Earlsferry - (Battye Library, LISWA)
I cannot imagine how heartrending it would be to place a child into care. Even a place like Earlsferry, which was in 1962 regarded as being the best place for children regarded as 'subnormal'. Peta remained there until she was fourteen, when she was transferred to Heathcote and to Graylands.
This information is part of the online history of Earlsferry - Earlsferry was established as a Home for ten 'mentally handicapped girls' who were transferred from the Claremont Mental Hospital. Earlsferry, with Fairholme, made up the Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. In 1988, ownership passed to the Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons. In April 1989, when Earlsferry was damaged by a fire due to 'misadventure', residents were relocated and the property sold. Earlsferry continues as a private home.
Earlsferry was one of two Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. It was opened by the Minister for Health, Dame Florence Cardell Oliver, on 27 September 1952.
Nathaniel Harper, whose child had Down Syndrome, donated money to the Mental Hospitals Department to stimulate what has been called a 'modest beginning of a new era in service provision' by the State for children with intellectual disabilities. Nathaniel Harper Homes were the 'first public sector residential facility' since the Claremont Mental Hospital began in 1903. Nathaniel Harper Homes were run by nursing staff, with visits from Claremont Mental Hospital psychologists. The Education Department set up a special school for children at the Nathaniel Harper Homes.
The Nathaniel Harper Homes were also involved in 'industrial rehabilitation', which was a type of 'sheltered workshop' employment. The young people and adults at Nathaniel Harper Homes took some of the overflow work from the industrial rehabilitation workshop at the Claremont Mental Hospital. They made glass pipettes and cleaned and re-assembled bottle-tops.
When the government purchased Earslferry, a number of renovations were made. These included adding a laundry, removing the outhouses and building a cottage for the Matron in what had been the orchard. Security wire mesh fences were put up around the boundary, a large tree and rose beds were removed and the driveway was bitumised and kerbed.
Pretty. But for some reason Peta was sent away, at age fourteen, in 1968. I don't know why.
Peta was sent to Heathcote, a hospital for the Insane, then transferred rather quickly to Graylands. And that is bad news - for Graylands did not exist in 1968. It was then Claremont Mental Hospital.
In 1972, the former Claremont Mental Hospital was divided into two separate facilities, known as Swanbourne Hospital and Graylands Hospital. Swanbourne became the place that people with developmental disabilities and people with dementia (and psychiatric conditions associated with aging) went, and Graylands was for acute psychiatric patients - and that is where Peta went to live, certified under the Lunacy Act 190.
It is interesting that Peta wasn't later transferred to Pyrton, a hostel where many child-aged Graylands residents were transferred at that time, then into the community. Even then, she'd fallen between the gaps.
I cannot imagine how heartrending it would be to place a child into care. Even a place like Earlsferry, which was in 1962 regarded as being the best place for children regarded as 'subnormal'. Peta remained there until she was fourteen, when she was transferred to Heathcote and to Graylands.
This information is part of the online history of Earlsferry - Earlsferry was established as a Home for ten 'mentally handicapped girls' who were transferred from the Claremont Mental Hospital. Earlsferry, with Fairholme, made up the Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. In 1988, ownership passed to the Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons. In April 1989, when Earlsferry was damaged by a fire due to 'misadventure', residents were relocated and the property sold. Earlsferry continues as a private home.
Earlsferry was one of two Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. It was opened by the Minister for Health, Dame Florence Cardell Oliver, on 27 September 1952.
Nathaniel Harper, whose child had Down Syndrome, donated money to the Mental Hospitals Department to stimulate what has been called a 'modest beginning of a new era in service provision' by the State for children with intellectual disabilities. Nathaniel Harper Homes were the 'first public sector residential facility' since the Claremont Mental Hospital began in 1903. Nathaniel Harper Homes were run by nursing staff, with visits from Claremont Mental Hospital psychologists. The Education Department set up a special school for children at the Nathaniel Harper Homes.
The Nathaniel Harper Homes were also involved in 'industrial rehabilitation', which was a type of 'sheltered workshop' employment. The young people and adults at Nathaniel Harper Homes took some of the overflow work from the industrial rehabilitation workshop at the Claremont Mental Hospital. They made glass pipettes and cleaned and re-assembled bottle-tops.
When the government purchased Earslferry, a number of renovations were made. These included adding a laundry, removing the outhouses and building a cottage for the Matron in what had been the orchard. Security wire mesh fences were put up around the boundary, a large tree and rose beds were removed and the driveway was bitumised and kerbed.
Pretty. But for some reason Peta was sent away, at age fourteen, in 1968. I don't know why.
Peta was sent to Heathcote, a hospital for the Insane, then transferred rather quickly to Graylands. And that is bad news - for Graylands did not exist in 1968. It was then Claremont Mental Hospital.
In 1972, the former Claremont Mental Hospital was divided into two separate facilities, known as Swanbourne Hospital and Graylands Hospital. Swanbourne became the place that people with developmental disabilities and people with dementia (and psychiatric conditions associated with aging) went, and Graylands was for acute psychiatric patients - and that is where Peta went to live, certified under the Lunacy Act 190.
It is interesting that Peta wasn't later transferred to Pyrton, a hostel where many child-aged Graylands residents were transferred at that time, then into the community. Even then, she'd fallen between the gaps.