I started my nursing training in mid-1969 and have worked mostly in bed based services, I have to say I have enjoyed my time and hopefully I have made a difference to someone’s life. I have been fortunate to work with some amazing people in my 50 yrs. in mental health, I have been lucky to hold a number of positions from Student nurse to Acting DON. I have worked alongside side some wonderful clients who have taught me so much about resilience and empathy. It’s difficult to capture the changes I have seen over the last 50yrs, there have been so many.
I will just share a few of my thoughts: Mayday Hills Hospital was one of the big mental hospitals in Victoria; it was a training hospital with 3 intakes of students annually. I remember when I started working in 1969 there was around 1000 patients, not sure of the number of staff but a lot, there were 18 wards, it was a busy bustling place, full of hard work and industry.
There has been a lot of negative comments made about big mental hospitals, stories of poor treatment of patients and poor living environments, my general sense was that it was the model of care of the day and yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, no doubt in 25 years time, they will look back and find fault with current model of service delivery.
I remember staff trying to make patients’ lives better, the food was plentiful, clothes and bedding was always fresh and clean but the lack of personal property, the lack of person identity still weighs heavily on me. The patients who were displaced after the Second World War, finding their way to Australia only to end up in a mental hospital when, now we would realize that they suffered PTSD.
I was the first female nurse to work on the “male side”, there were male and female wards at the time and it was decided to integrate the work force across all wards. What an eye opener that was, work was done by 10:00hrs then we could concentrate on activities like, going fishing, playing snooker, table tennis or a BBQ all done on the spur of the moment. Such fun for patients and staff alike, I learnt to fish then.
I remember obtaining one of the last two “Female” Charge Nurse positions, amid the angst of much more senior male nurses, who suggested it was folly to promote me as no doubt I would be off having babies in the next year or so. Equal opportunity has come a long way. We lined up in the hall each fortnight to receive my wages in cash, the Beechworth police would escort the payroll staff from the bank to the hall, not sure what would have happened if they had been held up, no guns drawn in those days.
I remember the mess room, where the breakfasts were so big; it was just the ticket for a young student nurse with a hangover. If you lived in the nurse’s home you would get enough meal tickets for 3 meals a day each fortnight, not bad for around $20 a fortnight.
I remember the nurse’s home, the parties and me being in the Matron’s office come Monday morning, to answer the allegations of bad behavior. Us never!!!!!!!!!! And then the old deputy matron told my father that it was a “den of iniquity”, that ended my freedom and home I went.
I walked around Mayday Hills on night duty for many years without the remotest thought of ghosts or other scary things, now there is an award winning ghost tour on the site, with sightings of ghosts in every corner. Ah the powers of suggestion.
Closure: Mayday Hills closed in 1995 and it closed a chapter on a lot of our lives, sadly I have forgotten more than I remember, but I enjoy catching up with old colleagues to remember that we learnt so many things about life in general, the lessons learnt held us in good stead for our careers.
Some of The Willows staff turned off the last lights of Mayday Hills in 1998 when we were the last group of clients and staff to leave the site. People say forget the past, it was not a pleasant place to be if you were sick with a mental illness but I say remember the past, it shaped us into who we are today; it shaped better services for our clients.
Colleen spent time with the researchers walking around the Mayday Hills buildings in 2019 and has been interviewed several times. Some of her recollections can be found as audio in the Mayday Hills Virtual Tour
