{"id":"thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995","name":"Thomas Hutchinson Trust and related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995","slug":"thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"sa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":110551,"registerId":"sa-thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Thomas Hutchinson Trust and related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995","content":"South Australia\nThomas Hutchinson Trust and related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995\nAn Act to provide for the sale of the Hutchinson Hospital premises in Gawler and the winding up of the Thomas Hutchinson Trust and certain other trusts; and for other related purposes.\n\nContents\nPreamble\n1\tShort title\n2\tWinding up of the Hutchinson Trust\n3\tWinding up of the other related Trusts\n4\tCertain testamentary dispositions are to benefit the Gawler Health Service\nLegislative history\n\n\nPreamble\n1\tBy a will dated 16 October 1896, Thomas Hutchinson (the testator), who died on 29 August 1901 established a trust (the Hutchinson Trust) under which certain property in the town of Gawler in this State was to be used as a hospital and the income from the testator's residuary estate was to be applied for the purposes of that hospital.\n2\tA hospital named the \"Hutchinson Hospital\" was duly established in or about 1911 in East Terrace, Gawler by the then trustees, and the hospital, which continued to operate at that site until the end of October 1994, became an incorporated hospital under the South Australian Health Commission Act 1976 in 1982.\n3\tIn September 1994 the name of the Hutchinson Hospital was changed to \"Gawler Health Service Incorporated\".\n4\tIn October 1994 the board of the Gawler Health Service relocated its operations to the new public hospital premises built in Gawler by the South Australian Health Commission (the Commission) and, in view of this, the trustees of the Hutchinson Trust have closed down the East Terrace premises owned by the Trust.\n5\tThe trustees of the Hutchinson Trust believe that it would be in accordance with the intentions of the testator (the terms of the will contemplate benefiting any other public hospital that might in the future be established in or near Gawler) if the premises of the former Hutchinson Hospital (apart from the former Director of Nursing's residence) were to be sold, the other trust assets (all monetary investments) realised and the net proceeds of sale and realisation (after clearing all the Trust's debts and expenses) paid to the Commission to offset the cost of building and equipping the new public hospital premises.\n6\tThe trustees and the board of the Gawler Health Service have agreed that the former Director of Nursing's residence should be transferred (at no consideration) to the Gawler Health Service.\n7\tThe following further trusts were established:\n\t(a)\tby a will dated 31 March 1915, John Potts, who died on 14 June 1915, established a trust (the Potts Trust) the income of which was to be divided equally between the Hutchinson Hospital and the Children's Hospital at North Adelaide (now the Women's and Children's Hospital);\n\t(b)\tby a will dated 20 March 1930, James Commons, who died on 10 February 1937, established a trust (the Commons Trust) the income of which was to be paid to the Hutchinson Hospital;\n\t(c)\tby a will dated 4 August 1936, John Alfred Dingle, who died on 15 April 1944, established a trust the income of which was to be paid to the Hutchinson Hospital for the benefit of destitute patients;\n\t(d)\tby a will dated 4 December 1944, Lydia Helps, who died on 24 January 1952, established a trust (the Helps Trust) the income of which was to be paid to the Hutchinson Hospital;\n\t(e)\tby a will dated 6 August 1945, Ann Magarey, who died on 21 February 1947, established a trust (the Magarey Trust) the income of which was to be divided equally between the Hutchinson Hospital and the Children's Hospital at North Adelaide (now the Women's and Children's Hospital).\n8\tThe trustees of the trusts referred to in clause 7 believe that it is the appropriate time to wind up those trusts and to pay the net proceeds to the Gawler Health Service and, as the case may require, the Women's and Children's Hospital.\n9\tThe purpose of this Act is therefore to implement the wishes of the trustees of the various trusts referred to in the preceding clauses and to make appropriate provision for any testamentary dispositions that may now or in the future be in favour of the Hutchinson Hospital at Gawler.