Special Series (Part 2 of 3) Up the Line to Goodna: stories from inside the asylumSpecial Series (Part 2 of 3) Up the Line to Goodna: stories from inside the asylum
All In The Mind
As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series All in the Mind unearths stories from people who lived and worked there. A nurse reflects on life in the asylum during World War II before the dramatic arrival of modern medications, and two sisters reminisce on growing up at Goodna with their matron aunt in the 1930s. Very different insights from opposite sides of the ward walls.
30:14•19 Jul 2008
Keys, Straightjackets and Silent Movies: Life Inside Goodna Asylum
Episode Overview
- Institutional power is shown through constant locked doors, keys and whistles, shaping how patients experienced every aspect of life.
- Early treatments included straightjackets and shock therapy, with later medications like Largactil dramatically calming wards but causing serious side effects.
- Former staff describe wards mixing people with intellectual disability, schizophrenia, brain injury, alcohol dependence and personality disorders, often in chaotic conditions.
- Despite hardship, many recall strong bonds, humour, shared work in gardens and kitchens, and community events that gave people purpose and connection.
- As fences came down and doors were unlocked, long‑term patients had to relearn everyday skills and confront anxiety before they could live outside the institution.
“Whoever has the key has the power.”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction, trauma and severe mental distress inside a vast Australian asylum? This episode heads back to Goodna Mental Hospital in Queensland, tracing its story from the 1920s to the 1980s through the people who lived and worked there. You’ll hear former staff, residents and their families describe huge open wards of 120 people, the clink of keys and whistles, and a life ruled by locked doors.
One nurse recalls, “Whoever has the key has the power,” capturing how control shaped every moment of institutional life. Another describes arriving as a young woman during World War II, “detesting” the place at first, then staying almost 40 years. The episode walks through eras of treatment: straightjackets and “refractory wards”, early shock therapy, and then the arrival of medications like Largactil that sedated whole wards but also, in some cases, helped people go home after years inside.
A former nurse remembers one woman who had spent much of her time in a straightjacket: after starting on Largactil, “She improved greatly… She was wonderful.” Yet you’ll also hear about brutal side effects, sunburnt and blistered skin, and the question, “Were they worth it?” left hanging in the air.
Alongside the hardship, there’s surprising warmth and humour: kids growing up on the grounds, never frightened of patients; fancy dress balls; silent movies; and a domestic science teacher organising jam-making and a little ward newspaper. The episode also captures how life changed as fences came down, doors were unlocked, and people had to relearn everyday skills before leaving—right down to working out how to lock a public toilet door.
If you’re interested in how mental health care, addiction treatment and human rights have shifted over time, this richly told piece of history might make you ask: what has really changed, and what still needs to?
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