Enfield Receiving House - 10th Schedule Mental Health Admissions

Enfield Receiving House 

Enfield Receiving House circa 1926

The Enfield Receiving House was an 80-bed facility built in 1922 to house South Australia’s mentally ill patients who were classified as “10th Schedule Admissions”. This hospital and other mental health facilities in the State came under the supervision of the Superintendent of Mental Institutions, Dr H.M. Birch.
 The Enfield Receiving House was situated on a 20-acre block at the corner of Grand Junction Rd, Foster's Rd and Hilltop Drive Adelaide, South Australia which remains vacant since its declassification in 1982 and subsequent demolition. A mental health facility still occupies some of the lands where once sat the Northfield Security Hospital (1973 - 1987) for the criminally insane at the rear of where the Enfield Hospital once sat. That facility is James Nash House, built in 1987, which is a facility for ‘Forensic Mental Health’.

circa 1929

Children were often housed with adults in the Enfield Receiving House. In 1935 a new Mental Defectives Act was passed that allowed the Minister to pass any person in a Government run facility, such as a gaol or reformatory, into a hospital for mental defectives. This meant that “criminal mental defectives” and children with intellectual disabilities could be housed in the same facility, and some confined to the same wards!

 The Enfield Receiving House had its name changed in 1963 to the Enfield Hospital, but still acted in the same capacity, receiving those with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems, taking in both children and adults.
The difference between a Receiving Hospital and a Mental Hospital was a legal definition, that a Receiving Hospital is a temporary or observational treatment facility versus a Mental Hospital which is a facility for a more permanent patient stay.

Under old laws a patient could be admitted to a receiving house under a justice's order (s.32) and could legally be held (against their will) for 30 days, or if admitted on request (s.35), for two months.
  These periods could be extended by new court proceedings, but only for a total of six months.
Committal to a mental hospital, such as Hillcrest or Glenside was seen as a more permanent form of institutionalisation and was governed by different laws, however, many patients from receiving homes ended up in these facilities.

 Disturbing for some readers is a book titled “The Last of the Lunatics”, written by the former director of the Enfield Receiving house, between 1951 and 1963, John Cawte AO, MB BS, MD, DPM, PhD, FRANZCP, FRCPsych, FAPA.

 In his book Cawte describes many aspects of his time at the hospital, often referring to specific cases taken from his own files, which survived the demolition of the hospital in 1982.
 Cawte describes the use of continuous water baths, straight-jackets and padded cells, but perhaps most disturbing is his candid descriptions of electroconvulsive therapy and surgical lobotomies, or the use of insulin to produce comas in patients (sometimes known as ICT – insulin coma therapy or IST – Insulin shock therapy).

In 1979, The Enfield Hospital became part of the Hillcrest Hospital, and by 1982 was fully incorporated as part of the Hillcrest facility. Hillcrest Hospital was decommissioned in 1994 and parts of the site sold off.

 One part that remained, was Makk and McLeay and Clements House, three wards of the Oakden Older Person’s Mental Health Service, which was closed in 2017 after allegations of mistreatment by the staff of its patients.



Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018
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References. 
Cawte, John, 1998, The Last of the Lunatics, Melbourne University Press; Melbourne (Australia)

George, T. S.  1972, “COMMITMENT AND DISCHARGE OF THE MENTALLY ILL IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA”, The Adelaide Law Review, Iss.4, p. 331 viewed 2 July 2018, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AdelLawRw/1972/5.pdf

State Records of South Australia, 'Agency Details: GA1993 Enfield Receiving House, later Enfield Hospital 1922 - 1981', in State Records of South Australia, ArchivesSearch, http://archives.sa.gov.au.

Hugged, Kissed and Shot: The Murder of Hilda Jones. (Part 1)

Hugged, Kissed and Shot: The Murder of Hilda Jones. (Part I)

“Even as he kissed her ruby lips his teetering brain gave finally away,

And, a wreck at random driven, without one glimpse of reason or of heaven 

He raised his deadly rifle, raised it so that none should have her,

She never spoke, poor child.

 The smile faded from her eyes with the crumbling of her skull, 

shattered by that awful bullet, as she fell a maimed and bleeding thing upon the floor,

while he, ghastly, staring, stood over the body, 

waving intruders aside, until at last, the policeman came, and he swooned off in their arms.”

 - Truth (QLD newspaper) 15 June 1924.

On the 17th of March 1924, Hilda Jones went to work at her job at the offices of Mr W.A.A. West, Estate Agent and Horse Racing enthusiast, where she worked as a typist. The office was situated on Currie Street in Adelaide.

That same morning, Bert Neal arrived at his job at Bickford and Sons, Limited Wholesale Chemists on Currie Street. He arrived at 8am, and it was noticed straight away by his workmates, that he had with him a Lee Enfield Rifle.

Neal was known for his negative attitude, often coming across as morose or depressed, and this day his co-workers noted his disposition as “unusually quiet”.
During a break, Neal made his way to Bank Street, where he stopped at a gun dealer's shop and purchased 30 cartridges for his rifle.

 Lunch on Currie Street occurred for Ms Jones at 1:15pm, and on this fateful day, she found her boyfriend, someone who visited her home frequently, and who loved her very much, in the Currie Street offices where she worked.
 The two were seen together talking at 1:20pm, but for the next half hour, only Hilda and Bert know what happened.

At 2pm, Mr West's accountant, Mr Young, who was in his office, heard a loud crack as if from a rifle. He ran into the hallway and saw Neal, standing at the door of the office, with a rifle in his hands.
 Young asked Neal what was going on. Neal did not respond, instead, he waved frantically not to come near him, so Mr Young, ran out of the building to find a police officer to help.

 Only minutes later, Constables Easton and Stewart arrived on the scene. They headed towards Mr West’s office and saw Neal standing in the doorway, rifle in hand. Neal dropped the rifle and collapsed. He was taken to the Adelaide Hospital by the Constables for examination, with his only comment being “I am tired”.

Continued next week.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller.

© 2018 Allen Tiller

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Bibliography on last post in series.