PDF (Whole thesis) - UTas ePrints - University of Tasmania

..·
133
open shed for shelter;
although there \oas a stove in the shed, Hall
found there \'las rarely enough fire to keep a person sitting close by
\V'arm . He frequently complained to the staff about the lack of warmth .
Each day he examined every child and scarcely ever felt a chi ld 's feet
other than stone co ld.
Urgently and frequently he asked that more
clothing be issued to keep the children warm;
even clean c ' lothing just
issued \'las often damp .
In addition, he found the sleeping dormitories
badly arranged, crowded with berths in two tiers , and so draughty that
a child taken out of bed at night was quickly chilled; the dormitories ,
moreover , were washed daily and were frequently not dry when he visited
at noon.
Worst of all , he came to the conclusion that neither women nor
chi ldren received sufficient food;
cells with their mothers .
some children were even kept in the
On June 20 Margaret Sullivan and her child John, aged three
months , were brought to him from the cells.
The baby was clad in only
an old, thin, calico night gown and a new flannel barrow , with a pair of
socks belongi_ng to the woman on its feet.
The garments had been given
to the woman that morni.ng wet, and were still damp when Hall felt them.
He instructed that the child be weaned and taken out of the cell, but found
on the next day that it had passed a second night there .
He protested
_against any chi ld being placed in the cells under any circumstances
whatever .
In spite of his insistence that more clothing be provided,
fires lit, and special foods be given to some children, he found his
instructions , whether verbal or written, were ignored.
When he saw that
both women and children admitted to the Cascades Factory from the
lying-in establishment at the Brickfields were, without exception,
suffering from disease, such as abscesses in the breast and sore eyes
from the cold, damp ward there, he decided to take action, although he
knew very well that any attempts he made to ameliorate conditions would
bring him into conflict with the convict authorities again. However ,
the Acting Principal Medical Officer , Dr Jackson, promised Hall his
support and applied to the Governor for improvements in di et , clothing
and so on, which were sanctioned.
Even then, Hall was so certain that
his instructions were not carried out during his absence that he urged
.,
:!
, .
i'r
Jackson to obtain an order from the Governor to have all the unweaned
children with their mothers transferred to the Infirmary at the Colonial
Hospital, where they would be under the sole care of the Medical
. . . '
·•
·Department with "carte b lanche11 as to food etc.
Weaned children were