at the Brisbane Gaol. When the asylum was ready, patients were loaded intoabs and taken down to the Brisbane River, where they boarded a steamer named "Settler." They were conveyed down the Brisbane River to the landing point just before Woogaroo Creek. Embarkation was successfully managed, with 57 males and 12 females safely lodged in their new quarters. Patients were accommodated in a two-storey brick building, initially intended as the administration block. Male patients were housed on the first floor and part of the ground floor, while female patients occupied the remainder 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. Indigenous people were among the earliest inhabitants of the asylum, but not in significant numbers. Instead, the institution was rapidly populated from its earliest days by immigrant settlers, who made up the majority of the colony’s growing population. At least 45 of the 57 males first brought to the new asylum were still there two years later, when an inquiry was held. Immigrants had come from many countries, contributing to the colonial population, particularly from Ireland, England, Germany, Scotland, and China. The first buildings consisted of a male division, erected near the creek, and a female, located further up the hill. The superintendent's quarters stood between them. Due to recurring floods, additional buildings were erected further up the hill, where the current complex is located today. Over the years, the complex has also comprised several public health institutions, several of which have now been decommissioned. Throughout its history, it has housed a diverse cohort of patients, including those with psychiatric illnesses, intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injuries, psychogeriatric conditions, neurological disorders, and substance use disorders. The site of the original asylum today serves as the Wolston Park golf club and course. The asylum has long been a dominant institution in the region and has recently undergone significant changes. Over the years, sections and services have been closed, and buildings have been handed over to other government departments and service organizations. FOR YOUR SAFETY If you intend to visit for a look, for your safety and others, please DO NOT go past the black fence or signs posted around the boundary of the hospital. May the younger generation not only learn about its sad past but also the importance it plays in Queensland's History, dating back to the 1800s “The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.” Always Remembered 1865 ~ 2025

Research Guide to Finding Asylum Information Before separation from New South Wales in 1859, there were no facilities for psychiatric treatment in the Moreton Bay region. Persons with mental health issues, or mentally disturbed persons, were sent to Brisbane Gaol or possibly to an asylum in Sydney. Many of the mental asylum records at Queensland State Archives were created by the Public Trustee (formerly the Public Curator) and Queensland Health (and related agencies). Some records are subject to restricted access periods. Further access information is provided below. The records can be found in ArchivesSearch (the Queensland State Archives’ catalogue). For those who have had family members pass away at the Goodna Asylum and been buried at one of the three asylum cemeteries that operated in the following years. Cemetery Site 1 (1865 - 1894) Cemetery Site 2 (1895 - 1912) Cemetery Site 3 (c1913-1945) Learn more here on our cemetery site page Records from the Public Trustee History The name of the Public Curator of Queensland changed to The Public Trustee of Queensland on 1 January 1979. It is responsible for the administration of deceased estates and trusts as well as other legal, financial and property services. Access to Public Trustee records, which are subject to a 75-year restricted access period, is granted at the discretion of the Public Trustee. Queensland State Archives has a process for applying for access to these records. Please get in touch with Queensland State Archives for details. Protective Management Files Circa1/1/1865–31/12/1995 Series ID S334 Access: 75 years This series consists of mental health patients' estate files for the Queensland institutions, including Goodna/Wolston Park (formerly Woogaroo), Sandy Gallop (Ipswich), and Willowburn (Toowoomba). Originally titled ‘insanity files’, the files may include forms, correspondence, personal details, date/s of admission and discharge, or dates of death, inter-departmental correspondence about financial, court and police matters, financial accounts such as statements of assets and liabilities, and property details. Search ArchivesSearch for the name of the patient; most protective management files are listed by the name of the patient. Not all protective management files were transferred to Queensland State Archives. If the name is not found in ArchivesSearch, you can search the open indexes to Protective Management files, Series ID S19469; you will