The Lunacy Act 1871 (No. 9 of 1871) did not distinguish between mental illness and intellectual or physical disability. This meant that children with intellectual disabilities, or physical disabilities such as epilepsy could be, and often were, sent to Fremantle Asylum. This act was repealed by the Lunacy Act 1903 (015 of 1903 (3 Edw. VII No. 15)).
Before the Lunacy Act 1871, the primitive mental health system in Western Australia had been governed by the English Lunacy Act 1845. Reflecting a general social apathy, the Lunacy Bill was not even debated before it passed into law.
The Lunacy Act 1871 defined a 'lunatic' as 'every person of unsound mind, and every person being an idiot' (s.2). Commitals could be ordered (Schedule A) or voluntary, at the request of a 'private person' (Schedule B). Epilepsy was one of the conditions explicitly referred to in the Act (committal Schedules). The Schedules also give examples of the information that was to be collected prior to admission, and the forms to be used at admission and for medical reports.
1871 - 1903 Lunacy Act 1871
1903 - 1962 Lunacy Act 1903
1962 - 1996 Mental Health Act 1962
Sources used to compile this entry: Ellis, A.S., Eloquent Testimony : the Story of the Mental Health Services in Western Australia, 1830-1975, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1984. p.27.; Megahey, Norman, 'Living in Fremantle Asylum: The Colonial Experience of Disability 1829-1900', in Errol Cocks (ed.), Under blue skies : the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia, Centre for Disability Research and Development, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 1996, pp. 13-52. pp.26, 45..
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 18 April 2013, Last modified: 22 April 2016