Rottnest - West Australia's dream island

                                     

SE coast of Western Australia

Rottnest Island/Wadjemup Full-Day Trip from Perth The sandy beaches and wildlife reserves of Rottnest Island lie just off the coast of Perth. On this 7 hour tour, ride the ferry to Rottnest and take in all the highlights of the car-free island. The guided bus tour drops visitors off en route to landmarks like Lighthouse, Henrietta Rocks and Cathedral Rocks. Then take a train up to Oliver Hill WW2 site.  

Rottnest Island Grand Tour, Lunch and Historical Train Ride Feel Rottnest Island via a half-day guided tour by coach. Get a comprehensive look at its attractions with a historic train ride. Highlights including Kingstown Barracks, Henrietta Rocks, Parker Point and Oliver Hill Battery. A light box lunch is included.

Experience in all the highlights of Rottnest Island in AC comfort on this Rottnest Island Bayseeker Bus Tour. A perfect 2 hour trip for those with only half a day, hop off the ferry in Thomson Bay and jump on the bus. Then enjoy a guided commentary, taking in the old WW2 barracks, seals at Cathedral Rocks, shipwrecks, seasonal pink salt lakes and Wadjemup Lighthouse.

Rottnest Island Historical Train and Tunnel Tour After the sandy beaches and beautiful bays, find out more about the island’s military history on a full-day tour. Savour sensational coastal views on a 40-minute cruise from Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Then ride the train up Oliver Hill and venture into war time tunnels, used in WW2 and still armed with huge 9.2” diameter guns. Then head back to the jetty to catch the return ferry.

Wadjemup Museum is the essential point of the island experience to explore and grasp the local culture and history. See antique artefacts, incredible sculptures and explore the Old Mill and Old Hay Store building. Wadjemup was commandeered by the Dept of Defence as an WW1 internment camp for enemy aliens. The Memorial Stone remnant is a unique relic created by the internees to signify their period of confinement on the island and photos taken by of the internees 

Mother and baby quokka

Spotting native Quokkas Rottnest has the world’s largest quokka population. They are related to kangaroos and wallabies, and to see them in the heat of summer is fun. But it’s quite another to witness them in the cooler months when little joey quokkas take their first hops into the world as protective mothers supervise. At the light house they live at the base of the Hill, offering the perfect respite in clusters of tea trees, home to quokkas. Take in this iconic wildlife moment before climbing up to the highest point of the island. Quokkas are nocturnal creatures; they're much more active at dusk, night or early morning.

Rottnest Island Luxe Seafood Cruise Experience this sea-to-plate 4 hour cruise of the Island. Head out in search of western rock lobster with the crew. The lobster catch will be served for lunch in a 7-course feast that includes fresh local seafood delicacies eg Shark Bay tiger prawns, blue swimmer crab cakes and seared West Australian scallops. Margaret River's Howard Park wines plus local bottled beers accompany the decadent menu.

Wadjemup Museum is the essential point of the island experience to exp-lore and grasp the local culture and history. See antique artefacts, incredible sculptures and explore the Old Mill and Old Hay Store building. Wadjemup was commandeered by the Dept of Defence as an WW1 internment camp for enemy aliens. The Memorial Stone remnant is a unique relic created by the internees to signify their period of confinement on the island and photos taken by of the internees

Segway tourists relaxing and viewing the ocean

Rottnest Coastal Explorer Tour Experience the best of Rottnest Island with a 2-hour tour! The great tour guide will go on a thrilling Rottnest Segway Adventure Tours use self-balancing, two-wheeled transporters that allow relaxed riders to glide smoothly on trails. Discover the unique diversity of the island, from the occasional pink hue of the interior salt lakes to the stunning coastal bays in the north. Start from the base in the Settlement, the 2 hour tour will showcase the island like never before: via the stunning salt lakes and bushland, plus breathtaking northern coastal bays and beaches. It goes inland to colourful salt lakes and woodlands blooming with samphire plant. Then go along the sparkling coast to a range of historic land marks, including the popular, historic Bathurst Lighthouse and North Thomson Colonial Settlement with breathtaking views. Glide along spectacular Thomson Bay, filled with boats and bathers, to the iconic Rottnest pub and The Basin, picturesque swimming spots. 

Discover the unique diversity of the island, from the occasional pink hue of the interior salt lakes to the stunning coastal bays in the north.  Start from the base in the Settlement, the 2 hour tour will showcase the island like never before: via the stunning salt lakes and bushland, plus breathtaking northern coastal bays and beaches. It goes inland to colourful salt lakes and woodlands blooming with samphire. Then go along the sparkling coast to a range of historic land marks, including the popular, historic Bathurst Lighthouse and North Thomson Colonial Settlement with breathtaking views. Glide along spectacular Thomson Bay, filled with boats and bathers, to the iconic Rottnest pub and The Basin is a very picturesque swimming spots. And although the Segway take the physical effort out of hiking and bicycling, refreshments are offered in Geordie Bay. 

Bathurst Lighthouse

with breaktaking views

To stay on the island overnight, find Samphire Rottnest Hotel which has 80 spacious rooms that were designed to maximise the natural surroundings. Enjoy the simple, modern outdoors from the comforts of the room, marvel at the island from a private balcony or deck, and focus on expansive views across the bay. Then venture outside and roam across native landscaping. The room with 4 bunk beds offers the fairest price.

Samphire Hotel balcony

overlooking the ocean

Located at one of the southern-most tips of the island, Little Salmon Bay is one of the more popular bays on Rottnest. Its naturally-sheltered location makes for calm, clear waters, perfect for families looking for a relaxing swimming experience. It’s an excellent spot for snorkelling and exploring under the waves where the water never gets too deep, so it’s perfect for families.—and be on the lookout for glimpses of starfish and crayfish. Follow the Little Salmon Bay snorkel trail to discover more about the island's sea life. 

Amazing Negev Desert Zoo just opened

Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Animal Park in Israel serves as a sanctuary for endangered desert animals and injured local wildlife, and as a home to animals born in captivity that cannot be returned to their natural habitats. After years of progress, the zoo called Midbarium (midbar = Hebrew for desert) opened in Beer Sheva in July 2024. It was launched in the presence of the mayor of Beer Sheva; chairman of the Mandel Foundation Board; CEO and Director General of Mandel Foundation Israel; and a speaker from the Cultural Buildings Dept of Israel’s National Lottery.

Raw concrete roof 1,800 sq ms,  resembles the basic structure of a tent.

A Lerman architect

Metalocus

Midbarium introduces visitors to the wide range of desert animals and to the ways in which the animals have adapted to, and survived in the desert climate. This is an experiential animal park of 37 acres that helps visitors understand the movements and behaviours of animals in their Negev habitat. Located on the outskirts of the desert NW of Beer Sheva, it has 100+ species that live, hunt and adapt.

