Yesterday, in Queensland Parliament, Lance McCallum, ALP MP, delivered a heartfelt apology to the victims/survivors of Wolston Park Mental Hospital. I encourage everyone to click and listen for yourself.
I’m incredibly grateful for Qld Labor supporting this apology. It’s disappointing that the LNP, and especially the Health Minister, Tim Nicholls, missed an opportunity to rise above politics and right past wrongs with a simple apology. It’s not much to ask, writes Eden Gillespie from the ABC.
This is in the wake of the Bland Report, which confirmed the systemic nature of harrowing abuse and rape at Wolston Park Mental Hospital.
The Report of the Review into Wolston Park was released on 19 December 2025, the Friday before Christmas.[1] The ABC journalist Eden Gillespie wrote, ‘Harrowing allegations of rape, beatings and staff cover-ups have been detailed in a 12-month review into a notorious Queensland mental health hospital.’[2]
For many of us, like me, it was the first chance to tell an official inquiry our stories about the institution’s hidden history of patient abuse. It was a validating experience to give testimony of what I knew of the mistreatment of my brother, Randall. But truth-telling is not enough. Justice requires restitution for harms done in the name of the Queensland State, for which an apology could go a long way.
Thank you to Qld Labor and Lance McCallum for putting people above politics.
Original Painting by Survivor of Wolson Park and Artist Debbie Manson
Sources
[1] Robert Bland, 2025, Report into experiences of treatment and care at Wolston Park Hospital:
1950 to 2000, Qld Government.
[2] Eden Gillespie, Patients allege rape, beatings and staff cover-ups at Brisbane mental hospital in damning report, ABC, 19 December 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-19/qld-wolston-park-report-mental-health/106158032
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