need to apply for access permission to view closed indexes. Indexes to Protective Management Files 10/1/1865–2/6/1982 Series ID S19469 Access: 75 years . This series contains alphabetical and numerical indexes to Protective Management Files, where the Public Trustee and previously the Public Curator and the Curator in Intestacy and Insanity managed the financial affairs of a person (adult or minor) with decision-making disability. Details recorded include name, date of admission, year and file number, including any changes to a file number. Indexes were previously known as Insanity Registers, Indexes to Mental Hygiene Files and Indexes to Mental Health Files. Note that the indexes may contain language that is now considered offensive and may cause distress. Other Public Trustee records Insanity – Register of Securities 4/3/1903–6/6/1917 Series ID S7638 Access: Open This register includes the name of the estate; securities held by the curator other than jewellery, certificates of title, or deeds of grant. Insanity and Charitable Institutions – Register of Inmates Estates 20/3/1919–29/11/1922 Series ID S7639 Access: Open This register includes the name of patient, date of admission, value of property, date of death or discharge. Institutions referred to are as follows: Diamantina, Dunwich Epileptic Home, Westwood Sanatorium and Jubilee Sanatorium. Jubilee Sanatorium Register 18/1/1904–31/12/1916 Series ID S9607 Access: Open This register lists the name of the patient, date of admission, number, date of discharge and remarks. Protective Management Files (Public Trust Office, Redcliffe) Circa 1/1/1982–Circa 31/12/1997 Series ID S19467 Access: 75 years Records from Queensland Health Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum opened in 1865 with 69 patients. The hospital name changes included Woogaroo Asylum, Hospital for the Insane Goodna, Goodna Mental Hospital, Wolston Park Hospital, and Park Centre for Mental Health Treatment, Research and Education. Case Books 5/11/1860–25/1/1951 Series ID S9051 Access: 100 years. To find case books, search the index to case books, Series ID S18202 Index to Case Books – Male and Female Circa 1/1/1909–Circa 31/12/1941 Series ID S18202 Access: 100 years. This index is used to find case books for patients in Series ID S9051 Registers of Patients and Admission Books 23/3/1861–18/3/1994 Series ID S19140 Access: 100 years Registers record patients at Wolston Park/Ipswich Special Hospital / Challinor Centre Ipswich, including admission date, name, sex, marital status, occupation, residence, religion, diagnosis, and date of discharge. Ward Book 1/1/1923–31/12/1923 Series ID S9063 Access: 100 years This volume comprises reports by the Charge Nurse on the first, second and night shifts in Female Ward 7 for the period 1 Jan 1923–31 Dec 1923. Access to Queensland Health records, Wolston Park - Goodna (Park Centre for Mental Health Treatment, Research and Education) records are subject to a 100-year restricted access period. Queensland Health requires all applications for access to restricted records to be under the Right to Information (RTI) legislation. Access is granted at the discretion of Queensland Health. You can apply online, or download the application form and send it to is available from the Queensland Health. Privacy and Right to Information Unit Queensland Health GPO Box 48 BRISBANE QLD 4001 Ph: (07) 3234 1735 Email: RTI-Privacy@health.qld.gov.au An application fee is applicable. The summary of fees is at http://www.rti.qld.gov.au/fees-andcharges Other mental asylum records Insolvency, Intestacy and Insanity Office, Brisbane, Insanity Register of Patients 8/7/1899–13/8/1904 Series ID S7637 Access: Open This register records the following: date of admission, name of patient, age on admission, names and addresses of relatives, property, date of discharge and death, and remarks. Supreme Court, Southern District, Brisbane Insanity Files Circa 1/1/1885–Circa 31/12/1901 Series ID S15553 Access: Open Files may include a report from the Curator about the status of the patient, the estate, and judgment. Reception House for the Insane, Townsville Admission Register and Statistics Circa 1/1/1886–Circa 31/12/1891 Series ID S10349 Access: Open The register may include name, date of admission, age, social condition, number of children, occupation, nativity, residence, religion, mental disorder, and date of discharge. Court of Petty Sessions, Barcaldine Accounts of Estates in Intestacy and Insanity 6/4/1887–29/12/1911 Series ID S8795 Access: Open This is a ledger of accounts in intestacy and insanity. Details of the deceased person's property, proceeds from auction sales and disposal of the estate are recorded. Other information: helpful sites Archives Search Asylum Mental Patients Admission Register Wolston Park Hospital Case Book E (Male and Female Admissions) from 08-May-1875 – 09-May-1920. Ward Book 1922/23 Part 1 of 3 Ward Book 1922/23 Part 2 of 3 Ward Book 1922/23 Part 3 of 3 State Archives general notes from the year 1879 Misc Files | Goodna Asylum Trove Research Find a Grave Best resource ever, Ancestry .com