Visitors can explore four desert habitats that naturally replicate the conditions of areas where desert animals live: Arava/Willow, Canyon, Oasis and Savannah, connected by trails and bridges. In these areas, visitors can meet c100 species of desert animals, including white lions, hippos, giraffes, zebras, meerkats, endangered Guinea baboons and Nile crocodiles.

The park emphasises active learning through experience, research, experimentation and curiosity. It enables a unique meeting between visitors and the animals via walks through desert environments, inter-active games, direct contact with animals and modern guiding methods.

See the issues that worry me, a desert-familar Australian. Visitors will have a full picture of the challenges of the desert and the climate crisis, and their effect on plant and animal life. Deserts are some of the harshest environments on earth. The extreme heat, the constant droughts and harsh climate make it a tricky place for humans to survive, let along any animal species. Clearly many creatures have found ways to thrive in this impossibly rugged environment.

Melbourne recently struggled to cope with 3.5 days at 38c! Imagine how incredible to think of the complex adjustments these animals have developed to survive and even flourish in the desert. And I know the animals have to adapt to the Negev and not vice versa. But do they have enough ponds to lie in, troughs of water to drink and shelters to protect them from the heat?

Midbarium is not a zoo in which animals are kept in captivity and trapped in cages. It is an interactive animal park in which animals roam freely in spaces designed specifically to meet their needs. It is much more than a place to view animals; it is a symbol of commitment to conservation, to education and to preserving the planet’s biodiversity.

The construction of Midbarium was made possible by a $20M grant from the Mandel Foundation, with more funding from Beer Sheva municipality, National Lottery and Ministries of Tourism and Housing. The Mayor stressed the finances were worthwhile; he noted the central role that Midbarium will play in enhancing the Negev’s leisure culture and in attracting families to the southern half of the tiny country.

An oasis in the desert at Midbarium

Mandel Foundation

 

Baboons, Jerusalem Post

`

rare white lions

Mandel Foundation

Designed by Dutch architect and modern zoo expert Erik van Vliet, Midbarium ranks immersion with the least amount of visible barriers. Zur Wolf Landscape Architects planned the landscaping, aiming at educating, understanding and caring for animals, especially those at risk of extinction. Asaf Lerman Architects provided multi-disciplinary team of experts who collaborated in the architectural design. For example the entrance roof structure, cast in raw concrete, resembles a huge tent structure that welcomes visitors into a cool, shaded space.

Light and shadow project through the veil-like grid, defining the perimeters of the public event space. See the rich range of facilities as it unfolds, including interconnected walkways, kiosks, essential services, shop, amphitheatre, seating areas and helpful touch points. These elements are well positioned near park entrances and exits.

The concrete expertise of the senior engineer was essential in developing a delicate triangulated grid of roof beams. Narrow passages lead the fresh air through the building's circulation system and it channels fresh air towards the adjacent educational building. Air conditioning, if they ever thought about having it, was avoided by using ecological ventilation, aligning perfectly with the Midbarium's commitment to sustainability.

Asaf Lerman Architects wrote the Midbarium summary, an exceptional park dedicated to fostering environmental awareness on the desert outskirts of Be'er Sheva. Its open spaces replicate various natural elements and display the region's diverse wildlife; almost all of them are desert species, although not necessarily native to Israel. A multiple team of experts from Israel and abroad collaborated on the project, responsible for the architectural design. This project adds to its history of Lerman collaboration with leading international architects on projects including Jerusalem National Museum, Mandel School at The Hebrew University and the Bezalel School for the Arts.

Witches: brutal, religious Matthew Hopkins

Being a good Christian kept a person safe because he/she was guarant­eed a place in Heaven. However at some stage Christianity came under threat from an invisible force. Starting among the educated elite, then spreading quickly, the idea emerged that evil witches were acting in secret to endanger Christian souls.

In 1597 King James VI of Scotland released his successful book, Daemonologie, which explored the areas of witchcraft and dem­onic magic. The kingdoms of Scotland & England were united in 1603 when King James moved south and became King James I of Eng­l­and. He had Parliament pass the Witchcraft Statute of 1604, making witchcraft a crime punishable by death. This led to a heightened public anxiety about witches that quietly grew in the decades that followed, worsened by similar fears in Europe.

In the book’s frontispiece, Matthew Hopkins stood in the room with two old women sitting on either side,  and animals identified as their familiars. Image credit

King Charles I (1600-49) first created the Long Parliament in Nov 1640, not long after the dissolution of the Short Parliament. It was Charles' practice to have women accused of witchcraft brought before him, and in most cases, he concluded that they were old or mentally unbalanced. Eventually he gave them money and sent them home.

John Stearne (1610–70) was a land owner and not a lawyer, but he received a warrant from the Long Parliament to flush out witches. Matthew Hopkins (c1620-47) was from Little Wenham Suf­folk. There is not much information on Hopkins before he began his witch hunter career in 1644, but he WAS brought up in a strict­, Puritanical household.  A poor or failed lawyer, Hop­kins improved his trifling salary with the opp­ortunities that witch-hunting offered in his early 20s. Within the political and religious chaos that reigned throughout the turbulent period of the English Civil Wars (1642-51), the rule of law and order broke down.

At first John Stearne made the principal accusations, and Hopkins, who he met in Manningtree Essex in 1644, was appointed as the assistant. Hopkins had overheard 6 women inside his own property, Thorn Inn in Mistley, women who were discussing their meetings with the Devil. Hopkins got vill­ag­ers to hire him and his two paid ass­ist­ants to search out witches, get their confessions and have the authorities hang them. In Mar 1645, the arrests and trials of Rebecca West and Anne West her mother, Elizabeth Clarke, Elizabeth Gooding, Anne Leach and Hellen Clarke followed.

Records show that Hopkins was also given an official commission by the Long Parliament and received payment from the government to prosecute witches. Hopkins and Stearne became known as "professional" witch-finders. Of the next 23 women they tried as witches, four died in prison and 19 were later convicted and hanged.

Before long, Hopkins’ zeal had surpassed Stearne’s, and he became the leader, assuming the title of Witch-finder Gen­eral in 1645. In the chaos of the Civil War and with the lack of app­oint­ed court judges, torture was accepted. Hopkins, Stearne and their associates trav­el­led the villages and towns of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk & Huntingdon where, within a year or more, there were c250 people accused of witchcraft. c100 of those were hanged. These cases, including a few Anglican clergymen, were called The Hopkins' Trials.

Witches queue up to kiss the devil's arse. Image credit

Witch-hunting was meant to be a judicial process, so torture was illegal. Yet many of his methods of inquisition used by Hopkins were very close to torture and were taken directly from King James’ best seller Daemonologie.

