HEATHCOTE

It used to be called the Heathcote Asylum. It was a place where Noongar warrior Yagan hunted. It's situated on a hill above the Swan River looking across to the University of WA to the left and Perth city to the right. You can see the little white yatchs skipping across the water. At its base there are white sand beaches where you can paddle in the river. 

Now it has an art gallery and is host to a Makers Market that attracts hundreds of people. Crocheted animals and flowers now seem to be a thing. I'm glad I made my one attempt (a frog) years ago and turned my hand to slightly more practical things since (scarves and baby hats). All sorts of tastes from duck and fig terrine to raspberry honey and the best icepole ever: passionfruit, mint and lime. 

All I could think of was the people who were locked up in the rooms one can still see as one explores the art gallery. Were they better or worse off than people with mental health issues now? There are regular stories about issues of homelessness and appaling boarding houses. Here at least, they would have been surrounded by green lawns and tall gum trees with a visita out across the river. They might have seen the Motorbike Frog or the Marble Gecko that live by the shore. Or the osprey perched up in a tree that we saw with a fish that it had caught. 

Perhaps we've been unfair to take away these environments from those who are suffering. It's the same thought that crosses my mind when I go to visit a friend who lives in the grounds of the old Kew Aslyum in Melbourne. Is the difference simply a matter of choice?