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Western Australia - Event

Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly appointed to inquire into the condition of the Fremantle and Whitby Falls Lunatic Asylums (1900)

Colony of Western Australia

From
17 October 1900
To
21 November 1900
Alternative Names
  • Vosper Committee (also known as)

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 colony, but for nothing else'.

Details

Named for its chairman, the Vosper Committee made five recommendations, none of which were targeted at improving the outcomes for children or young people in the asylums:

  • Demolish the Fremantle Asylum
  • Build a new asylum on a suitable site, easily accessible from Perth and Fremantle
  • Staff the new asylum with people experienced in the 'management of the insane'
  • Immediately appoint a full time medical officer to the Fremantle Asylum
  • Attach 'reception houses' to police stations so that people of 'doubtful sanity could be detained until their fitness for release could be ascertained'.

When Parliament was prorogued without debating the report, Vosper 'urged on the Government, in the name of humanity and in the name of Christianity, the necessity of bringing about a reform of those institutions' (Hansard 5 December 1900, p.2138).

Related Concepts

Publications

Books

  • Ellis, A.S., Eloquent Testimony : the Story of the Mental Health Services in Western Australia, 1830-1975, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1984. pp.40-41. Details

Reports

  • Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly appointed to inquire into the Condition of the Fremantle and Whitby Falls Lunatic Asylums, Western Australia: Votes and Proceedings, Government Printer, Perth, 1900. Details

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Lunatic Asylums Inquiry. Select Committee's Report [Hansard p1825]', in Hansard Archive 1870 to 1995, Parliament of Western Australia, 21 November 1900, https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard1870to1995.nsf/83cc4ce93b5d4e0b48257b33001cfef6/4D9D63669C59C62D48257A5200253293/$File/19001121_Assembly.pdf. p.1825.; 'Motion - Fremantle Lunatic Asylum, the Mad Assault [Hansard p1094-1099]', in Hansard Archive 1870 to 1995, Parliament of Western Australia, 17 October 1900, https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard1870to1995.nsf/83cc4ce93b5d4e0b48257b33001cfef6/6FDE92F293A1B53B48257A52002525DF/$File/19001017_Assembly.pdf. pp.1094-1099.; 'Motion to discharge orders - close of session [Hansard p2138]', in Hansard Archive 1870 to 1995, Parliament of Western Australia, 5 December 1900, https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard1870to1995.nsf/83cc4ce93b5d4e0b48257b33001cfef6/76122BD69306EA9748257A5200253609/$File/19001205_Assembly.pdf. p.2138.; Ellis, A.S., Eloquent Testimony : the Story of the Mental Health Services in Western Australia, 1830-1975, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1984. pp.40-41..

Prepared by: Debra Rosser

Created: 24 April 2013, Last modified: 6 September 2013

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