The Administration Building Built-in 1917 The original administration block was a small, unpretentious timber building erected in 1894 and situated in a less-than-prominent position The new Administration block was built as a two-storey brick building with a tiled roof. It was completed in 1917 as part of the major building program during the 1910s under the direction of HB Ellerton. Ellerton first suggested a new administration building as early as 1910, but no action was taken. He again requested a new block in 1914, and approval was granted on this occasion. Choosing an appropriate location for a building that was intended to be the centrepiece of the institution was not an easy task. Eventually, a decision was made to demolish male ward no 8 for the new block. Plans were prepared by William Ewart in the Department of Works, construction commenced in 1916, and the building was completed in the following year. The ground floor comprised offices for the medical officers, matron, head attendant and clerk; a hall, porters' room, library, pathological and photographic room, dispensary, strong room, surgery and visiting rooms. Toilets opened off the entrance porches constructed at both ends of the ground floor. The upper storey contained a flat in the central portion, with a sitting room, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a store. The building was built of brick and with a Marseilles tiled roof. The exterior featured exposed brickwork to sill height and roughcast above with a light ochre finish. The main entrance featured a port cochere, and the roof was capped with a decorative fleche. The building was officially opened by Governor Goold-Adams on 6 October 1917, together with the new kitchen. Superintendent Ellerton believed that the new building was made more dignified and imposing by the portico at the main entrance in 1911. Following the construction of the administration block and hospital in the 1910s, the area in front of the buildings was landscaped with formal gardens and a driveway. The area opposite was also landscaped with paths and a lawn where patients met visitors. Terraces were built by the inmates between the Administration building and the new hospital, and five sets of concrete steps were built from the lawn to the hospital and to male wards 1and 5. When a dentist was added to the staff in 1928, an upstairs room was divided into two rooms, one for pathological work and the other for dental surgery. In 1957, the rear verandah was enclosed. In 2025, a considerable collection of hospital complex-related paraphernalia is housed in cabinets in the medical superintendent’s office on the ground floor. Chronology : 1917: building construction was completed 1957: rear verandah enclosed with louvres 1915 Layout Plan Click to view 1938 Photograph of Administration Building & Laundry Building Click to view Front Entrance 1949 Click to view Rear Entrance 1949 Click to view Administration Building Unknown Year Click to view Air Raid Siren Click to view Rear Entrance Click to view Gardens Click to view Front Entrance Click to view Rear Entrance Click to view War memorial honour board which hung in Gunni House former Hospital Ward Click to view Inside Staircase Click to view Inside Office Click to view Rear Entrance Click to view Front Side Stairs Click to view Front Verandah Click to view Front Verandah Click to view Rear stairs with original sandstone guttering Click to view Inside Archway Click to view Rear Verandah Click to view Front Entrance Click to view Front Entrance Click to view Front Stairs Click to view Front Click to view Front looking towards the Laundry Click to view

Statement of Significance Criterion A: The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history. Wolston Park Hospital Complex (established in 1865 as Woogaroo Asylum) is important in demonstrating the evolution of mental health care and welfare in Queensland. It is an early and distinctive example of a substantial public mental health institution. Wolston Park Hospital Complex demonstrates the primary role of the state in the care of people with mental illness since the 1860s. Founded by the Queensland government as the first publicly funded mental health institution in the colony, by the 1950s, it had become the largest institution providing care and treatment for people with mental illness in Queensland. The site is also important in demonstrating the development of specialist mental health services for returned service personnel and people with intellectual disabilities, including children. Wolston Park Hospital Complex retains a range of buildings dating from the 1860s, which through their design, relationships with each other and their setting, including designed landscapes, gardens and bushland, demonstrate the changing practices in the treatment of mental illness: from confinement and separation in the 19th century (Asylum); to activities and an environment