Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum (1878-1910)
Originally built as a benevolent asylum, the Ipswich site never fulfilled this purpose. Chronic overcrowding at Woogaroo (Goodna) Asylum dictated that the new facility at Ipswich could provide a solution to this problem.
In July 1878, the first fifty patients arrived at the single story building on top of the hill known as Sandy Gallop. A sandy track had been developed around the hill to train race horses in the very early days of Ipswich and watching the horses train became a popular pastime for many of the local people.
The institution which followed was to be known colloquially by this name for most of its existence, but the connotation of the “The Gallop” was not always a happy one.
The first 50 patients were quickly followed by more and it was not long before plans were made to add another storey and two wings to the original building. This building was known as Male Ward 1, later to become Arthur Pavilion. Ipswich took no direct admissions and only the most chronic cases were sent there, hence very few patients were discharged.
Treatment of the mentally ill at this time was very different to now.
The Lunacy Act of 1869, stated that a person had to be committed by a medical practitioner and two Justices of the Peace for a period of no longer than one month at a lunatic reception house. After this period, the person in question was brought before two Justices and if judged to be not in a fit state to be at liberty by two medical practitioners, then they would be committed to the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum.
On their release, they would have to pay back the cost of their care and if this was refused, then a warrant of distress would be issued. It also stated that any person employed at the Asylum who ill treated or neglected a lunatic would be prosecuted and on conviction have to pay between two and twenty pounds.
The Brisbane Courier reported in 1880 that the annual cost of housing inmates was £15 at Sandy Gallop and £40 at Woogaroo.
With very little in the way of drugs to treat patients at this time, the principles of “moral treatment” were considered the best treatment for the mentally ill. These were based on peaceful surroundings with uninterrupted vistas (hence the use of a ha-haA sunken fence designed not to interrupt the view from within. It is invisible until seen from close by and consists of a trench on the inner side. instead of a fence), well designed buildings with good ventilation, good water supply, gardens and useful employment and recreation for the patients.
The Ipswich Asylum was recognised as being ideally situated in this respect, and from the start was planned to take advantage of these features. The buildings run along the top of a ridge in a radial fashion based on a central axis.
By 1908 Male Ward 2 (Blair Pavilion) and Female Ward 1 (Alison House) had been completed.
1908 was also the year in which the Inspector of the Insane, Dr James Hogg died and his replacement, Dr H. Byam Ellerton, started a new era of growth.
Up until this time, the institution was known as the Ipswich Branch of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum, but in 1910, it became an institution in its own right, and was renamed the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. Dr Harold Foxton was appointed as the first medical superintendent and the former superintendent and steward, Mr Samuel Lewis, became the chief steward and head attendant.