‘She had always been a difficult case …’ Jill’s short, tragic life in Victoria’s institutions, 1952–1955 Dr Cate O’Neill ‘“She had always been a difficult case …”: Jill’s short, tragic life in Victoria’s institutions, 1952–1955’, Provenance: The Journal of Public Record Office Victoria, issue no. 14, 2015. ISSN 1832-2522. Copyright © Cate O’Neill. This is a peer reviewed article. Dr Cate O’Neill, of the eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, is the National Editor and Research Co-ordinator of the Find & Connect web resource project. This project is funded by the Australian Government to develop a public knowledge space about the history of children’s institutions in Australia (www. findandconnect.gov.au). With an educational background in historical studies, Cate has also worked in archives, including at Public Record Office Victoria, where in 2005–06 she was involved in a project aimed at improving access to records of the Stolen Generations. Author email:
[email protected] Abstract Introduction This article uses a range of sources in the public On 3 September 1955, a 16-year-old state ward broke domain to tell the story of ‘Jill’, a state ward in into a staff room at Beechworth Mental Hospital and Victoria whose experiences in institutions attracted deliberately took an overdose of barbiturates. She died a an enormous amount of public attention between few days later in Wangaratta Base Hospital. The coronial 1952 and 1955. Jill’s story became a vehicle for inquest into her death was held in December that year.