Indigenous History and Artefacts of the Bungarun Leprosarium

The Bungarun Leprosarium was a quarantined hospital facility located in northern Western Australia ( $WA$ ), specifically in Derby.
It operated for a total of $50$ years, serving as a primary site for the isolation and treatment of people diagnosed with leprosy.
Highlighting the scale of its operation, at least $1,400$ Indigenous Australians lived at the facility during its half-century of existence.
The institution remained in operation until a cure for the condition was established, leading to its eventual closure in $1986$ .
Contemporary interest in the site has culminated in a new exhibition at Perth’s new museum, which opened in November to feature rare and precious artefacts from the leprosarium.

Denese Griffin is a former resident of Bungarun who spent a significant portion of her youth in isolation.
She was "struck down" by a rare infectious disease at the age of $15$ .
Her residency at the quarantined facility lasted for almost $5$ years, spanning a critical period of her teenage years.
Contact with her family was severely restricted; she was only permitted to see her parents once a week.
Griffin describes the experience as being "essentially locked up," a sentiment driven by the quarantine laws of the time.
Even $45$ years after leaving the facility, she admits to feeling uncomfortable discussing her time there due to the enduring stigma associated with the sickness.
However, she balances these difficult recollections with the statement: "I didn't want to be there, obviously, but my memories sustain me."

Music was a foundational element of daily life at Bungarun, described by Griffin as something that "rippled right through" the facility.
Residents formed a social orchestra where Denese Griffin learned to sing and play the piano.
Beyond emotional support, the orchestra served a functional medical purpose: it provided an opportunity for patients to practice using their hands, which was essential for maintaining dexterity against the effects of the disease.
A specific instrument of personal significance mentioned is the melodica, which Griffin kept after the facility closed and which still brings her joy decades later.
While many instruments were discarded when the leprosarium shut down in $1986$ , a rare violin from the orchestra was preserved.

The Sisters Of St John Of God preserved critical items at the Heritage Centre in Broome following the closure of the facility.
Key preserved items being sent to the new museum in Perth include:
- A violin: Representative of the social and recovery-focused aspects of life at Bungarun.
- A microscope: Described by Helen Mary Martin of the Broome Gallery as "the thing that put people in there and kept people in there."
The microscope represents the medical reality of the facility, including the rigorous and constant testing patients had to endure to monitor their condition and determine if they were clear to leave.
These artefacts are part of a small, curated collection intended to tell a complex, dual-narrative of both sadness/sickness and joy/recovery.

Leprosy, now professionally referred to as Hansen’s disease, carried an intense social stigma that persists into the present day.
Many former residents, like Griffin, have shied away from sharing their stories with the public or even with close workplace colleagues.
Helen Mary Martin notes that the disease was so feared that many survivors only recently felt capable of discussing their history with their own families.
The upcoming exhibition is viewed as a necessary movement to provide the history of Bungarun and its residents with the "attention that it deserves."
For Griffin, the act of looking over old photographs and pictures from her five-year stay is a way to acknowledge the "happy times" that existed despite the circumstances of isolation.