Hopkins used many methods to examine and torture:
A] He prevented women from sleeping, walking them around endlessly without shoes on. Once their feet blistered, it led to a quicker confession.

B] Witches fed their accompanying familiars/animals with their own blood. So by keeping the witch under guard, this ensured that their familiars would not be able to feed. He concentrated on the familiars at night because it was at night that witches frightened the townsfolk.

C] Hopkins pricked any skin deformity on the acc­us­ed that was thought to be an extra mole for suckling imps, determining if the woman pos­sessed the Devil’s mark. Lady Pickers cut the woman’s arms with a needle or pin, and if she did not bleed, she was said to be a witch.

D] The Water Test involved dropping the accused into water, because a witch, having denied baptism, would be repel­led by the water. Hopkins’ infamous Swimming Test involved binding the arms and legs of the accused to a chair before throwing her into the vil­lage pond. If she sank and drowned, she would be innocent and received into heaven; if she floated and survived, she would then be tried as a witch. 

Thus the women drowned if they were not witches, and were hanged or burned if they were!!

Burning of the witches. Image credit

In his booklet, Discovery of Witches 1647, Hopkins described his mission in life, how to detect witches and how to punish them. Af­ter Hopkins' writing, Stearne published a document describing Hopkins’ cases and their witch-hunting mission. The Hopkins-Stearne team was the driving force in England in the mid 1640s.

Conclusion
Hopkins’ favourite method of interrogation once torture was by illegal in England was swimming where the woman was bound and thrown into a pond. If she floated she was deemed a witch who rejected the waters of baptism; if she sank and drowned, then she was innocent. Yet Hopkins’ ongoing motivation for hunting witches was unclear. 

Matthew Hopkins supervised the Essex witch trials

University of Essex Library

Hopkins profited financially from the trials, but was this his primary motivation? Hopkins had not possessed property, was not well educated, lacked good ancestry and had no military experience or community power. Perhaps he was just relishing in his newly found power. Perhaps he hated women.

Some accounts say Hopkins drowned undergoing his own Water Trial, after being accused of witchcraft himself. Hopkins actually died after an illness in 1647. Just a few decades later (1684), the very last execution for witchcraft in England took place in Exeter.

The witches of Salem in the USA were hanged in 1692. Was it Matthew Hopkins who inspired New England witch hunters?

Yoram Gross: best Aus children's films

Yoram Gross (1926–2015) was born in Krakow Poland, to a Jewish family. He lived during WW2 under the Nazis, with his family on Oskar Sch­in­d­ler’s list of humans rescued from slaughter in 1944, but the Grosses survived by moving hiding places dozens of times.

Dot and the Kangaroo, 

1977, yoramgrossfilms

The Camel Boy

1984, IMDb

Yoram’s first love was music, studying at Krakow Uni post-war. He then studied film under Jerzy Toeplitz at the Polish Film In­stitute. In 1950 he moved to Israel, working as a newsreel and docum­entary cameraman, and later as an independent film producer and dir­ect­or. His first full-length feature, Joseph the Dreamer 1961, be­ing successful at a number of international film festivals. His com­edy One Pound Only 1964 set the box office record of the year. 

Thanks to newscom.au, we know that in 1968 Yoram, Sandra and the children migrated to Sydney. They est­ab­lished Yoram Gross Film Studios which became into a respected prod­uc­er of animation for cinema and television. Then he produced film clips for my best weekly tv mus­ic show,  Bandstand. At Sydney Film Festival in 1970 he won an award for The Politicians in the Best Austral­ian-Made Film category. Realising that there were no Australian films for child­ren, he decided to fill that gap.

In 1977, Gross made his first animated feature. Dot and the Kangaroo used an aerial image technique of drawings over live action backgrounds, filmed in NSW’s Blue Mountains. Although the film was much like other animated children's musicals starring animals, the film was essentially Australian in its use of symbols and accents eg it referenced Indigenous Australian culture in scenes disp­lay­ing anim­ation of cave paintings and aboriginal dancing.

In 1992, Yoram continued his interest in animating Australian Children's Classics, with the release of "Blinky Bill", based upon the Australian children's classic by Dorothy Wall. This film introduced the popular Australian koala to the rest of the world as a "real personality", and Blinky Bill, already well loved by generations of Australians, has become Australia's Animated Ambassador to millions of children around the world. Blinky Bill has generated one of the most successful merchandising programs ever initiated in Australia, bringing in millions of dollars in export earnings to the country. 

Blinky Bill

1992,  yoramgrossfilms

Gross acknowledged his animation style was old fashioned and had been superseded by computer-generated imagery. But the Australian Cen­tre for the Moving Image said Gross’ animations were dis­t­inctive and offered a freshness and simplicity that could be lost in the more com­plex visual world of computer-generated imagery. And I say his animal characters are more lovable.

In The Camel Boy (1984), young Ali and his camel-driver grandfather Moussa were part of an expedition through the Australian Outback. Aus­tralia has had camels since the mid-C19th but now they were faced with prejudice. Luckily Moussa's knowledge and the hardiness of his camels in the horrible desert conditions quickly proved vital to both the success of the expedition and the survival of its members.

Dot helped her native animal friends in Dot and the Koala (1984) when Bruce the koala told her of plans to build a massive dam that would destroy their environment. But the local farm animals believed that the creation of the dam would catapult their small country town into the C21st. With both sides fighting for what they believed was right, Dot's plans to wipe out the dam were jeopardised by the mayor Percy, a pig and local detectives Sherlock Bones the rat, and his mate Watson the cat.

In 1992 Gross' Blinky Bill film which quickly became a global success, and was soon awarded the prestigious Order of Aus­tralia for his contribution to the nation’s film industry. [Local woodlanders were carrying on with their life as normal.. when two men cleared the entire forest with their tractor. The an­imals evacuated as the trees fell down and homelessness continued. Bl­inky rescued the young female koala Nutsy from the fallen trees. They both run into Mr. Wombat who explained to him about his life].

Through their Yoram Gross Film Studios in Sydney, Gross had made 16 animated features and 12 TV series, bringing to life characters such as Dot and the Kang­ar­oo and the lovable Koala, Blinky Bill. Alas for me, my sons thanked me for taking them to the cinema for years, then said they'd be going by themselves from 1992!! 

Only in 1992 did Yoram Gross Film Studios start making animated TV ser­ies and in 1996 he sold a 50% stake in the company, with a view to expansion, to Australian exhibition and distrib­ut­ion comp­any Vill­age Roadshow Ltd. As his TV series and feature films sold in­ter­nat­ionally, German company EM.TV acquired the Village Roadshow stake in 1999, buy­ing out the founders in 2006 and renaming the company as Flying Bark Productions. Flying Bark continues to make films and TV series based on Gross creations.