\n\nThe Parliament of South Australia enacts as follows:\n1—Short title\nThis Act may be cited as the Thomas Hutchinson Trust and related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995.\n2—Winding up of the Hutchinson Trust\n\t(1)\tThe trustees of the Hutchinson Trust are empowered to—\n\t(a)\texecute a transfer of the whole of the land comprised in Certificate of Title Register Book Volume 4144 Folio 13 to the Gawler Health Service Incorporated for no consideration; and\n\t(b)\tsell the remainder of the hospital premises in East Terrace Gawler, being the whole of the land comprised in Certificates of Title Register Book Volume 2370 Folio 81 and Volume 4144 Folios 12, 14, 15 and 16; and\n\t(c)\trealise all other assets of the Trust; and\n\t(d)\tclear all outstanding debts and liabilities of the Trust; and\n\t(e)\tpay the net proceeds of the Trust to the Commission.\n\t(2)\tOn registration by the Registrar-General of the transfer referred to in subsection (1)(a) and final payment to the Commission of the net proceeds of the Trust, the Hutchinson Trust will be taken to have been revoked.\n\t(3)\tThe money received by the Commission under this section will be put towards the cost of building and equipping the new public hospital at Gawler now occupied by the Gawler Health Service.\n3—Winding up of the other related Trusts\n\t(1)\tThe trustees of the Potts Trust, the Commons Trust, the Dingle Trust, the Helps Trust and the Magarey Trust are empowered to—\n\t(a)\trealise the assets of the Trusts; and\n\t(b)\tclear all outstanding debts and liabilities of the Trusts; and\n\t(c)\tpay the net proceeds of the Trusts—\n\t(i)\tin the case of the Potts Trust and the Magarey Trust—half to Gawler Health Service Incorporated and half to the Women's and Children's Hospital;\n\t(ii)\tin the case of the other Trusts—to the Gawler Health Service Incorporated.\n\t(2)\tOn final payment of the net proceeds of a Trust in accordance with subsection (1), the Trust will be taken to have been revoked.\n4—Certain testamentary dispositions are to benefit the Gawler Health Service\n\t(1)\tA testamentary disposition, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, in favour of the Hutchinson Hospital in Gawler will be taken to be a disposition in favour of the Gawler Health Service Incorporated.\n\t(2)\tThe execution (before the enactment of this section) of a testamentary disposition of a kind referred to in subsection (1) is not invalidated by the retrospective operation of that subsection.\n\t(3)\tThis section does not operate to defeat the intention of a testator or testatrix who provided that, should the beneficiary cease to exist, the disposition was to lapse or was to be in favour of some other person or body.\n\t(4)\tIn this section, a reference to a testamentary disposition extends to a surrender or release effected by a testamentary disposition.\nLegislative history\nNotes\n\t•\tFor further information relating to the Act and subordinate legislation made under the Act see the Index of South Australian Statutes or www.legislation.sa.gov.au.\nPrincipal Act\nYear\nNo\nTitle\nAssent\nCommencement\n1995\n7\nThomas Hutchinson Trust and related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995\n9.3.1995\n9.3.1995\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act changes the operating scope of the original trusts by authorising sale/transfer of hospital land, realising and distributing trust assets, and treating future or past bequests to the ‘Hutchinson Hospital’ as gifts to Gawler Health Service. These changes wind up and revoke the trusts on completion (registration/payment) rather than continuing the trusts’ prior ongoing operation for a hospital site."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple trusts with different original beneficiary arrangements (Hutchinson, Potts, Commons, Dingle, Helps, Magarey) requiring different distribution rules","Property transfer plus sale and realisation mechanics (land titles, transfers, asset realisation, debt clearing)","Automatic revocation trigger tied to registration/payment events (conditional legal effect)","Retrospective recharacterisation of testamentary dispositions (applies to past and future wills but preserves donor-specified alternate substitutions)","Interplay between trustees’ discretionary powers and fixed distribution splits (e.g. half to Gawler and half to Women’s and Children’s Hospital for certain trusts)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act lets the trustees sell or transfer the former Hutchinson Hospital land, realise all trust investments, pay debts, and deliver the net proceeds to the South Australian Health Commission, Gawler Health Service Incorporated and, for some trusts, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Trustees control the winding-up and transfers; trust assets meet costs and distributions. The Act also treats testamentary gifts made to the “Hutchinson Hospital” as gifts to Gawler Health Service unless a testator provided an alternate beneficiary."