1912 to 1952 - Working
'Useful Workers'
It will take considerable efforts to exonerate the department itself in the shocking case of a child-woman, May K., who had four fingers of her right hand chopped off in a mincing machine on February 12, in the kitchen of the Children's Cottages at Kew.
'Child-Woman has Hand Mangled in Mental Home: Caught in Kew Mincing Machine', Truth, 27 February 1937, page 12.
Image courtesy State Library of Victoria.
Cook Kelly of the Children's Cottages was attending to the preparation of mince in the kitchen. Mince is cooked food which is put through the mincer for feeding epileptic and other children who would be liable to choke if given food in bulk.
Cook Kelly was standing at the mincer and the patient Mary K was carrying trays of cooked vegetables to Cook Kelly. Cook Kelly states she turned her head for a moment to speak to another patient in the kitchen and during that moment the patient placed a handful of vegetables in the mincer and her hand was drawn into the machine.
The mincer is a power mincer driven by electric motor through a fast and loose pulley and the driving mechanism is amply and safely guarded.
Patients have always worked in the kitchen and I feel sure the accident was not due to any reprehensible or wilful carelessness on the part of Cook Kelly.
That patients should work is both desirable and necessary for the contentment and well-being of the patients themselves, and any work performed by patients is voluntary and not imposed. The question of remuneration is one of policy but very few working patients look for or expect financial pay. The patients who work receive many personal kindnesses from the Nurses and artizans. The relationship of members of the staff and patients who assist them is most admirable and on the patients is bestowed a kindness and affection in many cases sadly lacking from their own relatives. The members of the staff who year in and year out perform their duties under the most trying of conditions receive very little recognition of their work.
Joseph Hollow
Med. Supt. 8.3.37
Report of Medical Superintendent, PROV, VPRS 3992/P, Unit 2053, 1937/N1741, 8 March 1937.
© State of Victoria - Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records, Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
Re Mincing Machine
... I have pointed out previously the shrinkage in the number of useful workers, and I would say definitely that if this continues, additional staff and equipment will be required. I have previously reported on the necessity for improved equipment in all institutional kitchens in this Department.
Director of Mental Hygiene to Under Secretary, PROV, VPRS 3992/P, Unit 2053, 1937/N1741, 23 March 1937.
© State of Victoria Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records, Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
Memo:
Re Shortage of Nursing Staff
Children's Cottages
The Chief Nurse at the Children's Cottages is finding it difficult to get the work done with her present staff. The position is that there are 306 Male and Female Patients under her charge.
When 46 patients were transferred to Janefield the strength of the Nursing Staff was reduced by 6. These patients were able to attend to their own wants and a number of them were of great help in looking after the more helpless patients. The appointment of two Temporary Nurses would relieve the situation to some extent.
H Rogerson
Medical Superintendent
The Director of Mental Hygiene
As Annual Leave and ordinary leave is in arrears to the extent of 100 days on the Female Division, Children's Cottages, Kew and one Nurse (E T Dempsey) has been granted extended Sick Leave to 13.8.38, permission is sought to appoint two Temporary Nurses, each for a period of 3 months.
Medical Superintendent to the Director of Mental Hygiene, PROV, VPRS 3992/P, Box 2099, 1938/P3957, 4 April 1938 and Director's Note, 11 April 1938.
© State of Victoria - Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records, Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
‘Insufficient nurses’
Death Scald Inquest sheds Light on Kew
ONE night in a Kew Asylums ward! Forty four mentally afflicted patients, some squabbling and throwing boots at each other!
AND ONE LONE JUNIOR NURSE IN CHARGE OF THE LOT!
'Lone Junior Nurse's 44 Asylum "Children"', Truth, 17 April 1937, pages 11 and 15.
Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.
‘Mental Patient Scalded: Insufficient Nurses',
One nurse was insufficient to look after all the mental patients in one ward at the Children's Cottages, Kew, when, about 8 p.m. on February 16, Thema Ada Hills. aged 28 years, received scalds from which she died, said the coroner (Mr. Tingate, P.M.), at the City Morgue yesterday. Mr. Tingate found that Thelma Hills, who was a mental patient, had died because of the accidental failure of a nurse to lock a bathroom door. The evidence showed that there were too many patients for one person to look after at the time, he said.