Yoram Gross in Sydney, 2007

Australia's leading animation producer and director died in Sydney in 2015, aged 88. He was survived by his wife, 2 children and 5 grandchildren, a rare outcome for a Holo­caust sur­v­ivor. His legacy will live on with the Sydney Film Fest­ival’s annual award for the Best Animated Feature, named for Yoram Gross.

Athens: ancient & modern Olympic Games

Greek royal family opening the 1896 Games

followed by British Prince of Wales and Russian Duchess Olga
Pinterest

The first Olympic Games in the Southern Hemisphere EVER were in Mel­bourne in 1956. These Games put our beautiful city on the map, got my father’s engineering career famous and led me to be an Olympics fanatic. But I knew very little about any Games before 1956.

Ancient Olympics The Games were a religious festival and a good excuse for Greeks to enjoy the festivities in Olympia in the NW Peloponnese. During the festival, animals were slaugh­t­ered in honour of Zeus, King of the Greek Gods. For the first 250 years, all the action (sports & religious ev­ents) took place in this sanctuary. Zeus’ sacred olive tree, from which the victory wreaths were cut, marked the finishing line for all races.

The Games took place every 4 years from 776BC to 393AD. All free Greek males were all­owed to take part, from farm hands to royal heirs, although the maj­ority of Olympians were soldiers. Women could not compete, or even attend.

The first arena was no more than the natural embankments of the surrounding hills. But by the mid C4th BC, a proper stadium was actually built. This spacious, more modern venue allowed spectator attend­ance to grow rapidly. The final version of the stadium came in the C1st, fuelled by the return of chariot racing to the programme. The popularity of the Games soared.

The ancient Games were initially a one-day event until 684 BC, when they were extended to three days. In the C5th BC, the Games were extended again to cover five days. 40,000 spectators pack­ed the stadium each day at the height of the Games’ popularity, with more selling their wares outside. Perhaps it was because all athletes competed naked.

The ancient Games included these events:
a]Pentathlon became an Olympic sport with the addition of wrestling in 708 BC, and included: stade foot race (200m); the diaulos (two stades - 400m) and dolichos (long distance).
b]Long Jumpers used lead weights to increase their jumps.
c]Discus was first made of stone and later of iron or lead
d]Wrestling was a military exercise without weapons.
e]Boxers wrapped straps around their hands, aiding the wrists. There were no time or weight limits.
f]Pankration was a martial art combining wrestling & boxing.
g]Equestrian events included horse races and chariot races.

Training also took place at Olympia, at first outdoors but during the Hellenistic period (323-31BC) the gymnasium was built. Home to practitioners of wrestling, boxing, pankration and the long jump, the gym’s main feature was a large, square inner-courtyard. And an extensive bathing system! The gymnasium was an elongated rectangle with space for both the javelin and discus throwers to practise. Both buildings were centres of intellectual debate and learning, with philosophers and teachers taking advantage of the young minds. Artists went there to put their skills on display.

The Olympic Games were the sporting, social, cultural and tourist highlight of the ancient Greek calendar for hundreds of years. The last of the ancient Games were held in 393 AD.

 100 metres sprint, 1896

Britannica

Modern Olympics

Athens had been chosen to stage the inaugural modern Games during a congress organised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in Paris in June 1894. The International Olympic Committee/IOC was also created then, specifically because Greece had held the Ancient Games.

In June 1894, Coubertin organised the Sorbonne congress, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposal's acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games was chosen, 1896, and then they selected the host city: Athens.

Demetrius Vikelas was elected first President of the new Int­ernational Olympic Committee/IOC. Coubertin said that Crown Prince Constantine got great pleasure from the Games being inaugurated in Athens. The King and the Crown Prince would con­fer their patronage on the holding of these games, but the country was in financial and polit­ical turmoil.

With the prospect of reviving the Games in doubt, Coubertin and Vikelas announced that the Crown Prince would become President of the Organising Commit­tee. Prince Constant­ine's enthusiasm sparked a wave of patriotic cont­ributions from the Greek public and businessman George Averoff paid generously for the rest­oration of the Panathenaic Stadium.

The first regulation voted on by the new IOC in 1894 was to allow only amateur athletes to participate in the Games.

Thus the 1896 Summer Olympics Games were the first international Olympics held in modern history. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium, during which most of the competing athletes were on the grass, grouped by nation. After a speech by Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games. 9 bands and 150 choir singers performed.

Some of the athletes took part in the Games because they hap­pened to be in Athens at the time the Games were held, for work or hol­iday. And the athletes had to provide their own lodging. Women were not allowed to compete, although they were invited to Paris only four years later i.e 1900.

Fencing, 1896

Academy of Fencing

7 venues were used for the 1896 Summer Olympics, the main venue Panathenaic Stadium hosting 4 sports. The City of Marathon hosted the marathon and the individual road race events. Swimming was held in the Bay of Zea, a seaport in the Athens area. Fencing was at the Zappeion, shooting at Kall­ithea, and tennis at the Athens Lawn Tennis Club.

The 1896 Olympics were a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date, with huge crowds in watching the sports stars.  Competing national teams came from 14 countries - Australia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Chile, Sweden, Italy, Greece, UK, France, Switzerland, USA, Germany and Denmark. Belgium and Russia originally submitted the names of competitors, but failed to send teams.

As of 2016, only 5 countries shared in every Summer Olympic Games – Australia, France, Greece, UK and Switzerland.

Quokkas - Australia's lovable marsupial

Scientists believe that marsupials evolved in Nth America, sp­read to Sth America and thence to Australia, formerly con­nected continents. Most marsu­p­ials died out in the Americas, beaten by placental mammals, but they thrived in Aust­ral­ia. By the time Sth America, Australia and Antarctica separated millions of years ago, Australian mammals had evolved.

A quokka family on Rottnest Island,

Wiki

Australian quokkas were first discovered by Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in 1696. One of the first Eu­r­op­eans to reach these shores, he met the strange animal near the Swan River, and across mainland SW Aus­tr­a­l­ia in swampy shrub­lands. These quokkas were still abun­d­ant when Eur­op­eans col­­onised the reg­ion in the early 1800s, but a cen­tury later th­eir numb­ers had fallen. They were hunted and lost in large strips of min­ing, farming and bush­fires. The main enemy was the red fox, deliber­ately int­ro­d­uc­ed in the 1930s for hunting. Alas quokka num­bers on mainland fell to c2,000, most­ly liv­ing in small and isolated populat­ions in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany.

de Vlamingh had named the isl­and near the Swan River: Rat’s Nest. This is where most quokkas are now, on Rottnest Is­land west of Perth. Quokkas survived there via a fluke: In the late 1830s, the Aust­ralian gov­ern­ment de­­sig­n­ated the island as an Abor­iginal penal colony. The pr­ison kept both main­­­land Eu­ropeans AND red foxes isolated for so long that when quokkas did move in, the natural environ­ment was carefully prot­ected. Today Rot­t­nest has c10,000 quokkas.

