ALECOMM

Mental health treatment may have improved since colonial times, but an academic who researched a notorious Queensland lunatic asylum says there continues to be poor accommodation options for people with mental health issues.

Dr Julie Bradshaw, a mental health nurse and lecturer at CQUniversity's Rockhampton campus, has explored the early years of Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum at Wacol, west of Brisbane, for her PhD thesis.

"This particular asylum was probably one of the worst in Australia," she said.

Dr Bradshaw focused on four public inquiries into the asylum between 1865 and 1869, and her research painted a bleak picture — overcrowded conditions, prison-like conditions with gaol wardens, and people admitted for unfathomable reasons.

"And there were a lot of people admitted for what I think was starvation."

Locked up for 'disappointment'

Two inquiries Dr Bradshaw looked at centred on a young woman, Isabella, who had sailed out from Ireland.

She was only 17, and was put in the asylum on her arrival.

"She'd come from Ireland expecting this wonderful, new life," Dr Bradshaw said.

"Obviously there were cases of mental illness, but this Isabella, she was probably just suffering from some type of physical illness from her voyage out to Australia."

Woogaroo, which later became Wolston Park and is now The Park Centre for Mental Health, was built on a shoestring budget when Queensland became a state and could no longer use the New South Wales asylum.

"[Until then] they put patients in gaol, because there was nowhere else for them to go," Dr Bradshaw said.

The asylum was tucked away in the bush halfway between Brisbane and Ipswich, and the one building initially housed 57 patients, with women on the top floor with their wardens and men on the bottom.

By 1900, there was close to 4,000 patients.

"It was huge. It was the biggest asylum in Australia," Dr Bradshaw said.

The people admitted were often just suffering from a harsh environment they had no experience with.

"In the 1860s, there wasn't much infrastructure in Queensland, there wasn't much being produced, and there were people like shepherds being sent out with just some flour and water, virtually, to live on, out by themselves, looking after sheep.

Isabella's case came into the spotlight because she had a sexual relationship with a prison guard, and the newspapers at the time agitated for there to be consequences.

Dr Bradshaw said as a result, people lost their jobs, but there was no real change — and there were echoes of this experience today.

"Like the newspapers today still pick up if there's a mental health issue, or if someone commits a crime and maybe has a diagnosis of mental illness," she said.

"So there are quick band-aid solutions when the newspapers pick something up, and that's what happened in 1865."

Escape and death by 'excitement'

In the second inquiry, Isabella escaped Woogaroo and was found in Brisbane.

The newspapers picked up the story and lamented this poor, unfortunate woman, and demanded to know who was looking after her at the asylum.

Another investigation was carried out and the situation was soon hushed up.

"Sadly for Isabella, she was virtually restrained from 1879 because she escaped so many times," Dr Bradshaw said.

"And then she died in 1882 from 'excitement'.

"She had all these hopes and she ended up in an asylum because she was physically sick, and then died."

Another inquiry was carried out when an ex-warder wrote a series of anonymous letters to a newspaper in Ipswich, blowing the whistle on the treatment of patients.

His allegations were backed up by a prominent businessman, who had been admitted a few times for delirium tremens from alcohol withdrawal.

"He just wanted to prove he wasn't insane," Dr Bradshaw said.

Again, the newspapers picked up the story and pressured the government into carrying out an investigation, which revealed the terrible conditions, and there were promises to improve the buildings.

The newspapers were not satisfied, and agitated until senior staff were sacked.

"So nothing really happened from the inquiries, except people were sacked and poor Isabella was restrained," Dr Bradshaw said.

Echoes remain today

While the contemporary mental health system may be eons away from Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum, Dr Bradshaw said there were some parallels between colonial Queensland and today.

"All the institutions have closed down now, but we still have the homeless people on the streets, and I think 80-90 per cent of homeless people have a mental health issue."

Dr Bradshaw said there continued to be poor accommodation for those with a mental illness, with many living in poor boarding houses or backpacker hostels.

"I remember when I used to be a community mental health nurse and visit people in this old boarding house with these rooms with no windows, and they were served offal because it was cheaper than meat," she said.

Source : https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-06/researcher-investigates-notorious-wacol-lunatic-asylum/7818380?pfmredir=sm