Tassie heritage site Willow Court recognised as site of conscience

An important historical site in Tasmania has been recognised internationally, alongside a concentration camp* in Europe, a Gulag* museum in Russia and a 200-year-old slave house in Africa.

The US-based International Coalition of Sites of Conscience* has accepted the Willow Court Heritage Site Inc (WCHSI) as a member organisation.

Willow Court was established at New Norfolk in 1827 for chronically ill convicts but later went on to house the Royal Derwent Hospital in 1968, which treated people with mental ill-health and intellectual disability until it was closed in 2000.

Former Royal Derwent Hospital nurse Anne Salt hailed the international recognition of the site.

“It’s validation* of the work we have been doing for well over a decade to bring to national and global attention the importance of this history of intellectual disability and mental health treatment in Australia,” she said.

Ms Salt said the history of Willow Court was now seen in a global context* alongside many other sites around the world that had troubled and difficult histories.

WCHSI board member Carleen Paul, who lived in Royal Derwent for seven years as a teenager, said it was important to remember the many people who had lived there.

“Their stories need to be told and their history understood,” she said.

WCHSI chair John Grant said the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience was a global network of museums, historic sites and grassroots* movements dedicated to building a more just and peaceful future by remembering struggles for human rights.

“A Site of Conscience is a place of memory – such as a historic site, place-based museum or memorial – that prevents this erasure* from happening in order to ensure a more just and humane* future,” he said.

“Not only do Sites of Conscience provide safe spaces to remember and preserve even the most traumatic memories, but they enable their visitors to make connections between the past and related contemporary human rights issues.”

The Sites of Conscience group has members in 70 countries.

HISTORICAL SITES OF TASMANIA
Tasmania is home to several of Australia’s most significant and well-preserved heritage sites. Here are just a few as published on Tasmania.com.

Port Arthur, Tasman Peninsula

Established as a penal colony in 1833, being sent to Port Arthur was the ultimate punishment for convicts – but now its well-preserved collection of 18th and 19th century buildings is the ultimate tourist attraction.

Cascades Female Factory, Hobart

Considered Australia’s most important site associated with female convicts, the Female Factory was a workhouse where thousands of women and children toiled away in unsanitary conditions. The Factory was set up as a way to reform female convicts and was operational between 1828-1856.

Richmond Gaol, Richmond

The oldest intact jail in Australia, the Richmond Gaol gives a clear picture of what prison life was like in the 1800s. Cells, a chain gang sleeping room, a flogging yard, a cook house and holding rooms remain well-preserved. A notorious convict once imprisoned here was Ikey Solomon, an Englishman that, according to Tasmania.com, was believed to be the inspiration for the fictional character “Fagin” in the classic novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• concentration camp: a prison where large numbers of political prisoners are held during a war
• Gulag: labour camps and prisons run by the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 where millions of people were imprisoned and forced to do hard labour
• conscience: a moral sense of right or wrong that guides one’s behaviour
• validation: recognising someone’s actions are worthwhile
• global context: the way something relates to the wider world
• grassroots: ordinary people or the most basic level of an organisation
• erasure: getting rid of something from memory
• humane: having compassion for others

EXTRA READING
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Map clue points to missing colony
World leaders remember Holocaust

QUICK QUIZ
1. What was Willow Court used for originally?
2. When did it become the Royal Derwent Hospital?
3. What is a Site of Conscience?
4. What are two other Sites of Conscience mentioned in the article?
5. What is the oldest intact jail in Australia?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Welcome to Willow Court
Imagine that you are part of a team working to preserve the history of Willow Court. You have been given the task of writing the words for a plaque to be installed at the entrance of the site. The plaque should give a brief summary of the site’s history. The wording needs to be factual but also show sensitivity, while enticing visitors’ curiosity about the site so that they will enter and explore.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; History

2. Extension
Write a paragraph to explain why you think it is important for the history of sites such as Willow Court to be preserved for future generations.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; History

VCOP ACTIVITY
To sum it up
After reading the article, use your comprehension skills to summarise in a maximum of three sentences what the article is about.

Think about:

• What is the main topic or idea?
• What is an important or interesting fact?
• Who was involved (people or places)?

Use your VCOP skills to re-read your summary to make sure it is clear, specific and well punctuated.