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Based on the title alone, the Act appears consistent with a narrow, purpose-built piece of legislation to wind up a specific named trust. There is no available text to assess whether the scope broadened or narrowed from the original bill. No scope change can be confirmed or denied."},"complexity_factors":["Insufficient legislative text available to assess actual complexity — a '404 Page Not Found' error was returned instead of the Act's content","Trust winding-up legislation can involve moderate complexity around asset distribution, trustee powers, and beneficiary rights","Narrow, specific subject matter (a single named trust) typically reduces complexity compared to broad legislative frameworks","1995 vintage legislation may reference older legal concepts or trust instruments that require contextual knowledge to interpret","Score is conservative given the complete absence of retrievable text — actual complexity could be higher or lower"],"plain_english_summary":"The Thomas Hutchinson Trust and Related Trusts (Winding Up) Act 1995 is a one‑off South Australian law that authorised the formal closing, settlement of obligations, and distribution of assets of the Thomas Hutchinson trust(s). It mainly affected trustees, beneficiaries and potential creditors, and was likely used where existing trust documents or general law did not provide a clear mechanism to wind the trusts. If impacted, seek local legal advice."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: winding up six specific trusts and redirecting testamentary gifts to the successor health service. The scope has not expanded beyond the specific trusts named in the preamble and sections 2-3."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute: only 4 operative sections plus preamble","No defined terms section; only one interpretive provision in section 4(4)","Minimal cross-referencing—only internal references to subsections","Simple conditional logic limited to section 4(3) (savings clause for contrary testamentary intention)","Straightforward factual narrative in preamble rather than dense legal reasoning","Single purpose legislation with no delegated powers or regulatory framework"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis Act winds up (closes down) six charitable trusts that were set up by wills over 100 years ago to support a hospital in Gawler, South Australia.\n\n**The backstory:**\nIn 1896, Thomas Hutchinson left money in his will to build and run a hospital in Gawler. The \"Hutchinson Hospital\" opened in 1911 and operated until 1994, when it moved to new premises and became the \"Gawler Health Service.\" Five other people also left money in their wills to support this hospital between 1915 and 1947.\n\n**What the law allows:**\n\n*   **For the main Hutchinson Trust:** The trustees can sell the old hospital buildings (except the former Director of Nursing's house, which goes free to the Gawler Health Service), cash in investments, pay off debts, and give the remaining money to the South Australian Health Commission to help pay for the new hospital.\n\n*   **For the five smaller trusts:** The trustees can cash in assets, pay debts, and distribute the money. Two of these trusts split their money between Gawler Health Service and the Women's and Children's Hospital; the other three give everything to Gawler Health Service.\n\n*   **Future-proofing:** If anyone has already written (or writes in future) a will leaving money to the \"Hutchinson Hospital,\" that gift automatically goes to the Gawler Health Service instead—unless the will specifically says the gift should lapse or go elsewhere if the original beneficiary no longer exists.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is a practical, one-off law that lets old charitable trusts adapt to changed circumstances. Without it, the trustees would be stuck managing assets for a hospital that no longer exists at that location, and generous donors' intentions would be frustrated. The law ensures the money continues to support public healthcare in Gawler as the original benefactors intended."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995","history":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995/history","analysis":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/thomas-hutchinson-trust-and-related-trusts-winding-up-act-1995/documents"}}