Disability Services Commission (DSC) and my humble opinions
The 1973 plaque unveiling (above). Plaque headed “Pyrton Training Centre” presumably prepared ready to be unveiled at the opening of a new section of Pyrton, which was first established in 1966.
Pyrton was a government-run Home for children diagnosed with profound intellectual disabilities. It opened in 1966 in Eden Hill (Lockridge) with children transferred from Claremont Hospital. Pyrton provided long-term accommodation and short-term respite ‘care’. From 1973, young people could be employed in an onsite Training Centre. No children were admitted to Pyrton after the 1980s. Pyrton residents were moved into community-based hostels or to Mount Henry Hospital by 1997 and Pyrton was closed by 1998.
Pyrton opened on 12 December 1966. It was established and run by Mental Health Services. Pyrton was built on land once owned by the Drake-Brockman family, and took its name from the village in England where Elizabeth Drake-Brockman had once lived.
The first building at Pyrton was the Primary Unit, later called ‘Myoora’. It had four dormitories. The Secondary Unit (‘Pindarra’) had a two metre high fence and no gardens. A Tertiary Unit (‘Carramar’) was built in 1975 to provide a more ‘homely environment’. Each unit had 64 beds.
Pryton was staffed by multidisciplinary professional teams, principally registered nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and social trainers. The first intake of children was classified as ‘active’. They were followed in January 1967 by a group of ‘immobile’ children, who went into a special dormitory. These children were all under 12 years old and had lived all of their lives in Claremont Hospital. Stella’s (1996) history of Pyrton records that many children, due to the lack of individual attention, training and support at Claremont, had little idea how to behave or to how to acquire social skills. Self-harming, lack of self-worth and anti-social behaviours were common. In 1969, behaviour modification techniques were introduced at Pyrton to complement social training. At first, seclusion in padded cells was tried but found to have little positive impact on self-mutilation, so a ‘cattle prodder’ which was said to ‘deliver a very painful but safe shock, was used on several residents whose behaviour was considered a danger to themselves’
In 1975, searching for ways to develop the potential of each child, individual treatment plans were implemented. Even so, evaluations showed that the institutional environment of Pyrton was not delivering the hoped-for progression to higher skills. By the 1980s, there were no children in residence at Pyrton – though some people who had been children on admission were still there. But a decision had been made not to admit any more children to Pyrton.
Pyrton was part of the hostel system and was based on a ‘progression model’ whereby people would move towards greater independence. Pyrton was closed by 1998.
- Address – Pyrton was situated on a large parcel of land (Government Reserve 25363) at 60 Lord Street, Eden Hill. Location: Eden Hill ……source
I had been in Australia for a few months after migrating from England with wife and 2 children (more have been added since) and served my “apprenticeship” at the now demolished Pyrton in 1983 and was placed after one week intensive traning in Pindara ( De Grey dorm) To me Pyrton was a great safe environment,wherein the residents could live without fear of intimidation and harassment.Staff were mostly brilliant in doing their duties and the resident secured the very best of treatment.Pyrton was a “city” that had traffic lights installed ( not official ones) that were used in training some of the residents.Anything from clothes to furniture could be obtained from the large stores.Buses were run to special schools,day trips and even holidays buses were “fixed in the garage at Pyrton and even boasted its own petrol station. Days schools and other activities were a plenty and within the grounds a swimming pool was added and the dorm I worked in even had its own Radio Station ( I can still hear those ABBA songs blasting out !!)
After on the job training (6 months) I was transferred to a Group home Fairholme that consisted 3 purpose built houses used by skilled residents who were trained up to be as independant as possible .These houses have now been demolished and bigger,better homes built. Within the grounds is a heritage listed ( sadly falling into disrepair) house,stables and buildings that were used for other purposes ie games.Forward 9 years and sfter a disagreement with management I was very quickly moved to Bennett Brook ( I was the Union rep , a job I had for around 25 yrs with the CSA) Bennett Brook was even better that had 7 duplex ,s and 3 houses again it was a safe,secure environment for residents of whom some were capable enough to travel and work in dependantly.This place was brilliant and most of my 15 yrs spent there was very happy ( I could take residents on National and International Holidays) towards my retirement date in 2010 the times they were a changing !! Residents were moved into neighbourhood house and the purpose built houses of Bennett Brook were turned into offices (not all at this stage) 2014 has seen the start of houses within the complex being demolished (the residents of this area ,Lockridge are quite rightly up in arms about the future of lands that housed Bennett Brook and Pyrton (adjoining)
I STILL believe that residents who have an intellectual disability and need the services and skills of Social Trainers are at their happiest in a situation as described above.Having served in a community based home with 4 residents to my mind is not ideal (I had a certificate of excellence awarded to me for setting up a community based home) and would argue in great lengths to professionals ( who don,t actually work with these guys ) and policy makers .Take a private poll amongst Social Trainers and I think most of them would agree
Rant over R.I.P Bennett Brook and Pyrton
The above photos are ALL Social Trainers I have had the pleasure of working with 1984 to 2010 Any STs out there who have more pics please send them on I will be very happy to Blog them
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