Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

93returning inmates and patients to society in a state that enabled them to fulfil‘socially normal’ roles, the reality was that the asylums, including the DestituteAsylum, became places where the occupants could be isolated from the rest ofsociety. 233Social historian Brian Dickey argues that because the colony was foundedby Europeans amidst stringent financial circumstances it was limited in itsfinancial and charitable capacity to generate a viable network of voluntarysocieties that might otherwise have prevented some destitute people from beingsubsumed into a punitive and highly regimented mode of institutional, pauperisedcare. As Dickey asserted in 1980, in relation to the colony’s institutionalisedmode of care, “… there is little evidence available so far to show any doubtsamong South Australians that they had created an unworthy or demeaning socialwelfare system.” 234The Destitute Asylum gathered into its internal physical spaces a diversityand disparity of destitute men and women. As of 31 December 1859 themembership of inmates is recorded as including the following: aged, blind,rheumatic, epileptic, paralytic, chronically ill, imbecile, convalescent (afterchildbirth), convalescent sick, single women and children. 235The Destitute Asylum remained as a form of controlled, institutionalisedcare for the colony’s paupers until 1917 when it was replaced by the Old FolksHome at Magill. The reason for its demise was that it was constantly operating tomaximum capacity with a population of over 600 inmates. A more expansive,better-resourced facility was required. 2363.1.3 The Lunatic AsylumsIn the early years of the emerging colony, as well as elsewhere acrossAustralia, destitute lunatics were regarded as a threat to both the social order ofthe community and to the safety of its citizens. Actions were taken with moreregard for citizen safety than for the welfare of those regarded as lunatics. 237 The233 Cocks, E., and D Stehlik. "History of Services." In Disabiliy: A Guide for HealthProfessionals, edited by John Annison, Josephine Jenkinson, William Sparrow and ElizabethBethune, 8-33. (Melbourne: Nelson ITP, 1996), 15.234 Dickey, Brian. No Charity There: A Short History of Social Welfare in Australia.(Melbourne: Nelson, 1981), 55.235 Dickey, Rations, Residence, Resources, 29.Bracketed words those of author.236 ibid., 137-139.237 Dickey, No Charity There, 8.