gladesville mental hospital "day at the asylum" tour
to understand how far things have come - you first need to know how things used to be...
From the very beginnings of the Colony of New South Wales, there was an endemic problem with mental health, and mental disability, as we would recognise them today.
Unfortunately, there was a tendency to lump all together people who were referred to in the brutal vernacular of the day as " Invalids, Imbeciles, and Insane" people into institutions that largely took these people out of sight, and out of mind. With the intent as much to protect the community from them, as it was to care for them with what scarce resources, and even more limited understanding were available
Unfortunately, there was a tendency to lump all together people who were referred to in the brutal vernacular of the day as " Invalids, Imbeciles, and Insane" people into institutions that largely took these people out of sight, and out of mind. With the intent as much to protect the community from them, as it was to care for them with what scarce resources, and even more limited understanding were available
A troubled past....
In the 1830s, a branch of Liverpool court house, and a converted barn in Rouse Hill were being used to care for people with issues from depression, mental damage due to extremely strong, poorly made alcohol, dementia, mental disability, to every form of mental illness imaginable, by prison guards and members of the First NSW Corps, who were soldiers by profession. It was decided to consolidate all of these people in a purpose built facility, and have people with some knowledge and experience with "Lunatics"care for them. This is how what was originally called the Tarban Creek Insane Asylum first came to be built at Gladesville. It had the dual advantages of being on the Parramatta river, as well as being adjacent to the major convict route for transport to the Hunter Valley - the Great North Road, meaning it was far enough away from most of the population to be isolated, but close enough for re-supply. The very first superintendent of the asylum was a former employee of the Bethlehem Mental Hospital of London - the place that came to be known by its nickname "Bedlam".
the story of gladesville is
the story of mental health in Australia
From Out of sight, out of mind, and the belief that mental illness was permanent and untreatable, a succession of brave and pioneering staff brought about a revolution in the thinking, and in the treatment of mental illness. From the restraint of the mentally ill by chaining them to their beds, and to walls to stop them wandering and harming others, to the use of a garden environment and work as therapy, to the steady use of psychology and psychiatry in the 19th and 20th centuries, up until the closure of the hospital in 1997, the story of Gladesville is not only one of mistakes and misery, but of learning, of bravery, and of heroism of brilliant minds and courageous staff who changed the system of mental health in Australia forever.
Gladesville Hospital: A Day at the Asylum History tour
November 15th 10.30-12.30pm, meeting at the Banjo Pattersons restaurant car park, Punt Road, Gladesville
