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As far as Hall's appointment at the asylum was concerned,
however , the damage was done. On March 23 , after four arduous and
difficult months , during which time the quiet and relaxation he hoped for
to restore his health had completely eluded him, he commenced work at the
probation stations at Impression Bay and its neighbour , the Cascades .
Hal l's main task was to assist Dr Eckford, the surgeon in charge, care
for the invalids , crippled and aged, who were maintained at Impression
Bay. There were about four hundred men of whom about one hundred were
invalids , some nearly ninety years old, many of them free paupers charged
to colonial funds . Once again Hall found his duties very heavy .
Conditions for the patients were bad here · .oo ; often there was an
insufficiency of firewood both for cooking and for fires . These
conditions were reported to the Superintendent and to the Comptroller­
General but nothing was done to correct them . However , Ha 11 did not
remain on Tasman 's Peninsula very long . At the end of November, 1853,
he was transferred to Hobart Town to become Resident House Surgeon in
charge of the General Hospital. Like the convict women at the Ross
Female Factory, the invalids and aged were sad to see him go and gave
him their blessing. After nineteen and a half years in country areas
Hall returned to the city and commenc ed his dut ies at the ospital on
December 1.
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