The Madness of Minnie May McNamara

Affairs of the Heart

The McNamara family had its fair share of tragedy and the committal of Minnie May to a mental institution was without doubt one of the most devastating events to overtake the family.

The youngest member of the McNamara family never had to endure the harshness of station life, growing up in the relative comfort of her father's "Rosebank" property at Jandowae. The embarrassment of Minnie's madness was felt by the whole family.

In 1907 the seventeen year old was bridesmaid to her sister Mary Ann² for her Christmas Eve wedding to Edward Cherry. Little did Minnie realize that in less than a decade her life would be cruelly shattered by a failed romance and her family deny her very existence.

Disappointment in Love

Few facts are known about the circumstances that led to Minnie's mental breakdown but according to her brother Will, Minnie May was "jilted at the altar" around 1915. The name of Minnie's reluctant suitor was never revealed.

Suffering from deep depression Minnie's mental health deteriorated rapidly over the next five years. The shell shocked woman wandered aimlessly about the "Rosebank" property staring constantly at the sun.

By the beginning of 1922, her aging mother Mary Ann (Fuller) found the 32 year-old woman impossible to handle. While Minnie was never violent she often had to be restrained by tying her hand and foot to a bed to give her mother some respite from her hyperactive delusions.

Asylum Committal

After consultations with Dalby Doctors' Hawthorn and Jamison in March 1922, the agonizing decision was made to commit the woman to Toowoomba's Willowburn Special Hospital.

In less than twenty four hours Justice of the Peace Joseph Lee sealed Minnie's fate, signing the request for reception of an insane person into the Queensland State Mental Institution.

The ink had barely dried on the formal committal documents as Minnie was hurriedly bundled into her brother Jack's car and taken from Dalby to Toowoomba, arriving at Willowburn just after one o'clock that fateful afternoon.

Institution records show Minnie's age at admission was twenty-four years old. She was in fact three weeks short of her thirty-second birthday.

Life Sentence

Minnie May McNamara began her life sentence in Ward 1 at Willowburn Hospital for the Insane at 1.55pm, Wednesday 15 March 1922. For the next 65 years inmate number 2923 would be cared for at the State's benevolence in a facility government bureaucrats considered was, "...a step forward in reform for the good of the community".

Her admission papers show she was of thin build, 5 feet 5 inches tall, blue eyes, brown hair, deeply tanned and weighed 121 pounds. The record meticulously noted her temperature as 98 degrees Fahrenheit and she had bruising to both arms and legs and her ankles were swollen.

It would seem that Minnie had to be crudely restrained for the 50 mile journey from Dalby to Toowoomba, the final indignity in the outside world.

Out of Sight - Out of Mind

It was only then the real tragedy began to unfold. Over the next three decades "Mad Minnie" McNamara was forgotten by her family, her name never mentioned and her very existence denied.

So complete was her concealment many family friends at her father James McNamara Senior's funeral in 1942 believed Minnie had died years before. She was never named on his Death Certificate nor remembered in his Dalby Herald obituary.

With the death of her mother in 1934 it would seem that by 1942 Minnie May had been all but erased from family memory. By then, the now 52 year old woman had been confined at Willowburn for almost twenty years.

Reaching Out

In April 1956, 34 years after admission, Minnie's 78 year old brother William enquired her well being. Even he had lost track of time thinking Minnie had been an inmate at Willowburn for over forty years.

He wrote, " I don't know if she is dead or alive. Would you give me some information if she is still living. I am nearly 80 years old myself and nearly blind. Would you let me know about her condition, by doing so you will be doing me a great favour."

The medical superintendent replied, "She is still here, her health is comparatively good for her age. Otherwise, although she has certain delusions, she is very quite and contented and causes very little trouble."

Serious Setback

In February 1959 Minnie suffered a serious chest infection and was close to death. Again Will wrote to the Superintendent offering assistance for his long forgotten sister, " ... as I am 80 years of age and am a pensioner I will endeavour to do my best as to the service. I don't get good health myself but if I should pass away before her I will provide for the service."

The struggling pensioner paid £85 into a trust account to cover funeral arrangements. The Government Pension at that time was a mere £3/10/- per week. Fortunately the funds were not required as Minnie slowly recovered from the life threatening illness.

Free At Last

On 3 August 1963, after 40 years 19 weeks confined to Willowburn, Minnie was discharged to the Eventide Home at Sandgate in Brisbane. For the first time in over four decades the seventy-three year old was considered "suitable" for accommodation outside a mental institution.

Although she was incapable of handling her own affairs, she was assessed as eligible for an old aged pension. Sadly, Minnie was to spend another 20 years in "institutional" environments.

Minnie May McNamara died at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane in January 1978 a few weeks from her eighty-eighth birthday ending 58 years of "benevolent" State care. Her 100 year-old brother William being cared for in a nearby geriatric ward was never told of her passing. William's youngest son Anthony McNamara and his wife Lorna were the only family members to attend her funeral.

Minnie is buried in Nudgee Cemetery, Brisbane. Will went on to outlive all his brothers and sisters dying in April 1979 at 101 years of age. He too is buried in Nudgee Cemetery next to his second wife Mary.