The other quokka home in W.A is Bald Island, near Albany. Suc­cess on Bald Island was from quokkas finding plentiful food sources but few predators.

There are 334 surviving marsupial species today, 200+ of them nat­ive to Australia. Our quokkas are special; they are covered with short, coarse brown-grey fur over most of the body, have short round furry ears, small black, naked noses and a short, muscular tail. They are the smallest wallaby species, and like kangaroos, they hop, round­ed and hunch­ed.

Mother carrying joey in her pouch, San Diego Zoo

Unlike the vast major­ity of the world's placental mammals, mars­upial fe­m­ales give birth to tiny embryos that compl­ete de­velopment out­side their mothers' bodies in a mars­up­ium/pouch. Female quokkas give birth to a sing­­le joey a month after mating, the joey remaining in the pouch for c6 months. It continues to feed at its mother's teats for another 2 months but once weaned, the joey ventures off alone.

Quokkas are nocturnal. They fanned out in small family groups across their scrub­­by habitat searching for food. At midnight, the animals stop­ped forag­ing but con­tinue eating, chewing one leaf at a time until sun­rise. These crea­tures love to climb small trees in search of the next meal, browsing herbivores who favoured grasses, leaves, stems and bark. On Rott­nest Is, their diet is primarily succulents or wattle leav­es. They can go for long periods without food or water, as they store fat in their tails for emergencies. They spend their day sleeping in groups, rest­ing behind the protection of plants’ spikes and escaping predators.

Quokka climbs a tree to eat leaves. 

San Diego Zoo

Quokkas were recently added to the International Union for Con­ser­vation Threat­ed Species List, given their popul­ation decline due to hab­itat loss. Other serious threats were foxes, dogs and mainland cats, further damaging the creat­ures vulner­ab­le from Dingos c4,000 years ago and Eu­r­o­pean Red Foxes in 1930s. Today there are recovery signs on the main­land due to Dept of Parks & Wild­life’s feral-proofing tasks. Act­ion was taken to reduce Red Fox numbers, thus contributing to some quokka protection.

Human impact also effected quokka numbers. Clearing for agricultural dev­elopment, spread of housing and logging have contributed to reduced numbers, as well as camping, and controlled burns before the bushfire season.

A quokka weighs 2.5-5 ks and is 40-54 cs in length, one of the smallest wallab­ies. Main­land populations cluster around dense streamside veget­at­ion but also be found in shrub­land and heath areas, around swamps. Quok­kas prefer a warm climate but are adapted to changes on Rottnest Island.

Quokkas, on average, can live for 10-15 years. They are able to breed from c18 months of age. On the mainland, female Quokkas can produce c18 babies in a lifetime, with 2 joeys born each year. But on Rottnest Is, with a shorter breeding sea­son, Quokkas only give birth once a year.

Wild Quokkas live in areas defended by dominant mal­es. In other areas, territ­ories were less evident and larger, over­lapp­ing groups of 25–150 adults formed around water, sharing a c40-acre territory. The older males fight to dom­inate both fem­ales and youn­ger mal­es; a male's pos­it­ion in the hierar­chy deter­mining his access to food, shade and females

Quokkas are not afraid of humans; they have broken into Rottnest homes to steal food. The animals can be approached so closely that they regul­arly nip children’s fingertips. NB travellers should not actually touch any quokkas, or they could be fined by local authorities.

On the other side of the continent, visit Featherdale Wildlife Park in Western Sydney. And thank you to the Australian Museum in Sydney. 

Dr William McBride, a heroic specialist

William McBride (1927–2018) grew up near Sydney and did Medic­ine at Sydney University. Grad­uat­ing in 1949, he did his residencies and went on to the Univ­ersity of London, sitting for exams at the Royal Col­lege of Ob­st­etrics and Gynaecology. On return­ing to Crown St Women’s Hosp­it­al in Sydney in 1955, he pract­is­ed obstetrics, and earned an M.D. Dr McBride was soon appointed as medical super­in­t­endent at Crown St. 

Dr McBride in the research lab

BBC

From 1956, scientists tested Thalidomide/Distaval on healthy ad­ults, anxious or sleepless patients, nursing moth­ers and mentally ill pat­ients. Studies published in German medical journals reported 1] satis­fac­t­ion with Thalidomide’s sed­at­ion and 2] few un­wanted side effects. Women were prescribed Thalid­omide without tests being done on pregnant laboratory animals, to get the drug on the market quickly, and it was first commercially mark­eted over-the-counter in 1957 in West Germany.

In 1960 a Distillers Co agent cal­l­ed Dr McBride in Sydney, marketing Thalid­om­ide. The doctor agreed to try the drug on some patients, and was shocked in 1961 to deliver a baby with severe arm deform­ities. With­in a few weeks, he delivered two more, all 3 dying.

It was Sr Pat Sparrow at Crown St who noticed that the limb defects were only in McBride's patients. At first he doubted her ob­ser­vations, but twice in Ap-Jul 1961 he con­tact­ed Dist­illers to sug­g­est the drug’s association with malformat­ions. The company ig­nored Mc­Bride and kept prom­oting the drug in Australia, to list on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. 

A desperate McBride wrote an art­icle for the im­portant medical journal The Lancet 1961, warning of Thal­id­omide’s dang­ers. The art­ic­le was re­jected, but McBride wrote a let­ter in Dec 1961 which WAS published, asking if other ob­stet­rician had noticed deform­it­ies in their Thalidomide babies. When confirm­ed, his findings led to many legal cases against Distillers. It also sparked a Sunday Tim­es in­vest­ig­ation which led to £20 million comp­en­s­ation for Brit­ish vict­ims in 1973. Then another £20 million in 2009.

In 1961 Dr Widu­kind Lenz (1919-95) was the first Ger­man doctor to rec­ognise the problem. He and Dr Mc­Bride got together and alerted the world to potential mal­form­ations in pregnancy. By 1962, Dr Lenz had the drug quickly pulled from all German markets, nonetheless my gen­er­ation of medical students still saw children born with missing or mal­formed limbs in the mid 1960s. Thalidomide aff­ect­ed c12,000 child­ren world­wide, including hundreds in Aus­tralia. Al­though Dr McBride had bravely warned the world about Thal­id­omide, and won international acclaim for his research, the first Australasian Thalidomide victims struggled to win compen­sation.