conducive to mental health/recovery from 1909 to the 1930s (Moral Treatment or Therapy); to active treatment and cure through drug and medical therapies from the 1940s (Mental Hygiene 1940s-50s and Psychiatric Services 1960s-70s); to deinstitutionalization and community-based services by the 1980s. The site's physical evolution also demonstrates these changes in practice, as the complex developed incrementally across its large reserve. Grounds landscaping and patient gardening during the moral treatment era served as a form of therapy, providing meaningful work that created a pleasant environment and recreational facilities. Farming was also used as a therapy during the moral treatment era and from the 1950s for those with intellectual disabilities. The institution’s philosophy of self-sufficiency is illustrated by the riverside quarry (1860s) and associated buildings, structures, and landscaping featuring its sandstone; the Farm Wards, which provided food supplies; and the Female Wards 1 and 2, constructed using bricks made on-site and timber felled nearby. Criterion b: The place demonstrates rare, uncommon, or endangered aspects of Queensland’s cultural heritage, as one of only three mental health institutions established in Queensland in the 19th century, and the only one that illustrates, through its fabric and layout, the evolution of mental health services from the 1860s onwards. Wolston Park Hospital Complex is rare and distinctive. Criterion B: The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland’s cultural heritage. As one of only three mental health institutions established in Queensland in the 19th century, and the only one that illustrates through its fabric and layout the evolution of mental health services from the 1860s onwards, the complex is rare and distinctive. Criterion C: The place has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland’s history. The Wolston Park Hospital Complex has the potential to contribute knowledge that will lead to a greater understanding of early and evolved mental health treatment practices and conditions, the associated activities and infrastructure, the people who lived and worked there, and broader 19th and early-20th-century social attitudes towards mental health patients in Queensland. Detailed analysis of the hospital buildings – their planning, design and fabric, along with associated objects and documentary evidence – has the potential to contribute to a greater understanding of the historical functions, operational activities, and conditions experienced by patients subject to a controlled environment. Archaeological investigations at and around the three former cemetery sites may clarify the presence, nature and extent of burials, which, along with the identification and analysis of associated artefacts and features, have the potential to yield information about the treatment of deceased patients and burial practices at the hospital; spatial distribution and arrangement of graves; and the extent and methods of reinterments. Archaeological investigations of the early asylum area – its wards, hospital, doctors' residence and cottage sites, and associated jetty and bridge sites – have the potential to reveal sub-surface artefacts and features that might inform on the layout and operational activities, the living conditions of occupants, and transportation infrastructure associated with the complex. Previously the site of the 1840s Simpson residence, this area also has the potential to yield information about the site's mid-19th-century occupation. The medium- and high-density artefact scatters in the riverbank bushland area, including glass, ceramic, and metal kitchenware and tableware, have the potential to contribute to our understanding of the occupants, their material culture, and the day-to-day activities of hospital life. Criterion D: The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. Highly intact, Wolston Park Hospital Complex is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial public mental health institution in Queensland developed from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. Principal characteristics include an expansive, isolated, and highly secure site; groups of hospital buildings arranged by function, with segregation of male and female patients; on-site services and infrastructure to support self-contained operation; patient cemeteries; and landscape features and functions designed for patient therapy. Wolston Park Hospital Complex is the earliest and most extensive example of its type in Queensland. The complex’s buildings, structures, and landscapes are important in demonstrating this type of place, including: Early road network Ellerton Drive (1870s, 1913-6); Boyce Road (by 1896); Hogg Lane (by 1896); Wolston Park Road, southern section (by 1896); Barrett Drive (by 1896-1948); Farm Roads (1899-1950s) Central Administration, Services, & Staff Residences Area Visitors Garden (c1912) and Visitors Pavilion (1920); Administration Building (1917); Hospital (1917); Chapel (1961); Medical Superintendent's Residence and Garden (1898); Assistant Medical Superintendent’s Residence and Garden (1912); Reservoir and Pump Houses (1914); Recreation Hall (1890-c1972); Laundry (1918); Powerhouse (1917); Morgue (1902-49). Female Patients Area Female Wards 1 & 2 (1866-1951); Shelter Shed for Female Patients (by 1944); Anderson House (1917); Staff Residence (1890s-1910s); Bostock House (1885-c1924); Dawson House (1944); Female Bathroom Block (1902) Female Patients Recreation Area & Early Asylum Site Recreation Grounds (1951-5); Cafeteria (c1951); Change Room and Stores Shed (c1951); Packing Shed and Patients Shelter (c1951); Early Asylum Site (1865), including Cemetery. Male Patients Area Recreation Grounds (by 1895); Fleming House (by 1896, c1917); Gladstone House, Jenner House, and Kelsey House (all 1936); Male Bathroom Block (1902); Lewis House, McDonnell House, and Noble House (all 1915); Osler House (1928); Pearce House (1934); Cemetery Site (1895-1912). Wacol Repatriation Complex Recreation Grounds (c1954-55); Kitchen Block (1948); Wards A, B, and C (all 1948); Occupational Therapy and Recreation Hall (c1961); Cemetery Site (c1913- 45). Gailes Golf Club Course (1925) Farm Complex Piggery Remnants (1916-19); Dam (1950) and Pump House (by 1956); Later Farm Ward Building for Male Patients (c1964); Farm Overseer’s House (1918); Early Farm Ward Kitchen and Dairy (1916). Basil Stafford Centre Farm Ward Building and Grounds (1954-6); School Building for Child Patients with Intellectual Disabilities (1967) and Swimming Pool (c1973); Villas (c1978); and Hospital Dump Sites. Wolston Park Hospital Complex is also important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW) 's architectural work, retaining an extensive range of excellent, highly intact examples of DPW-designed buildings constructed over more than 100 years (1875 to c1978). The principal characteristics of the DPW’s architectural work, as demonstrated at the hospital complex, include well-designed, fit-for-purpose buildings with a dignified civic character; the use of high-quality materials; and abundant natural light and interior ventilation. Criterion E: The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Wolston Park Hospital Complex is significant for its aesthetic qualities, owing to the expressive and evocative qualities of its highly intact buildings and landscapes. The place expresses the Queensland Government’s regulation and treatment of people with mental illnesses from the 1860s to the 1970s, particularly its use of moral therapy. Through its elevated location and ordered buildings in formal landscapes surrounded by bushland, with controlled views to and from its features, the government sought to convey the perceptions of order, control, and calm to patients and visitors. The place is also evocative of institutional life and associated experiences of isolation, dependence, confinement, and treatment. These evocative qualities are layered across a variety of aspects, including substantial ward buildings designed for patient observation, control and management; communal patient dormitories, ablutions, dining, and recreation rooms, and individual patient cells; patient work and recreation landscapes; patient morgue and cemeteries; hospital paraphernalia and dump artefacts; and the patina of use on the fabric of the buildings. Important views unfold across the site, exemplified by the imposing early female and male ward buildings juxtaposed with their open, landscaped surrounds. Criterion F: The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. The place does not display any particular artistic, architectural, or creative qualities or any technical, construction or design qualities to be sufficiently important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. The place does not satisfy this criterion. Criterion G: The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Operating for more than 155 years, Wolston Park Hospital Complex, the oldest and for many years, the largest mental health facility in Queensland, has a strong and special association with the Queensland mental health community, including past and present patients, their family members, friends, and advocates, medical and non-medical staff, social workers, clergy, and volunteers. Criterion H: The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland’s history. Wolston Park Hospital Complex has a special association with Henry Byam Ellerton (c1871-1951), its Medical Superintendent and the Inspector of the Insane of Queensland between 1909 and 1936, who made a notable contribution to the development of mental health services in the state. Ellerton improved patient care through staff training, occupational therapy, and improved facilities. In accordance with the moral treatment method of patient therapy, Ellerton transformed Wolston Park Hospital Complex, through major building, farming, recreation, and landscaping programmes, laying out the complex in the form it still retains.

