What is to be done with the men?: The role of invalids in the establishment of the Launceston General Hospital

Abstract

The years 1840 to 1856 witnessed significant change in the island colony of Van Diemen's Land. It commenced with the introduction of probation to the convict system and ended with the transfer of governance from imperial to colonial control, the so-called advent of 'responsible government'. It was this period that saw the development of a charitable institutional system administratedby the Convict Department. The principal invalid establishment was an integral constituent of the Impression Bay Convict Station, located on Tasman's Peninsula. The repercussion of this genesis was that colonial Tasmania's aged poor were initially managed through incarceration in government institutions under strict discipline and supervision. These institutions were essentially regimented penalenvironments, and they were founded as a means to isolate, seclude and control pauper emancipists who were perceived as a social contagion. The incipient charitable institution housed an undifferentiated pauper population in which all inmates were seen as undeserving.In the mid 1850s and early 1860s a number of socio-economic factorsresulted in a sudden expansion in pauper invalid numbers. This induced a substantial degree of anxiety amongst the middle class fearful of a breakdown in control over the emancipist and convict population. This essay examines the initial measures taken by Tasmania's new colonial authorities to address a crisis in pauper invalid numbers in northern Tasmania. The issue is explored in relation to invalid overcrowding of government institutions in Launceston and the measures taken in developing an institutional response. This was based upon the founding of a generalised institution, the Launceston General Hospital, intended to respond to a multitude of pauper categories.