His discovery was critical in protecting ut­er­ine life. And his warn­ings eventually led to the recommend­at­ion that NO drugs should be ingest­ed by pregnant women. Mc­Bride was awarded a medal by L'Institut de la Vie, part of the Fr­en­ch Acad­emy in 1971. Using the $40,000 prize-money, he created Foundation 41, a Sydney-based medical research body examining the causes of birth def­ects in the first 41 weeks of life.

Working with Dr PH Huang, McBride proposed that Thalidomide caused mal­form­ations by interacting with the DNA of the dividing embryonic cells. This work was published in the Journal of Pharm­acology & Tox­icology, one of the top ten important Australian medical discoveries.

In the mid-1970s, Dr McBride's involvement in the Debendox aka Bend­ectin case was less wel­come. He believed Deben­dox, another anti-nausea medication, also caused birth defects. There was little evidence to back his claims, but McBride test­ified against the American company anyhow. In 1981 he pub­lished a paper on experiments on rabbits with hyoscine, a Deben­dox com­ponent, sup­porting his hypoth­es­is. Other res­ear­ch­­ers said that McBride’s pub­lished paper used manip­ulated data.

The manufacturer defended Debendox in mul­tiple lawsuits in the US, Britain and Australasia. Dr McBride happily app­eared as an expert wit­ness against Merrell Dow Co. in some cases, supp­ort­ing the plain­tiffs. Merrell Dow took Debendox off the market in 1983, maint­aining that it was safe, but saying that making it was no longer cost effective.

In 1982 he published his work in a scientific journal suggesting sco­p­olamine, which he said was similar to Debendox, sh­ould not be ta­ken in early pregnancy as it caused birth defects in rabbits. This claim proved to be his undoing; even Dr Lenz test­ified against Dr McBride.

Thalidomide affected arms and hands

ABC

In 1987, medical journalist Dr Norman Swan, in an analysis for ABC’s Science Show, found that Dr McBride had failed to properly record the amount of drug the rabbits received, its timing in pregnancy etc. [The evidence came from Found­ation 41 biologists]. Swan won a Walk­ley Award for his research; McBride’s career moved in the other direction.

In 1988 an investigative committee found that McBride published state­ments which he did not genuinely be­lieve to be true and thus was guil­­ty of scientific fraud. He resigned as Foundat­ion 41’s Medical Dir­ect­or but don­at­ions to Foundation 41 dropped off and for­ced it to close.

Dr McBride was called to the Medical Tribunal of NSW to face 7 counts of research fraud and negligence charges. The medical discipl­in­ary proceed­ings continued from 1989-93!! Eventually he was cleared of mis­conduct but found guilty of scientific fraud; they struck him off the Austral­ian med­ical register in 1993.

Dr McBride was re-registered in 1998, with the right to practise med­icine but NOT to do research. For years he’d been a hero, with head­lines proc­laim­ing his vital work, and awards: Man of the Year 1962, Commander of British Emp­ire 1969; Father of the Year 1972 and Order of Aust­ralia 1977. Then a fall from grace!

McBride: Behind the Myth by Bill Nicol, 1989 is very sad but fascinating. Thanks for the guest post by Dr Joe

  

Dealing with hoarding on tv and in real life.

Since the 2008, tough reality TV shows like Hoarders: Buried Alive opened hoarding to public inspection. The weekly shows presented the clear problem that afflicted families, but hoarding was clearly a major public health issue, affecting c5% of the globe.   

                                       

Was this once the hoarder's bedroom, kitchen, loungeroom or study?

Is any object in the hoard worth keeping, donating or selling?

I watched the episodes with great interest until a middle-aged woman, living on a huge farm in 2017, was defecating on her floor and not worrying about hyg­iene or rat plagues. She abused animals and chained them to a wall, and caused the pre-teen grandchildren to live in dang­er and trauma. Chosen by God, she believed that hoarding in prepar­at­ion for the End Of Days was His command; discarding goods was Satanic! Examine the earlier discussion about hoarding being a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In the NHS, council officers reported that hoarding accounted for a signif­icant proportion of bed-blocking, since hospitals couldn’t dis­ch­arge patients to unsafe homes. In one London borough, the av­e­rage cost servicing an individual hoarder for 4 years was £32,000: £10,000+ on forced clear­ances, £10,000+ on repairs and £10,000 on court costs. Hotel accommodation needed post-eviction was not even included.

Thousands of urine bottles in the basement

N.Y Post

But authorities intervened largely AFTER a hoarder was in crisis. But inter­vention involved dealing with the accum­ulated junk, rather than treating underlying problems. Hoarding was poorly un­­d­er­stood, seen as part of obsessive-compulsive disorders. Only re­cently was hoarding identified as a standalone psychological disord­er, leading to a grow­ing aware­ness of its ser­ious­ness. No medications exist specifically to treat HD. But a doctor may prescribe a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor to help treat other mental health conditions. 

One council officer proposed a pilot programme to intervene early on, rather than waiting until crisis-point. Prev­ention meant growing a re­lationship with the hoarder, gaining trust and making slow, lasting progress.

2,000 rats infested a Sth California house, 

CBS

For the first time in 2013 the American Psychiatric Association pub­lished the Diagnostic & Stat­istical Manual of Mental Disorders, inc­l­uding hoarding. The NHS then es­tabl­ish­ed guide­lines for treatment and in 2018, WHO followed suit. But not all psych­iatrists were in fav­our of this change, being against nor­mal behaviours made path­olog­ical. 

Researchers agreed that hoarding often began as a reac­tion to trauma, but saw that other hoarders might have learned behav­iours or a genetic pred­is­position i.e a study found 50% of hoarders had a close hoarder relative. And there was overlap with other men­tal cond­it­ions eg severe depression or dem­entia. In the US alone, there were 100+ organ­is­at­ions dedicat­ed to tack­ling the crisis.

Even the gardens are hoarded

in Bondi, Sydney

ABC

 

Given that people had different tol­erance for junk, clinicians de­vel­oped a mea­s­uring tool called the Clutter Image Rating. Used by author­ities around the world, the tool con­sisted of photos of a kitchen, bed­room and living room. Their scale descr­ibed Level 1: the floor was clear with items on the surf­ac­es. Level 3: the rooms were messy and items strewn on the floor. Level 5: floors were almost obscured. Level 9: walls were invisible.

Some hoarders never faced intervention eg if a hoarder was happy in an extremely chaotic environment and there were no dangerous iss­ues. One hoarder owned 5 homes, but slept in his car as his houses were jam-packed. It was common for hoarders to sleep in chairs for years bec­ause their bedrooms were filled. Or to live in unheated homes or with­out running water, using plastic bags for a toilet. But when others were endangered, the authorities often moved in. When a home was Level 4+, clinicians and fire ser­vice declared it too risky. Hoar­ders had breached their tenancy agreement, Hous­ing Act and Public Health Act.