Garage Built before 1944 The Garage is a highly intact, small, freestanding single-car garage building located east of, and facing toward, the Shelter Shed for Female Patients, and was used by the matron. Front Click to view Inside Click to view Inside Click to view Side Click to view Front side Click to view Between the trees Click to view Amongst the shade Click to view Between the trees Click to view Day rear Click to view Day front Click to view With old women's Click to view

Miscellaneous Files 1877 Royal Commission letter click to view Admission Register Wolston Park Hospital Case Book E (Male and Female Admissions) from 08-May-1875 – 09-May-1920. Ward Book 1922/23 Part 1 of 3 Ward Book 1922/23 Part 2 of 3 Ward Book 1922/23 Part 3 of 3 State Archives general notes from the year 1879 Royal Commission on the Management of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum and the Lunatic Reception Houses of the Colony - Report (Q Pp 1877 v1: 1073-1253) [1877] QldRoyalC 2 (15 May 1877) Research Guide to mental asylum records at Queensland State Archives Wolston Park Hospital, 1865–2001: A Retrospect Register of letters received 1878/79 Charitable institutions of the Queensland government to 1919 Commission of Appointment - Commissioner re Enquiry Lunatic Asylum, Woogaroo ‘Façade of success’ Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum 1865-1969 The early history of psychiatric nursing in Queensland Royal Commission of Inquiry into Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum and the Lunatic Reception Houses of QLD Casebook "A" of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum: patient demographics and diagnoses Queensland Parliamentary Debates [Hansard] Legislative Council TUESDAY, 17 AUG 1869 Woogaroo Asylum An Act to Consolidate and Amend the Law relating to the Insane. ASSENTED TO 2ND SEPTEMBER 1884 The road to recovery - a history of mental health services in Queensland 1859-2009 Going Up the Line to Goodna Wolston Park cricket Pavilion Conservation Plan Wolston Park Hospital University of Queensland Neuropsychiatric Unit Opening Day October 16 - 1972 1972 UQ Neuropsychiatric Guide Paper on the Park 1 Paper on the Park 2 Paper on the Park 3 Barrett Adolescent Centre Options Study 2015 1877 QUEENSLAND WOOGAROO COMMISSION REPORT

Cafeteria Built-in 1954 The cafeteria, also known as the Riverside Ballroom, is a low-set brick building with a hipped roof, located in the centre of the area. It is long and narrow, stretching along the east/west ridgeline and has many windows on its northern side with impressive views across the recreation area’s amphitheatre to the Brisbane River and landscape beyond. Built initially as the communal dining room that could seat 500 patients, along with a servery, wash-up room, preparation room and stores, staff rooms and lavatories and patients' abulations and lavatories. It remains largely intact and, in 2020, serves as the clubhouse for the Wolston Park Golf Club. Minimal alterations include a freestanding, open-sided shelter on the northern side; replacement of the roof cladding from corrugated asbestos sheets to corrugated metal sheets; rearrangement of the ablutions; insertion of folding partitions into the long dining room; and replacement of the folding doors on the northern side of the dining room. Features of the Cafeteria of state-level cultural heritage significance also include Form and layout: long, narrow building with short projecting blocks for ablutions and kitchen; hipped roof; long dining room with views and access out to the north, servery bar and access to the kitchen at the south, large fireplace at the east, and access through to the ablutions at the west Curvilinear paved terrace on the northern side with a brick window and flower boxes. Materials: face brick walls and squat chimney; flat sheet-lined eaves; timber floor in the dining room; original partitions (timber-framed, flat sheet-lined; flat sheet-lined ceilings with timber battens Servery bar Original windows and doors Immediate landscape surround: adjacent lawn areas and a row of three mature bookleaf pines (Thuja orientalis) to the southwest. Research Note Another important building project undertaken by Dr Basil Strafford for female patients at the time was the construction of a dedicated female recreation facility, which commenced in 1951 on an area of approximately 2.5 hectares on the western edge of the reserve, adjacent to the Brisbane River. The principal building within the area was the cafeteria with facilities to serve 500 patients [now Wolston Park Golf Club house]. Patients could spend the entire day in the recreation area without returning to the wards for midday meals. 1950 plan Click to view 1950 plan Click to view First day of operation in 1954 Click to view Ballroom after 1954 opening Click to view Fireplace 1953 Click to view Ballroom 2024 Click to view Rear entrance Click to view Chimney with a curious extension Click to view Curious extension Click to view Looking towards the ballroom from the front Click to view Kitchen entrance Click to view Side entrance Click to view Rear entrance Click to view Gardens and ballroom Click to view Gardens and ballroom Click to view Gardens with louvres Click to view Another entrance at the rear Click to view Location of the toilets Click to view Location of the toilets Click to view Ballroom 2024 Click to view Ballroom 2024 Click to view 161727967_10160697747206521_7856219398783697524_n.jpg Click to view Fireplace with sandstone rock, brick and original timber floor Click to view Fireplace with bricks Click to view Fireplace with sandstone rock Click to view