The Mental Hospitals Department was a government department responsible for the administration of mental health hospitals in Western Australia for the period 1934 until 1 January 1954. It took over this role from the Lunacy Department. During this period it was common to place children with intellectual and other disabilities in mental health institutions.Through the…
The Senses Foundation Inc Records is a collection of records and photographs from the Royal West Australian Institute for the Blind and its predecessors. It is held in the Battye Library’s Private Archives Collection at the State Library of Western Australia. Access Conditions Many of the records relating to people who have been in out…
Senses Foundation was formed in 2001 by a merger of the Royal Western Australian Institute for the Blind and the WA Deaf-Blind Association. Senses inherited the records of both organisations.
The Royal West Australian Institute for the Blind (RIB) was established in 1895 as the WA Industrial School for the Blind in Maylands. It was run by a private committee of ‘subscribers’ who supported the Institute financially. Children lived and went to school at the Institute and there was also a workshop and living quarters…
Greenplace was a government-run facility, established in Mosman Park in 1914 as an annexe of the Claremont Hospital for the Insane. It admitted female psychiatric patients, possibly including adolescents with intellectual disabilities. From 1946 until it closed in 1979, Greenplace was a hostel for female psychiatric patients. Greenplace was established in 1914 as an annexe…
Claremont Hospital for the Insane was established in 1903, becoming known as the Claremont Mental Hospital in 1933. It was a government-run facility that accommodated children and young people with intellectual and other disabilities until the hospital closed in 1972. Claremont Mental Hospital was Western Australia’s main mental health institution from 1903 to 1972. Children…
Whitby Falls Hospital was a government-run facility, established in 1897 at Jarrahdale, as an annexe of the Fremantle Asylum. Male psychiatric patients described as ‘quiet and chronic’ were sent there as well as adolescents with intellectual disabilities. In 1972 the hospital closed and a hostel was opened on the site. Whitby Falls Hospital was started…
Fremantle Asylum was a government-run facility, established in 1857 to house adult ‘lunatics’. But by the 1890s increasing numbers of children aged 9-15 years with intellectual and other disabilities were sent there. Children were transferred to the new ‘hospital for the insane’ (Claremont Mental Hospital) between 1903 and 1908. Fremantle Asylum closed in 1909. Fremantle…
The Lunacy Act 1903 (015 of 1903 (3 Edw. VII No. 15)) followed the 1900 (Vosper) Select Committee, and was reportedly based on good practice and professional knowledge at the time. Two provisions for children were made: the ability to transfer a child at an industrial school who appeared to be ‘insane’ to a government…
The Lunacy Act 1871 (No. 9 of 1871) did not distinguish between mental illness and intellectual or physical disability. This meant that children with intellectual disabilities, or physical disabilities such as epilepsy could be, and often were, sent to Fremantle Asylum. This act was repealed by the Lunacy Act 1903 (015 of 1903 (3 Edw….
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
