Kew Asylum

Distinctive features

The asylum complex is an example of the E-plan barracks type lunatic asylums based on the model 1850s asylum in Colney Hatch, England. [cite paper
first = Cheryl
last = Day
title = Magnificence, Misery and Madness – A History of the Kew Asylum
publisher = Unpublished University of Melbourne PhD thesis
date = 1999 p.32] The buildings are constructed from oversize bricks, made from local clay which was quarried on-site. The bricks were then rendered with cement. [cite paper
first = Cheryl
last = Day
title = Magnificence, Misery and Madness – A History of the Kew Asylum
publisher = Unpublished University of Melbourne PhD thesis
date = 1999 p.34] The central administration block is three storeyed with an attic mansard roof and cupola. Two storeyed ward wings extend to each side, one for each sex. Each wing has a four storey, mansard-roofed tower, which contained water tanks. The ward wings were surrounded by courtyards lined with iron columned verandas,cite web
authorlink = Australian Heritage Database
title = Willsmere Hospital (former), Princess St, Kew, Vic, Australia
publisher = Australian Heritage Database
url = http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;search=place_name%3Dwillsmere%3Bkeyword_PD%3Don%3Bkeyword_SS%3Don%3Bkeyword_PH%3Don%3Blatitude_1dir%3DS%3Blongitude_1dir%3DE%3Blongitude_2dir%3DE%3Blatitude_2dir%3DS%3Bin_region%3Dpart;place_id=5684
accessdate = 2008-09-02] many of which were retained when the complex was redeveloped. Internally, the dormitories had 14 foot ceilings and brightly coloured walls. Whilst Kew's plan and detail are similar to its sister asylums at Ararat and Beechworth, the Kew asylum is much larger with the front buildings and towers more impressive architecturally. [cite web
title =Former Willsmere Hospital
publisher = Australian Heritage Places Inventory
url = http://www.heritage.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahpi/record.pl?VICH861
accessdate = 2008-08-30] Kew Asylum’s distinctive towers and mansard roofs make it one of the most prominent architectural landmarks in Melbourne and is clearly visible on the eastern skyline.

Ha-Ha Walls

Another distinctive feature of Kew Asylum is the use of a variation on Ha-Ha walls around the patients' courtyards. These ha-has consisted of a trench, one side of which was vertical and faced with stone or bricks, the other side sloped and turfed. From the inside, the walls presented at tall face to patients, preventing them from escaping, while from outside the walls looked low so as not to suggest imprisonment. cite web
last = Cass
first = Daniel
title = Kew Lunatic Asylum – Historical Walk
publisher = ASAP
url = http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/asa97/gifs/KEWwlk1.jpg
format = jpg
accessdate = 2008-09-01 ] A journalist with The Argus described the walls as an 'excellent arrangement, as it enables the patients to see the outside world, and does away with that gaol appearance and feeling inculcated by the walls of the old asylums'. [James (p.25), in C. Day "Magnificence, Misery and Madness – A History of the Kew Asylum" Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne.]

Patients

Many of Kew's early patients were transferred from Yarra Bend Asylum and Carlton Lunatic Asylum and were housed in the two main wings – men in the right wing, women in the left. The wards were dormitory style and were divided by patient type – male/female, paying/pauper, manageable/refractory.

Admission process

Under the Lunacy Statute of 1867, Lunacy Acts from 1880 to 1928 and Mental Hygiene Act of 1933, people could be admitted to the asylum as a lunatic patient by a number of means
* At the request of a friend, relative or acquaintance, with medical certificates written by two medical practitioners. This method was amended by The Mental Health Act 1959 which stated a person could be admitted upon the recommendation of a medical practitioner who had examined the person. As soon as possible after admission the superintendent of the hospital was required to examine the patient and either approve the recommended admission or discharge the patient.
* Any (lunatic) person found wandering at large or not under proper care and control could be brought before two justices who could order the person's removal to an asylum. The police were usually responsible for bringing the person before the two justices.
* Any prisoner of the Crown thought to be a lunatic could be removed from a gaol to an asylum by order of the Chief Secretary.
* Voluntary Boarders were those who requested that they be admitted for a mutually agreed period of time (from 1915 onwards). cite web
title = "Series VPRS 7456" Admission Warrants – Male and Female Patients
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewSeries&breadcrumbPath=Home/Access%20the%20Collection/Browse%20The%20Collection/Series%20Details&entityId=7456
accessdate = 2008-08-30]

