For nearly 28 years, I have grown up across from Woogaroo Creek from the site of the original Asylum. My interest in history dates back to my senior primary school days at Camp Hill, where the interest also continued at Redbank Plains & Bundamba high schools, where I took an interest in politics and local history/geography. I have always enjoyed learning history, and I also enjoy collecting and purchasing historical items and donating to museum collections. As a young kid in the late 90s the stories of Wolston Park were the stuff of legends with old women's always known being the haunted house, I remember North Dam being fully fenced and jumping over the fence to retrieve golf balls and then cleaning them and sell for a $1 and going to buy soft drinks from the Royal Mail Hotel, The staff sitting outside Mcdonnell house having a cigarette, The patients help cleaning the Wolston Park Golf Club outdoor dining area when it was located up in the complex, to exploring the empty chapels. 

After so many years of forgetting about this complex 2019 was very difficult for me and always needed a quiet place to reflect and follow on over the years seeing the buildings and the odd, interesting piece of history myself and Nathan began the Facebook group "There Was Once an Asylum" when we started the search was on to find everything related to the complex historically wise.

The years of studying this complex about its buildings and surroundings have been an interesting journey of learning, but in the later years, learning about the patients of the complex has been the most difficult personally.

I would like to thank those who support the group and have sometimes even stepped up to protect it, as they know it has an important history not only for Queensland but on a human level.

With the recent review called by the Queensland Government, I hope that this will be the final review out of all the reviews in regard to this complex, which has always been scrutinised 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 site 

• FREE History walking tours on the original site and also showcasing the older buildings on the current site from a safe and legal distance.

• Each Cemetery Site is to have a form of identification and honour, as remains may still be located

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Apart from studying this site in my spare time, I am doing a fair bit 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 the valuable contribution I made over time 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.  Certificate of Appreciation for 5 years of loyal and valued service to the community through Marine Rescue Brisbane as a radio and rescue crew member. Former QLD/NT  Division committee member and member of the Australasian Institute of Emergency Services (AIES)

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