[1] The Wolston Park Hospital Complex, opened in 1865, occupies a 450-hectare (1,100-acre) site on the banks of the Brisbane River at Wacol and encompasses a number of mental health facilities and ancillary services operated by the Queensland government since inception of the asylum.

[1] An 1861 survey plan indicates the presence of a house between the mouth of Woogaroo Creek and the small dam which still exists to the east of the current Wolston Park Golf Club clubhouse.

On 12 January, seven prison warders (two of them women) and ten police constables escorted 57 male and 12 female lunatics from Brisbane Gaol to Woogaroo, travelling by river on the steamer Settler.

The second inquiry revealed a multitude of mistakes and incompetency and a number of its conclusions related to the inappropriate and insufficient accommodation on site and the improvement of cooking facilities and the provision of a decent water supply.

On the recommendation of the select committee, the Queensland Government introduced the Lunacy Act of 1869, based on similar legislation in other Australian colonies and Britain.

The decision was made to abandon the low-lying area near the river where the main male section was located and consolidate it on higher ground where two wards had already been erected.

For many decades the hospital was serviced by employees who lived in the local area and there are now a number of staff who have a family history of employment at the complex going back generations.

Following the sudden death of James Hogg in 1908, Henry Byam Ellerton was appointed to replace him as superintendent of Goodna and Chief Inspector of Hospitals for the Insane.

A critical aspect of moral treatment was the provision of a pleasant environment, with an emphasis on well-lit and ventilated buildings with adequate bathing facilities, reasonably sized rooms with sufficient openings and views to the landscape.

A pleasant landscaped environment with gardens, scrubs and open space suggested the asylum was a benign institution and belied its true character as a place where overcrowding was chronic and patients were strictly controlled and managed.

[1] During Ellerton's period in charge, the asylum had undergone considerable material improvement and a number of essential services such as electricity, water and a hospital had been established.

Recreational facilities had vastly improved and the complex now had three tennis courts, a viewing pavilion and terraces and an oval considered one of the best cricket grounds in the state.

Even the later male wards, Gladstone, Jenner and Kelsey, were still firmly based on the moral therapy model despite their new designs with unusual, crab-like plan forms.

However, the transition to a less coercive approach to treatment occurred slowly and in 1947 Stafford reported that only 34 of the total 570 patients had been admitted under the voluntary provisions of the Act.

The ideas of modern treatment introduced by Stafford emphasised the development of a comprehensive psychiatric approach with adequate numbers of qualified medical staff.

Other facilities in the area included a sewing room, tennis court, bowling green, a large playing field, viewing shelters and storage sheds.

Arts and Crafts influences are evident in the massing of the hipped roof forms and the use of unpainted brickwork contrasting with coloured roughcast plaster above sill height.

The main entrance on the eastern elevation features an arched port cochere, adjacent to an oval driveway with formal landscape elements, including plantings of cycads.

Dark brick additions with flat roofs run the full length of the building on both the east and west elevations and accommodate smaller recreation rooms and a kitchen.

Two elevated brick pavilions (bathhouses) with raised roof lanterns, concrete floors and supporting posts are located either side of the projecting bay.

A wide timber verandah with a skillion roof runs the length of the north elevation at both levels and returns around at both the eastern and western ends of the building.

It is a substantial two-storeyed building of polychromatic brickwork, with a projecting bay topped by a gabled roof on the north elevation, with ground floor verandahs located to either side.

The area is bounded by Woogaroo Creek to the south and the Brisbane River to the north and is visually separated from the main hospital complex by bushland and mature plantings.

The Recreation Hall is located to the north of Ward C. The grounds consist of a mix of evenly sloped lawns with trees randomly planted between the buildings.

[1] The Basil Stafford Centre is located in the northern portion of the site and comprises the former Farm Ward Block, a school building and villa-style accommodation.

The Gailes Golf Course extends around the hillside between Wilruna Street and the railway line, the recent high security development at the eastern side of the site and the Wacol Repatriation Pavilion.

The site of an early graveyard at the western end of what is now the Wolston Park Golf Course, near the confluence of Woogaroo Creek and the Brisbane River and associated with the first asylum buildings on the reserve, is an area of archeological interest with potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history.

The complex includes a range of architectural styles and forms; from modest timber visitor pavilions through to imposing brick ward and administration buildings.

Wolston Park Hospital Complex is the longest operating mental health facility in the State and a distinct culture has developed around the institution.

As such, Wolston Park Hospital Complex has a strong and special association for the Queensland mental health community including staff, patients, families, friends and advocates, both past and present.