Up until after WWI, there was little change in the admission process at Kew.cite web
title = "Series VPRS 7680" Register of Patients
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewSeries&entityId=7680#
accessdate = 2008-05-10] Upon arriving, a variable amount of data was collected on the patient being admitted. These basic details included age, sex, marital status and former address (or name of the asylum/gaol transferred from). Other details requested included names of relatives or friends, the patient’s religion and occupation and whether others in the family have ever been classified as insane. Other information recorded, where available, comprised of dates of previous admissions, "form of mental disorder", bodily condition ("satisfactory", "unsatisfactory", "feeble", et cetera) and "duration of existing attack". [ cite web
title = "Series VPRS 7680 P1" Register of Patients (VA 2840) Kew, 1871-1919
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewConsignment&breadcrumbPath=Home/Access%20the%20Collection/Browse%20The%20Collection/Consignment%20Details&entityId=7680&consignment=P0001
accessdate = 2008-09-07] Belongings, such as books and clothes, were often returned to friends or family as patients were required to dress in institutional clothes. [cite paper
first = Cheryl
last = Day
title = Magnificence, Misery and Madness – A History of the Kew Asylum
publisher = Unpublished University of Melbourne PhD thesis
date = 1999 p.60]

Diagnoses

The diagnoses given to patients during Kew's first fifty years were the common ailments found in most lunatic asylums of the pre-Kraepelin era
* Melancholia
* Mania
* Delusional insanity
* Dementia
* Epilepsy
* Idiocy
* Puerperal mania
* Inebriation
* General paralysis/paresis of the insaneIt should be noted that some of these terms are still in use today, however they now have different meanings. For example, from examining the notes on some of Kew's early "dementia" patients, it can be deduced that many were most likely suffering from what we now term severe depression, catatonia or schizophrenia. [cite web
title = "Series VPRS 7397" Case Books of Female Patients
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewSeries&breadcrumbPath=Home/Access%20the%20Collection/Browse%20The%20Collection/Series%20Details&entityId=7397
accessdate = 2008-09-08]

Children at Kew Asylum

In the early days of Kew Asylum, the distinction between 'lunatics' and 'idiots' (or 'imbeciles') was not made. Therefore, many wards of the state, 'difficult' children and children with mental retardation were housed in with the adults at Kew. In the 1880s the government decided that a separate building should be built accommodate child inmates. Thus the Kew Idiot Ward was opened in 1887. The Idiot Ward was initially considered a ward of Kew Lunatic Asylum however became known as a separate institution - "Kew Idiot Asylum". Although the Idiot Asylum only admitted children as patients, many of those children remained in residence at the Cottages as adults. [cite web
title = "Agency VA 2852" Kew Cottages
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2852
accessdate = 2008-09-05]

Inebriates at Kew Asylum

Under the Lunacy Statute of 1867, the Master-in-Lunacy was able commit inebriates to an asylum for any period up to twelve months.cite web
last = Pratt
first = Valma
title = Passages of Time – Lee Street School & Carlton Lunatic Asylum
publisher = Infoserv, University of Melbourne
url = http://www.unimelb.edu.au/infoserv/lee/htm/camisoles.htm
accessdate = 2008-09-09] Inebriates who were able to pay the lodging fees at private inebriate asylums were able to be housed in inebriate-specific institutions such as Northcote Inebriate Asylum.cite web
title = "Agency VA 2853" Northcote Inebriate Asylum
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2853
accessdate = 2008-09-28] Paupers were placed in lunatic asylums. After the 1888 Zox Commission into Asylums, all private/semi-private inebriate asylums were abolished under the provisions of the Inebriate Asylums Act 1888. Northcote taken over by the Government of Victoria in 1890 and was converted into a public inebriate retreat. Brightside [cite web
title = "Agency VA 2850" Brightside Inebriate Retreat
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2850
accessdate = 2008-09-28] and Lara [cite web
title = "Agency VA 2849" Lara Inebriate Retreat
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2849
accessdate = 2008-09-08] Inebriate Retreats were opened soon after, and large number of alcoholics were moved out of the lunatic asylums.

