VPRS 8240 Trial Leave Register

This series comprises of registers created to record trial leave details of patients at Ballarat (VA 2844) and Sunbury Asylums (VA 2843). Under Section 87 of the Lunacy Act 1890 (No. 54), the Superintendent of any institution could permit any patient to be absent therefrom upon trial leave for such period as may be thought fit, upon parole for such period not exceeding seven days or with the consent of the Chief Medical Officer for such longer period as was thought fit and could, from time to time without the return of such patient, renew such leave or parole. Likewise, the Inspector could of his own authority permit any patient to be absent from any institution upon trial leave or upon parole for such period as he thought fit. A separate record was kept of every patient allowed by the Superintendent to be absent on trial leave. Various forms of trial leave were used throughout the life of the asylums. Leave gave patients an opportunity to be released for a specified period into another person's custody, and to test whether the patient should be discharged. Whilst a number of terms have been used to describe leave, essentially there are two categories: 7 day trial leave, also known as leave of absence or short term trial leave, which was leave granted for a specified period of time; and trial leave or probation, which was leave granted for a substantial amount of time and was often extended. Patients were often discharged whilst on trial leave. Trial leave was allocated in 3, 6, or 12 month allotments for the most part, and a 1978 memorandum attached to Unit 9 of the P0001 consignment indicates that trial leave expired at the end of each 6 month period. In practice the period of leave was often extended as administrative practice meant that leave always finished at the end of June or December. Variations occur between each of the registers, however they will contain some or all of the below information: - date of commencement of the trial leave - individual leave number - name of patient - whether male or female - patient's admission date or admission numbers (in the case of voluntary boarders, there is no admission date but simply a reference to VB or VP) - period of leave allowed - leave extension if relevant - returned to asylum (also used to record death whilst on leave or discharge whilst on leave) - additional remarks, e.g. family details and guardian to whom the patient was sent. In cases where patients have not returned to the institution by a certain date, entries from the previous register are sometimes repeated at the start of the next register. This duplication of information explains the overlap of date ranges between the registers. Some registers (covering 1903 - 1965) also include a record of escapes, recorded chronologically by date of escape. Information may include name of patient, date admitted to institution, date of escape, date returned, age at time of escape, details of escape and recapture. The record of escapes is at the back of the respective books and commences at the last folio in the book. Letters, notice of expiration and memoranda from the Inspector-General of the Insane and his successors also appear in some registers. Researchers should note there is a missing register for the period 1965-1971. Its whereabouts is not known.