Dr. Stanley Cantor said that the patients in the ward were subnormal but not usually refractory. They were all females, with the minds of children. They were aged from 16 to 50 years.
Nurse Mary Morgan said that the ward had a capacity of 54 patients. When the accident occurred she was in charge of the ward and was supervising while 44 patients went to bed. Thelma Hills required a bath. She took her to the bath room, but a disturbance occurred. The patients were throwing shoes at each other. She took Thelma Hills from the bathroom and thought she had shut the self-locking door. When she returned Thelma Hills was in the bathroom and appeared to have been scalded.
In reply to Mr. Tingate, Mary McEvoy, chief nurse, said that she considered that more than one nurse should have been present.
Mental Patient Scalded: Insufficient Nurses', The Argus, 10 April 1937, page 18.
Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.
… The question of adequate staffing has been frequently raised. The constant difficulty is to maintain the staff at approved strength owing to sick and other leave. An indication of this will be found by reference to memoranda of the following dates.
9.3.37 17.12.36 23.11.36 5.8.36 13.7.36
4.4.36 24.3.36. 9.3.36 12.2.36 7.1.36
7.10.35 4.7.35 3.5.35 10.10.34 2.2.34
22.11.33 3.5.33. 17.3.33 25.1.33 etc.
I have available a précis of a request as follows:
D.34/295 19.12.34. Dr. Ryan:- Overcrowding at c.c. An increase of 42 patients for the year. Asks for appointment of one 2nd Grade and two 3rd Grade Nurses also re-modelling of M5 Cottage.
Dr. Hollow: - Should receive serious consideration. Attention has been called to the state of affairs in each annual report.
Again on the 9th of March 1936 I wrote: -
“The overcrowding at the Children's Cottages and the consequential housing of children in dangerous and unsuitable buildings have been the cause of anxiety for some time. There has been a steady increase in the numbers of cases received and the remaining numbers under treatment, and the cumulative results should not only be considered in relationship to present needs, but also in relation to future requirements. Where possible, the appointment of Nurses will permit an increase of staff for the same financial cost.”
Medical Superintendent to Director of Mental Hygiene, PROV, VPRS 3992/P, Unit 2057, 1937/N3048, 8 May 1937.
© State of Victoria - Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records, Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
'The worst possible nursing atmosphere'
... The nurses in the dormitory there are in an atmosphere of ordure and vomit from the time they sign on until they leave and I think it is our duty to see they are properly rewarded.
Excerpt, Report of Deputation to the Honourable the Minister of Health,
21 November 1944, PROV, VPRS 6345, Unit 245, 1944/2939 Part 1.
© State of Victoria - Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records, Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
Mr D GRANT (Official Visitor)
... It is declared in a recent issue of a Melbourne paper that Kew Mental Hospital falls woefully short in respect of modern conveniences. That is perfectly true. It is an ironical fact that in the worst possible nursing atmosphere with the worst congregation of patients, the buildings, appurtenances, and facilities should be at their worst also: I am speaking of the Children's Cottages at Kew. It is unnecessary to say that we contemplate the transfer of those cottages to some other place. The nurses in the dormitory there are in an atmosphere of ordure and vomit from the time they sign on until they leave and I think it is our duty to see they are properly rewarded ... I must confess that I am greatly relieved when I leave the Children's Cottages at Kew; I am rather ashamed of that because other people have to stay there day in and day out for the course of their duty.
Excerpt, Report of Deputation to the Honourable the Minister of Health, 21 November 1944, PROV, VPRS 6345, Unit 245, 1944/2939 Part 1.
© State of Victoria, Reproduced with the permission of the Keeper of Public Records,
Public Record Office Victoria, Australia.
May I refer to the comments by Rohan Rivett in the "Herald" of 28th ultimo, headed "A Hillside of Sadness"? The writer, to my mind, draws a true picture of the Children's Cottages, and I cordially agree with his concluding brief tribute to the staff, who are deserving of every encouragement in their "heart-breaking task ... "
Official Visitor F.W. Bond to Minister for Health, 5 October 1948, reporting visits for quarter ending 30 September 1948, DHS Archival Services, 98/349 s,
Historical Records - Psychiatry and Psychiatric Nursing, Box 17, File, official Visitors Reports on Metropolitan Mental Hospitals.
Reproduced with permission of the Department of Human Services.
