Lock Hospital MemorialPrint Page

The sculpture commemorates the Aboriginals who were incarcerated in the Lock Hospital in the Bernier and Dorre lock hospitals between 1908 and 1919. 

The sculpture depicts a young woman pointing towards the Bernier and Dorre Islands, where her family members may have been held, her other hand covering her face. Her little brother clings to her waist, his back to the sea. In reality, the pair could represent the ancestors of any number of people across Western Australia.

A permanent memorial has been unveiled in Western Australia's Gascoyne region to acknowledge the shocking lock hospital history. A bronze statue has now been unveiled on the clifftops of Carnarvon, a remote town 900km north of Perth, in memory of the practice.It depicts a young woman pointing towards the Bernier and Dorre Islands, where her family members may have been held, her other hand covering her face.Her little brother clings to her waist, his back to the sea.

Early last century, over the course of just over a decade, hundreds of Aboriginal men and women were imprisoned on islands 50 kilometres offshore because authorities suspected they had venereal diseases. Theirs is an appalling story.

Between 1908 and 1919, hundreds of Aboriginal men and women were taken into custody and marched to Carnarvon — some for hundreds of kilometres, some in chains — where they were put in boats and taken to the islands. Some were left on the uninhabited, desolate sandy islands for years. It is estimated more than 200 people died on the islands, where their remains were left in unmarked areas.

Descendants have been pushing to have the story acknowledged for the past five years, and archaeologists and researchers have been working to uncover evidence both on the islands and in state records, including medical experiments performed on those held there.

In January, descendants travelled out to the islands for a ceremony to mark 100 years to the day since the last person was removed from the offshore prison.

Descendant Kathleen Musulin, who has been a key driver of the project, said the unveiling of the statue was further acknowledgement, and will aid the healing. "There's a lot of emotions going through me," Ms Musulin said. "One of them is that I'm really, really happy that we're finally getting all our ancestors acknowledged, what they have gone through, because it's been like they've been forgotten about for the past 100 years."

WA's Indigenous Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt and Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan attended the formal unveiling ceremony of the statue by Smith Sculptors.

Mr Wyatt said until now, the history was one that was not talked about but there was a determination now to tell the truth. "It's been shameful, it's been one that Aboriginal people themselves haven't wanted to talk about," Mr Wyatt said.  "Now we can say this happened, we need to acknowledge this happened. Aboriginal people were taken from their country, that's had an impact on the current generation of Aboriginal people. So it allows us to understand the trauma of the current generation of Aboriginal people, but I think importantly, it just says this history doesn't need to define us now, we need to acknowledge it we need to tell truth about it and move forward in this relationship."

A third phase of the project will involve a walkway from a healing space in Carnarvon to the statue, called the Path of Pain, which will detail the history.

The project has been funded by the State Government, the Shire of Carnarvon and Lotterywest.

Ms Musulin also hoped the story would be told in Carnarvon's cultural centre, which the State Government announced would reopen later this year after it was closed in 2015 over concerns about its management and finances.

Ms Musulin said she hoped the Lock Hospital story would be incorporated in the reopened centre. "For me the cultural centre is, it's acknowledging Aboriginal people as the first people and it's about celebrating everything that we have, our culture, and the diversity of Aboriginal people," Ms Musulin said.

The Bernier and Dorre lock hospitals are a part of a wider story of the medical incarceration of Aboriginal people across Australia. Lock hospitals also existed in Port Hedland, WA, and later in Barambah and Fantome Island in Queensland. Leprosy field hospitals were also established in WA, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
ABC Pilbara, 18 April 2019.

Note: A lock hospital was an establishment that specialized in treating sexually transmitted diseases. They operated in Britain and its colonies and territories from the 18th century to the 20th.
 

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