The 2014 Care Act overhauled social care for UK adults by class­ify­ing self-neglect as a safe­guarding issue, so councils had the resp­on­sib­il­ity to protect affected individuals. The cleaning company London Blitz Clean found an elderly resident who’d been living in the flat for de­cades, but was now in crisis housing after a hospital stay. The kitch­en was crowded out, the food was years old, weeks of water had leaked from pipes. A br­oken washer-dryer in the corridor blocked the bath­room and the bedroom had clothing piled to shoulder height. Family mem­bers worked nonstop, then London Blitz Clean finished the job.

London Blitz Clean started in 2015, working with London councils and NHS hospitals. Each job took 1-10 days and local authorities didn’t always pay; they might’ve comp­el­led hoarders to cov­er costs. Their em­ergency prior­ity was to make homes hygienic and safe, just a tempor­ary fix that only addressed hoarding sym­ptoms.

There was often no passage within rooms or between rooms

IMDb

Hoarding-specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-CBT was not always  available on the NHS, and many hoarders reluctantly engaged with this treatment any­­­how. Worse, CBT typ­ic­­ally wasn’t very eff­ective. Ensuring accept­an­ce of professional help was a big hurdle. Vi­sits were arranged to discuss what they would like to achieve and once they reached a sh­ared aim, prof­ess­ional visits were org­an­ised. Such time-consuming, re­source-inten­sive tasks were prob­lematic for local authorities, but it was more effective than legal enf­or­cement, and hoarders rarely needed repeat visits.

Since Covid started, UK’s local authorities reported sharp in­cr­eases in hoarding. Along with reduced council budgets and decreased mental health funding, hoard­er-support was even harder to obtain. Yet the ex­perience for hoard­ers often felt brutal and int­r­usive. Since many also suffered from other mental health con­ditions, they’d av­oided let­t­ing outsiders in. And hoard­ing took endless time, plus much men­tal and physical energy for the sufferers. There were also health hazards eg toxic gases escaping from gar­bage, fire risks.

London fire brigades attended 1,036 hoarder fires in 2022, finding 186 injuries and 10 deaths! Now a Hoard­ing Panel meets month­ly to bring together senior fire­fighters, envir­on­mental health council officers, mental health workers and social housing workers. They discuss questions for specific cas­es eg man­dat­ory cleaning? eviction? They see hoarding as a complex condition needing targeted social policies and long-term management. Thanks Samira Shackle. 

Hoarders refer to their book piles as libraries

but they can still fall on hoarders' heads

N.Y Times

Ivan Milat Belanglo mass murders.

Examine Ivan Milat (1944-2019) again. He was one of 14 children born to an impov­er­ish­ed migrant family, rural, isolated and gun obsessed. He’d shown psy­chopathic behaviour at a young age eg hack­ing animals with machetes, sending him to a care-home at 13. At 17, he was in a youth detention cent­re for theft & at 19 for shop break-ins. In 1964 he received to 18 months for breaking & entering, and a month after release he was arrested for driving a stolen car. In Sept 1967 at 22, he got 3 years' gaol for theft. De­spite showing psycho­pat­h­ic tendencies from his early teen years and an active criminal record as an adult, it took a long time to identify Ivan as a suspect for rape or murder.

Milat family photo.
60 Minutes

In Apr 1971, Ivan Milat abducted 2 teenage female hitch-hikers at Li­v­erpool Station with a knife. He raped one of the girls before they escaped. Milat was arr­es­ted that day, charged with rape and armed robbery. While awaiting trial, he was involved in a string of robb­eries with his brothers before faking his suicide at The Gap. Milat drove a truck in 1975, and by the time of his arrest he’d worked for the Roads & Traffic Authority for 20 years. In 1977, Milat app­arently att­empted to rape and murder two women hitchhiking to Can­ber­ra, but failed .

So all this evidence made no difference. It WAS very hard to detect who did The Backpacker Murders in the Belanglo State For­est NSW, an hour from Sydney. This spate of serial killings started in Jan 1990 and may have been carried out by 1-2 people. In case Milat did not have to appear in court (robbery & weapon charges) until May 1994!

As reported, the bodies of 7 missing young adults were eventually discovered par­tly buried in the state forest in 1992-3. 5 of the vic­t­ims were tour­ing Eur­opean backpackers; the others were Aus­t­ral­ian back­packers from the southern states. 300+ police offic­ers were assigned to the case!!

Even when Ivan was doing time in minimum security for robbery, his mum Marg­aret loyally visited her son in prison. Milat met a teen in 1983 who was pregnant by his cousin. They married in 1984 and had one daughter of their own. However she left Milat in 1987 due to do­mestic violence and divorced in Oct 1989. At trial, she described Mi­l­at as gun-obsessed, shooting wildly while in Belanglo State Forest.

Detectives take suspected backpacker killer Ivan Milat into custody in 1994.

Allthatsinteresting

Following endless police investigations, Milat was finally charged with the murders of the 7 back packers. In Mar 1996 the trials opened and he was eventually convicted. He had to serve 7 consecut­ive life sentences, without ever admitting guilt. So why is this horrid case of interest now?

The best rock-solid evidence was provided by a British backpacker survivor, Paul Onions. He was ex-Navy man who’d backpacked around Australia, telling inves­tigators that a man had tried to kill him during his travels; that the same man could be responsible for the other backpacker murders.

Milat had long confessed his crimes to his mother Margaret and his loved young sister Shirley. Yet in 1996, days before Ivan’s guilty verd­ict in the Belanglo murders, Margaret still insisted Ivan was inn­oc­ent, as were his brothers who Ivan had blamed in his defence case. Margaret testified “the boys were living here when those murd­ers were meant to happen. I did all their washing, there was no bl­ood. They’re good boys.” Ivan was her favourite.

I am assuming the police would have in any case doubt­ed the confes­s­ions because his mother greatly loved Ivan and because sister Shirley had a very close sexual rel­at­ionship with Ivan. Shirley and Ivan were even sharing a house in Eagle Vale when he was arrested in Feb 1994.

A family service in the forest for one of Milat's victims, 1994
news.com

Serving 7 life sentences for Australia’s most infamous serial murd­ers, 56-year-old Ivan’s regular attempts to escape had earned him a cell in the new escape-proof prison. In fact the last time Mar­g­aret visited Ivan he had moved into the newly opened High Risk Man­agement Unit in Sept 2001. By then Ivan’s brutal slayings and reputation in prison as a cold, callous psychopath suggested no respect for life. But where were the psychiatric reports and treatments?

