In the heart of the sleepy Tasmanian town of New Norfolk, half an hour’s drive out of Hobart, lies the Willow Court Precinct. As you wander down the tree-lined streets of the township, the crumbling buildings of Willow Court come slowly into view. On the banks of the Lachlan River, right next door to the new supermarket complex with its perfectly rendered frontage, shiny signs and sparkling clean windows, sit three of the saddest, loneliest-looking buildings you’re ever likely to see. Not a single shard of glass can be found in any of the windows of the multistorey structures. The tallest of the three, Derwent House, sits at the front, facing the road, with an enormous gaping hole in its side, revealing a glimpse of the emptiness that lies within. Graffiti covers the internal and external walls. It looks like something from a horror movie, a scene from the apocalypse. These particular buildings are fenced off, but this is only a small part of an incredible complex that holds so much of Tasmania’s history.

On the other side of the road a sign on the gate that blocks the driveway proclaims ‘Willow Court: Gate opens 10–4’. Inside, the sense of abandonment and despair increases, despite the handful of people who walk through the courtyard. The gardens are overgrown and covered in rotting leaf litter. The carcasses of old vehicles clutter the yard haphazardly, their original paint colours peeking through the burnt orange rust to form a patchwork of colour. The buildings that surround the circular driveway are in only slightly better condition than those across the road. At least these do still have their windows, mostly. Some have been converted into antique shops and one advertises itself as a café. The rest are closed off, inaccessible to the public, hiding the secrets of the past behind locked doors. At the back of a cluster of tired-looking buildings a woman kneels in a garden bed in the centre of a small roundabout, trying her best to resurrect what was once maybe a nice space and is now just barren dirt. Through a dusty window a lonely figure can be seen sleeping on the dirt-covered floor of an empty room.