The Wolston Park Hospital, situated at Wacol, Queensland, was a State-run facility. Wolston Park Hospital was previously known as the Brisbane Special Hospital. It is known that children who were wards of the state were placed at Wolston Park during the 1960s-1980s.
It is estimated up to 60 wards of the state were sent to Wolston Park, usually after previously being in other placements in Homes.
Children placed at Wolston Park reported abuse of all kinds, isolation and neglect, use of chemical restraints and contact with adults with mental health issues.
In 2010, the Queensland Government issued an apology to those who, as children under the care of the state, were inappropriately placed in adult mental health facilities including Wolston Park.
In October 2017, the Queensland Government provided payouts to former state wards who had been placed in Wolston Park, in recognition of their wrongful detainment in an adult mental health facility.
Wolston Park Hospital (referred to as Goodna Mental Asylum) was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Report (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption.
The Wolston Park Hospital Complex is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, as a “distinctive example of a substantial public mental health institution”.
