Tag:aradale
The Kew Lunatic Asylum, originally known as the Kew Mental Hospital and later as the Willsmere Hospital, is a beautiful and significant historical landmark in Victoria, Australia. Along with Aradale in Ararat and Mayday Hills in Beechworth, it was built to house the growing colonies’ “lunatics.” Its establishment in the 19th century marked a pivotal moment in the treatment and management of mental health in Australia.
Origins and Construction
The Kew Lunatic Asylum was conceived during a period when the treatment of mental illness was undergoing significant changes. In the mid-19th century, the Australian colonies were rapidly growing, and the need for adequate mental health care became increasingly apparent. Before the construction of Kew, mental health patients in Victoria were housed in inadequate and overcrowded facilities. The prevailing attitudes towards mental illness were largely custodial, with the primary focus being on containment rather than treatment.
The asylum, designed by the Public Works Department under the supervision of the architect Frederick Kawerau, was intended to be a state-of-the-art facility. Construction began in 1864, and the building was officially opened in 1872. The E-shaped complex of buildings was designed to be elegant and beautiful, yet substantial, and viewed as “a magnificent asylum for the insane” to portray Melbourne as a civilised and benevolent city whilst avoiding the jail-like appearance of other asylums. These aims were furthered by using low Ha-Ha walls and extensively landscaped grounds. Long considered of cultural and historic significance to Melbourne, Kew Asylum and its complex of buildings were registered on the Register of the National Estate in March 1978.
The Kew Asylum was an imposing structure. Built in the Italianate style with a central tower, it has sprawling wings that extend outward like a vast institutional palace. The building’s grandeur and scale underscored the prevailing view of asylums as places of segregation rather than integration. The asylum was initially designed to accommodate around 500 patients, and it opened in 1872 with 214 inmates. However, the number soon grew to over 1000 as the population of Victoria expanded.
Treatment and Conditions
The early years of the Kew Lunatic Asylum were marked by overcrowding and a lack of adequate resources. Despite the intentions behind its construction, the facility quickly became overwhelmed by the number of patients. By the 1880s, the asylum housed over 1,000 patients, far exceeding its intended capacity. This overcrowding led to deteriorating conditions, with patients often housed in dormitories with little privacy or comfort.
Treatment methods at Kew were reflective of the period’s limited understanding of mental illness. While there were efforts to introduce more humane practices, such as occupational therapy and outdoor activities, the primary approach was still largely custodial. Restraints, seclusion, and sedation were standard practices, emphasising managing patients rather than curing them. The conditions at Kew were often harsh, with reports of patients being subjected to poor hygiene, inadequate food, and physical punishment.
The asylum employed various staff, including doctors, nurses, and attendants, who were responsible for the care of the patients.
Reform and Transition
The early 20th century saw significant changes in the treatment of mental illness and the management of asylums. There was a growing movement towards deinstitutionalisation and the development of community-based mental health services. The Kew Asylum, like many similar institutions, was gradually reformed in response to these changing attitudes.
In 1933, the institution’s name was changed to the Kew Mental Hospital. This reflected a shift away from the term “lunatic asylum,” which was increasingly seen as outdated and stigmatising. This change was part of a broader effort to modernise the facility and improve patients’ conditions. New treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and various forms of psychotherapy, were introduced. More emphasis was placed on rehabilitation and preparing patients to return to the community.
However, the reform process was slow, overcrowding remained a persistent problem, and the institution struggled to provide adequate patient care. The rise of psychotropic medications in the 1950s and 1960s offered new hope for treating mental illness. Conversely, this also led to new dilemmas regarding the long-term care of patients.
Willsmere Closure and Legacy
The final chapter in the history of the Kew Lunatic Asylum came in the 1980s when the process of deinstitutionalisation reached its peak. Following global trends, the Victorian government began to close large psychiatric institutions in favour of smaller, community-based facilities. In 1988, the Kew Mental Hospital was officially closed, marking the end of an era in Victorian mental health care.
Following its closure, the asylum site underwent a transformation. The historic buildings were preserved and redeveloped into a residential complex known as Willsmere. The redevelopment preserved many of the original architectural features, including the central tower and the grand entrance hall, while creating new living spaces for residents. Today, Willsmere is a sought-after address, combining historical significance with modern amenities.
Aradale Lunatic Asylum was a psychiatric hospital operating for 126 years in Ararat, Victoria. It has been abandoned since it closed in 1993.
Aradale
Aradale was designed to hold 250 patients. However, within its sprawling gothic complex of 70 buildings, it housed up to 1000 patients and around 500 staff.
Construction began in 1860, along with two other asylums, Mayday Hills at Beechworth and Willsmere at Kew. The government of the day commissioned the asylums to house the growing number of “lunatics” in Victoria. Aradale opened to its first patients in 1865, sitting high on the hill, looming over Ararat. The large complex was a town within a town. Furthermore, it had its own fire station, workshops, hospital, morgue, market gardens, orchards, vineyards, piggery, and cattle, making it largely self-sufficient from the nearby town. Overcrowding was soon a problem as the building was designed to hold 250 patients. But within 12 months of opening, it exceeded that by 20. By 1876 it housed 400, and extra beds lined the corridors.
The medical thinking was that mental illness was a disease that could be cured by fresh air. Therefore, all three asylums were situated on a hill where the air was cleaner. However, the Victorians also thought that ‘madness’ was contagious. Thus the location of the asylums above and away from the town protected the townfolk.
Ha Ha Walls
Ha Ha walls ringed the asylum preventing escape. A ha-ha wall is a low wall with a steep trench in front of it. This makes it impossible to climb up and out from the inside. However, it remains an attractive low wall that doesn’t give the impression of confinement on the outside.
Committed to Aradale
It wasn’t hard to be diagnosed with a mental illness in Victorian times. while it only two required signatures to be committed eight to be needed to be deemed sane enough to leave. The weekly cost of keeping a patient at Aradale was 14 shillings and 11 pence.
Common diagnoses that would cause being committed during this time period included – Delusional insanity, Dementia, Epilepsy, General paralysis of the insane – A neuropsychiatric disorder brought on by late-stage syphilis, Idiocy, Inebriation, Melancholia, Puerperal mania – Puerperal refers to the postpartum period, usually lasting 6 weeks after the birth of a child (now known as postnatal depression)
Find My Past
Up until the 1880s, Aradale housed child inmates in the same wards as adults. Children accounted for one-quarter of all inmates across the three main asylums in Victoria (Ararat, Beechworth, and Kew). While it is often reported that 13,000 died at Aradale, official sources put the number is closer to 3,000 patients and staff. It is, however, considered one of Australia’s most haunted places, and regular ‘ghost tours’ are held at night.
Treatments
Patient ‘treatment’ included restraint bags, strapped in chairs, isolation boxes, immobilised in hot and cold baths, and, from the 1900s to 1950s, electroshock treatments and drugs such as lithium. However, a shift occurred in thinking to non-institutionalising those with mental illness. As patients were transferred elsewhere, numbers declined. This led to Aradale closing in 1993.
Tours:
Guided tours of Aradale are available every Wednesday and Sunday.
- Tours run for approx 2 hours.
- Tickets from Ararat and Grampians Visitor Information Centre, 91 High Street, Ararat.
- Adults $22, Concession $18, Child 16 and under $5