Famous patients

*Harry Trott - Australian Test cricketer and Australian team captain. [cite book|last=Haigh|first=Gideon| authorlink = Gideon Haigh|title=Game For Anything: Writings On Cricket|publisher=Black Inc|location=Melbourne|date=2004|pages=pp. 107–115|chapter=The Madness Of King Harry|isbn=186395 309 4]
*Edward/Ellen De Lacy Evans - Picaresque cross-dressing woman from the 1870s. [cite journal
last = Colligan
first = Mimi
title = The Mysterious Edward/Ellen De Lacy Evans - The Picaresque in Real Life
journal = The LaTrobe Journal
volume = 69
issue = Autumn 2002
pages = 59-68
publisher = State Library of Victoria Foundation
url = http://calisto.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-69/t1-g-t9.html
accessdate = 2008-09-01]
*Tom Wills - Victorian cricketer, one of the founders of Australian rules football. [Oxford Companion to Australian History - entry for Thomas Wills ]
*Walter Richardson - father of Henry Handel Richardson, Australian author [Ackland, M. 'Henry Handel Richardson - A Life']
*Edward Paris Nesbit - politician and newspaper editor [Australian Dictionary of Biography
last=Loughlin
first=Graham
year=1988
id=A110001b
title= Nesbit, Paris (1852 - 1927)
accessdate=2008-09-22 ]
*Billy Midwinter - Test cricketer who played for both Australia and England. Died in Kew Asylum in 1890.

Changing names, changing society

During its 120 years of operation, Kew’s title changed numerous times. This has been in response to society’s changing views towards the treatment and care of mentally ill persons; improvements in treatment leading to better health outcomes and changes in the Victorian Government’s various Health Acts.cite web
title = "Agency VA 2840" Kew Asylum
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2840#
accessdate = 2008-08-27] From its establishment until 1905 the institution at Kew was known as an Asylum – a title which emphasised its function as a place of detention rather than a place where people could possibly be cured. Kew was also for a short period known as the Metropolitan Lunatic Asylum at Kew, possibly to differentiate it from it’s sister country asylums at Ararat and Beechworth.

The Lunacy Act of 1903 changed the title of all Victorian "asylums" to "hospitals for the insane" however this Act didn’t come into operation until March 1905. The Mental Hygiene Act of 1933 again altered Kew’s title to "Kew Mental Hospital".

After World War II there was a period of significant change in the treatment and prognosis for people with a mental illness. Drugs such as Lithium carbonate (discovered in 1948 by Australian psychiatrist Dr John Cade) [cite journal
last = Cade
first = John Frederick
authorlink = John Cade
title = Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement
journal = Medical Journal of Australia
volume = 2
issue = 10
pages = 349-352
date = 1949] and chlorpromazine (discovered in 1950's) lead to improvements in treatment. [cite web
title = Games Village (Royal Park Hospital)
publisher = Victorian Heritage Register
url = http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/admin/file/content2/c7/games.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-10-05] Thus many people with a mental illness could in many cases be treated in hospital for a shorter period and return to the community. The Mental Health Act of 1959 designated hospitals providing short-term diagnosis and accommodation as "psychiatric hospitals". Therefore any institution could have a section designated as a mental hospital for long-term or indefinite hospitalisation and a section designated as a psychiatric hospital for short term diagnosis and treatment of acute psychiatric illness.

In 1962 the decision was made to no longer house acute or short-term patients at Kew and therefore was formally proclaimed a Mental Hospital under the Mental Health Act 1959.

In January 1982 three wards of Kew Mental Hospital were proclaimed a Psychiatric Hospital under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1959. These wards were then known as the Willsmere Unit and were established to receive and accommodate short-term acute patients. During the 1970s Kew also became known as Willsmere Hospital.

