The Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons Act 1985 (068 of 1985) established a government agency to ‘develop and carry out policies’ and provide for services to advance the welfare of people with intellectual disabilities. The Act defined an ‘intellectually handicapped person’, regulated the provision of services to those people and licensed the premises in which…
A ‘Royal Commission in Lunacy’ ran from 28 September 1921 to 21 September 1922. Commissioners visited and made recommendations about all the mental health institutions, and looked into the administration of the mental health system. The Royal Commission recommended that the existing ‘isolation block’ at the Claremont Hospital for the Insane should be converted into…
The Lunacy Act Amendment Act 1920 (11 Geo. V No. 42) set up the mechanisms for Boards of Visitors with broad powers of inspection and action in the interests of protecting and releasing patients in mental health institutions. The purpose of the Act was to ensure people weren’t locked up forever in a hospital for…
A ‘Select Committee to inquire into the management of the Claremont Hospital for the Insane’ was appointed by the Legislative Council in September 1919. It was wide-ranging. It heard evidence about the best treatment and accommodation for ‘mental defectives and epileptics’ in city and regional hospitals and recommended establishing a separate institution, which did not…
A Board of Visitors for the Heathcote Reception Centre was introduced in 1929 for the independent oversight and ‘protection’ of patients. [From the State Records Office of Western Australia] Following an amendment to the Lunacy Act 1903 in 1920, a Board of Visitors system was introduced in Western Australia for the protection of patients in…
A Board of Visitors for the Claremont Mental Hospital was introduced in 1920 for the independent oversight and ‘protection’ of patients. [From the State Records Office of Western Australia] Following an amendment to the Lunacy Act 1903 in 1920, a Board of Visitors system was introduced in Western Australia for the protection of patients in…
Heathcote began in 1929 on Point Heathcote at Applecross. It was first known as the Heathcote Reception Home, and was a government hospital for people with ‘recent and recoverable’ mental illness. Heathcote sometimes housed Children and adolescents. It closed in 1994. The Royal Commission into Lunacy recommended in 1922 that a new hospital be built…
The ‘Royal Commission appointed to inquire into alleged cases of brutality at the Claremont Mental Hospital’ was appointed on 20 March 1950. It found children needed to be better segregated and recommended improvements to record-keeping, medical supervision and staffing. The Royal Commission was chaired by Mr Justice Adrian H. Curlewis of the Supreme Court of…
The Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly appointed to inquire into the condition of the Fremantle and Whitby Falls Lunatic Asylums found that the Fremantle Aslyum ‘was so unfitted for its purpose that its defects could not be remedied, and that there must be an entirely new building’. Whitby Falls was useful as a ‘labour…
The Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly to consider and report as to what is necessary to place the Asylum for the Insane on a satisfactory basis as to Accommodation and Maintenance was appointed in 1891. It found that the Fremantle Aslyum had inadequate staffing and buildings, was over-crowded and didn’t benefit the people who…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
