Written by Dr Liz Bissell, Senior Curator Queensland Stories
TRIGGER WARNING: This post discusses mental health issues and references suicide. It may not be appropriate for everyone. Please also note that, in discussing historical institutions and processes, this post may contain terms or language that may be considered offensive today.
The statistics on mental health and wellbeing in Australia are alarming. One in six Australians is currently experiencing depression or anxiety.
A third of First Nations peoples experience high levels of psychological distress, and the migrant population also report poor mental health. In the LGBTIQA+ community, people identifying as transgender report some of the highest levels of psychological distress.
Men are particularly vulnerable, being less likely than women to seek help for mental health issues and three times more likely to die by suicide.1
Today, on World Mental Health Day, we acknowledge these statistics and look at some objects from Queensland Museum’s collection to consider how craft can be a medium for managing mental and emotional wellbeing.
Incarceration craft as therapy
This silky oak bookcase was made by Peter Harley in 1917 and came into Queensland Museum’s collection in 1992.
Details of a hand carved silky oak bookcase by Peter Harley, 1917. Photo: Peter Waddington, Queensland Museum
Born in Scotland around 1873, Harley travelled to Australia around the turn of the century.2
In 1907 he was detained by police in Rockhampton for attempting to jump from the SS Konoowarra as it left Maryborough. After telling one of the officers that he would jump again at the first opportunity3, Harley was transferred first to the Goodna Asylum, then to the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane (later the Challinor Centre).
By 1916 it was reported that Harley ‘spends his time in carving’.4 There is nothing in Harley’s work to suggest he had any formal training, so it is possible that carving was introduced to him as a complementary therapy as this was common practice at the time.
A lifetime legacy
At the time of his death on 22 March 19415, Harley was said to have spent more than 32 years in mental hospitals.
It is difficult to know how many pieces he produced during his incarceration. A number remain at the former Ipswich Hospital site, having been inherited by The University of Queensland when it took over the site in 1998 (and currently acquired by The University of Southern Queensland). Ipswich Art Gallery also has a collection. Numerous carvings are known to be still in the possession of descendants of former hospital staff.
Many of Harley’s works are associated with the Lobley family.6 John Lobley was the chief superintendent at the Ipswich Hospital for 48 years and it is thought that he either commissioned, or at least greatly encouraged, Harley’s woodcarving.
John Lobley’s brother, William Henry Lobley, also worked in psychiatric care. He was a warder at the then-named Goodna Hospital for the Insane for over 23 years, from the late 1890s to around 1916.7
The art of connection
In 2021, two handwoven baskets and a child’s beaded handbag with a bunny motif were donated to Queensland Museum by Desley Lobley. These were made by Desley’s paternal grandmother, Ida Smith, in the Red Cross rooms at Gladstone.
Interestingly, Desley’s husband, Errol, is the grandson of the William Henry Lobley mentioned above, and Ida Smith also spent time at the Goodna asylum.
Ida was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1930s or 1940s and was later admitted to the Wolston Park Psychiatric facility (formerly Goodna Hospital for the Insane). While she was an inpatient, she was administered with Electric Shock Therapy (ECT), which was widely used at the time.
When Ida was discharged, it was suggested that she take up some form of handicraft therapy to help alleviate her extreme anxiety and the ‘pulling of skin’ that was part of her condition.
Ida joined the Gladstone Branch of the Red Cross where many women explored crafts such as basket weaving, toy making, and beadwork. She volunteered at many Red Cross craft exhibitions at the Gladstone Show.
According to Desley, the Red Cross enabled Ida to mix with people and establish a role in her community which helped her manage anxiety. Ida’s story is an example of how craft can provide social engagement and cultural meaning in one’s life.
Over the years, her crafts were repurposed by various family members. The baskets were used for attending Sunday School, shopping, and for outings to the Gladstone and District Show. The larger basket was even called into service to hold a pot plant.
Craft, creativity and wellbeing
Without wanting to diminish psychological distress, nor reduce craft to the sum of the creator’s psychosis, Peter and Ida’s stories remind us that apparently mundane, functional things – like a bookcase, bag, or basket, can speak to the important relationship between craft and emotional and psychological adjustment and well-being.
Mental health affects every aspect of our lives. There are many activities in the community throughout Queensland Mental Health Week (7 – 15 October 2023). Whether it’s raising awareness of mental health online, taking time to understand what activities boost your own mental wellbeing, spending time with colleagues or family members, your community group, or reaching out to someone you have lost contact with, please take time to mark Queensland Mental Health Week in a way that is meaningful to you. Visit qldmentalhealthweek.org.au for some ideas.
Sources
- Beyond Blue, Statistics, viewed 28 July 2023, https://www.beyondblue.org.au/media/statistics ↩︎
- Alan Rix – Peter Harley: An Ipswich Woodcarver, Exhibition catalogue [curators Michael Beckmann and Jayde Williamson], Ipswich Art Gallery, 2009; Glenn R Cooke – ‘Peter Harley: Queensland Folk Wood Carver’, Australiana, 45.1, February 2023, pp.48-49 ↩︎
- Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, 7 July 1907), http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/53101092, viewed 19 July 2023 ↩︎
- Elizabeth McRobert – Chalinor Centre: The End of the Line – A History of the Institution known as Sandy Galliop, Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, Brisbane, 1997, p.109 ↩︎
- Peter Harley – Queensland death certificate, 1941/C/553, online index to the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages ↩︎
- For example, Frame 1914 (carved cedar) is inscribed with ‘John Lobley 1914’, University of Queensland collection; and work boxes for two of Lobley’s daughters are inscribed with ‘Isabella E Lobley 1916’ and ‘Maud Lobley’, Private collection ↩︎
- ‘The Goodna Case: Ellerton V. Wren’, Queensland Times, 11 May 1916, p.3, viewed 26 July 2023, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113151987; ↩︎
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