Decommissioning and redevelopment

By 1986, Willsmere Hospital's bed numbers had been reduced to 430, three quarters of which were for psychogeriatric patients. cite paper
last = Grose
first = R
title = Project Manager's Report to the Minister for Health Willsmere Hospital Proposed Decommissioning Strategy
publisher = Health Department Victoria
date = 1986] As a result of ongoing mental health reform, the then Labor Government of Victoria commissioned the 'Willsmere project'.cite journal
author=Gerrand, Valerie
year=2005
month=December
title=Can deinstitutionalisation work? Mental health reform from 1993 to 1998 in Victoria, Australia
journal=Health Sociology Review
volume=14
issue=3
pages=255-271] The purpose of which was to plan for decommissioning the hospital and develop services and facilities in the community. Long-term psychogreriatric patients were transferred to new psychogeriatric nursing homes in the suburbs, to a re-opened ward of Plenty Psychiatric Hospital in Bundoora or to other psychiatric institutions. Acutely unwell patients that would have previously been admitted to Willsmere were now sent to newly built units at Maroondah Hospital, Monash Medical Centre or Peninsula Hospital. Willsmere was finally closed in December 1988 and sold by the Government of Victoria in the late 1980s. An extensive Conservation Analysis was completed in 1988 [cite paper
first = Miles
last = Lewis
coauthors = Best Overend and Partners
title = Kew Lunatic Asylum (Willsmere) conservation analysis
publisher = Best Overend and Partners
date = 1988] from which the bulk of the original buildings were recommended to be conserved.

The hospital complex was eventually developed by Central Equity into residential apartments. The Willsmere residential development was officially opened on 27 October 1993 by Premier Jeff Kennett.

Documented histories of Kew Asylum

There are few documented or published histories of Kew Asylum. The majority of information available on the asylum comes from the Kew's official records which are now held by the Public Records Office of Victoria. [ [http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide059/PROVguide059.jsp Public Records Office of Victoria] ] Some of the early documents are open (or part open) to the public for viewing such as admission books, case notes, registers and medical journals. However, the majority of documents dating from 1915 onwards are closed, due to the sensitive nature of the material they contain and the possibility that first degree relatives may still be alive.

A number of photographs of Kew Asylum are kept by the Victorian Mental Health Library at Royal Melbourne Hospital. The State Library of Victoria also holds a number of early photographs of Kew. The University of Melbourne has a small number of theses on Kew - the majority of which are short in length and are architecture-based. [cite paper
first = Graeme
last = Tuer
title = Kew Lunatic Asylum
publisher = University of Melbourne Undergraduate Thesis ] [cite paper
first = Goss
last = Ian
coauthors =Mason, Ian G.R.
title = The older buildings of the Kew mental asylum
publisher = University of Melbourne undergraduate thesis
date = 1959 ] [cite paper
last = McIntosh
title = Kew asylum
publisher = University of Melbourne undergraduate thesis
date = 1950 ] The exception to this is Cheryl Day's unpublished PhD thesis which is an ethnographic description of the first fifty years of Kew's existence. While the thesis was unpublished, it is available in PDF form through the University of Melbourne Library website. [ [http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/search University of Melbourne Library website] ]

Some contemporary accounts of life in Kew are available. Dr Paul Ward Farmer wrote an essay "Three weeks in the Kew Lunatic Asylum", describing his admission to Kew in the 1890s. [cite book
last = Farmer
first = Paul
title = Three weeks in the Kew Lunatic Asylum
publisher = JJ Halligan
date = 1900
location = Melbourne
isbn = ] Julian Thomas, an American reporter, wrote a series of articles for The Argus in 1876-1877 under the pseudonym of "The Vagabond". Thomas was an attendant at Kew at the time. There are also excerpts of affidavits from patients, doctors and attendants at Kew (as well as other Victorian mental hospitals such as Royal Park, Mont Park and Sunbury) detailing the terrible conditions in the asylums during the 1920’s in the book "A Plea for Better Treatment of the Mentally Afflicted" by Hon. William G. Higgs. [cite book
last = Higgs
first = William
authorlink = William Higgs
title = A Plea for Better Treatment of the Mentally Afflicted: What can happen to a man
publisher = Society for the Welfare of the Mentally Afflicted
date = 1931
location = Kew
isbn = ]

ee also

* List of Australian mental asylums
* Ararat Lunatic Asylum
* Beechworth Lunatic Asylum
* Kew Cottages

References

External links

* [http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/asa97/KEWA.htm Kew Asylum Museum & Archives]
* [http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2840# Public Records Office of Victoria - Kew Asylum]
* [http://www.centralequity.com.au/about-central-equity/about_map-proj-willsmere.asp Central Equity Projects: Willsmere]

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