When Milat (74) in May 2019, he was diagnosed with terminal oes­ophageal cancer and, after hospital treatment, was gaoled at Long Bay where detect­ives unsuccessfully visited him to extract a confes­s­ion. When Ivan’s cancer seemed in remission, the race to get him to con­fess to the Belang­lo back­packer murders etc became urgent.

Clive Small was the commanding officer of Task Force Air that charged Ivan when the 7 young backpackers’ bodies were found at Bel­ang­­lo. In Milat, Inside Australia’s Biggest Manhunt, Small said Ivan’s brother George pulled the information from his mother Margaret. After Margaret returned from visiting Ivan, Small said she had lunch with George who noticed something st­range. George asked “Mum, did he tell you something?” Margaret said he’d admitted he was guil­ty. Only after Margaret died in Oct 2001,  was Shirley and Ivan’s home found to be filled with items from the Belanglo victims.

At that time, the house was strewn with camping gear and possessions of the backpackers whose murders were as yet unsolved, and gun parts were secreted in the walls and ceilings. After Ivan’s arrest, Shirley removed an unlicensed .45 calibre pistol hidden in a waterproof buck­et in the backyard and gave it to brother Walter and told him to get rid of it. Six months after her big brother received 7 life sent­enc­es, Shirley was fined $1000, dying in 2003.

Australia banned guns in the 1996 National Firearms Agreement.
too late to protect Milat's victims

Sydney Morning Herald

Read Milat: Inside Australia's Biggest Manhunt by Clive Small & Tom Gilling, 2014.

T.B, family secrecy, involuntary lockup and treatments

Hilltop TB Sanatorium, Verona, 1907

myveronanj

The first modern sanatorium for treating tuberculosis was the Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary for Scrofula, founded by a Quaker physician in Margate in 1791. Built for 36 patients and later expanded, the building was designed so patients could sleep on open but protected balconies and spend the day in gentle exer­cise or resting on the beach.

English Dr George Bodington wrote a scathing attack on other TB treat­ments in 1840, including imprisoning patients in sealed rooms at home. Unknown at the time, this treatment infected their caregivers and family members. Dr Bod­ington rented a house and op­ened a san­at­or­ium where patients could en­joy the fresh dry air, exercise and a good diet. The med­ical estab­lishment respond­ed harshly, with many noted doctors con­demn­ing his approach; TB referrals to his san­at­orium waned. So he dev­oted the remainder of his profess­ional life to the care of the mentally ill.

Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society, Denver
c1930 

Photo credit: Beck Archives, University of Denver

A German Dr Hermann Brehmer opened the first sanatorium in the Bavarian Alps in 1854. It was a live-in hospital made of cabins where patients could get fresh air, good food, presc­ribed rest and exercise. Brehmer had weatherproof wooden bench­es fixed into the ground at regular in­tervals along the forest paths. This life offered a de­gree of remission to some patients, by help­ing to streng­then their own immune systems. Sanatoria also gave the bene­fit of separ­ating the infected from others, sometimes for years. 

The first U.S sanatorium opened in 1885 in Saranac Lake New York by an American doctor who had planned to live in the Ad­ir­ondack Mountains. Dr Trudeau had read about the Brehmer approach and sought to replicate it. He also read of Dr Robert Koch’s disc­overy of the TB bacterium and set up his own ex­periments to test germ theory on animals, to quant­ify the sanatorium treatment. 

See how the architecture of a building could be purpose-designed for a TB sanatorium. External space was allocated for patients at the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society Denver who participated in heliotherapy/sun exposure as a treatment for TB. 

The many sanatoria accommodated a small fraction of the millions of TB victims. Wanting to avoid deaths, sanatoria often did not accept people with advanced disease. And because of the cost of sanatorium care, poor patients were left to die at home with their families. The death rate in sanatoria or at home were the same i.e half of pat­ients died. So the secrecy within these families was intense. 

Once antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s, they provided a real cure for TB, so sanatoria declined and closed. But even though the sanatoria had not cured TB, they did provide a long-term bene­fit to families and society.

In c1930 my paternal grandmother disappeared from her home, leaving her husband and 6 children alone. The oldest two children were mat­ure enough to stay at home, but the four youngest boys were separated and each lived with an aunt or uncle. Apparently my grand­mother had TB and was sent to a sanatorium in a country reg­ion an hour outside Melbourne, for an unknown number of years.

The boys were told that family secrecy was essential, that they were never to mention TB at their primary school or Sunday School. But they did know that TB was so infectious that they could NEVER visit the sanatorium, open a letter their mother wrote or handle the embroidered or knitted gifts that their mother made and posted to them. My father didn’t even remember how long his mother had been absent.

Willard State Hospital, NY

See an analysis of being locked away, for mental problems and not for TB. Nonetheless the isolation seemed the same. Willard Asylum in New York's Finger Lakes admitted its first pat­ients in 1869. Many of the early res­id­ents arrived after years of incarceration and mistreatment in dismal alms houses. Before long, Willard grew into a sizeable vil­lage, relying heavily on unpaid patients labouring in the farm, bakery, kitchens and indust­rial factories. Factory-sized brick buildings housed patients, while the more opulent residences were designated for staff.

By the early C20th, the patient numbers in Willard State Hospital rose steadily, with over-crowded wards and deteriorating condit­ions. The hospital's original purpose as a healthy rural retreat was lost in the grim realities of institutional life.

Willard's population reached an all-time high of 4,076 in 1955, and conditions within the institutions were harsh. By then state hospitals began to use newly developed anti-­psychotic drugs to control patients crammed into tight living quarters. In the early 1970s, new laws promoted patients' rights and resulted in a shift away from long-term institutionalisation.

50,000+ patients had been admitted to Willard during its 126-year history, and nearly half of those died there. When Willard closed in 1995, workers discovered hundreds of suitcases in an abandoned building’s attic. Many of them seemed untouched since their owners packed them decades earlier, before entering the institut­ion. 

Willard closed in 1995, 
Hundreds of suitcases remained from the patients who never returned home.

SMH

We learn who these invisible people were, prior to being committed behind Willard’s hospital walls, largely from the clothing and per­sonal objects left behind. The objects speak about fam­il­ies, friends, careers, sports, study­ing, writing and travel­l­ing, but also about loss and is­ol­at­ion. See their lives coming apart due to unemploy­ment, loved ones dying, loneliness, poverty or some other crisis.

The collection raised difficult questions. Why were these people committed into this in­stitution, and why did so many stay for so long? How were they treated? What was it like to spend years in a closed institution, shut away from a society that wanted to distance itself from these people? Why did most of the patients live out their days at Will­ard? What happened to their families?

The Willard cemetery opened in 1870, a year after the instit­ut­ion opened. Most of the 5,776 graves bore only numb­er­ed, cast-iron markers. These were the relics of the thousands of pat­ients who spent much of their adult lives confined in a state asylum.