The Port Hedland Lock Hospital was built to house Aboriginal people suspected — often wrongly — of having venereal diseases 100 years ago, after an isolated island hospital scheme was shut down.

Reference:  ABC News, 7 June 2019

Lock Hospital in Port Hedland placed on WA heritage register, important in ‘truth-telling’

Dr Pervan has investigated the history of the Port Hedland site and hoped to begin formal excavations later in the year.

“We’ve still got evidence of the nursing quarters left on the location, so this is made of wood and corrugated iron buildings,” she said.

“But then there’s other archaeological evidence of timber frames, metal compressed fibre all scattered across the site, which would have been part of the hospital quarters.

“There’s also evidence of a burial ground on the site and we know that people who were sent to the lock hospitals are still buried in the location.”

Location of Port Hedland Lock Hospital: