Yarra Bend Asylum was the first permanent institution established in Victoria that was devoted to the treatment of the mentally ill. It opened in 1848 as a ward of the Asylum at Tarban Creek in New South Wales. It was not officially called Yarra Bend Asylum until July 1851 when the

Port Phillip District The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria. In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...

separated from the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

. Prior to the establishment of Yarra Bend, lunatic patients had been kept in the District's gaols. Yarra Bend was proclaimed an Asylum under the provisions of the Lunacy Statute 1867 (No.309) in the Government Gazette in October 1867. From its establishment until 1905 the institution at Yarra Bend was known as an asylum. This title emphasised its function as a place of refuge rather than a hospital which provided treatment for mentally ill people who could possibly be cured. The Lunacy Act 1903 (No.1873) changed the title of all "asylums" to "hospitals for the insane". This Act came into operation in 1905. Despite the change in designation the function and structure of the agency was unchanged. The title was altered to reflect the community's changing attitude towards mental illness and the Victorian Government's approach to the treatment of mentally disturbed persons. An asylum/hospital for the insane was any public building proclaimed by the Governor-in-Council in the Government Gazette as a place for the reception of lunatics. An asylum could also provide wards for the temporary reception of patients as well as long term patients. Patients could not be retained in an asylum without a warrant requesting their admission. Prior to 1867 the warrant was signed by the Governor. After this date the Chief Secretary (VRG 26) was responsible for this function. Under the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1914 (No.2539) patients could also be admitted to a hospital for the insane on a voluntary basis, that is, on the patient's own request for a specified period of time. The Yarra Bend Asylum was situated near the junction of

Merri Creek The Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia, which flows through the northern suburbs of Northcote. It begins near Wallan north of Melbourne and flows south for 70 km until it joins the Yarra River at Dights Fa ...

and the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stre ...

near the former site of Fairlea Women's Prison.

Decline and closure

The Government of Victoria originally intended that Yarra Bend would be closed once

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, Ararat and

Beechworth Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,859. Beechworth's many histor ...

asylums were established. However, the gold rush caused a population explosion in the colony, increasing the burden on the new asylums. This was compounded by the practice of housing ' inebriates', '

idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

s' and '

imbeciles The term ''imbecile'' was once used by psychiatrists to denote a category of people with moderate to severe intellectual disability, as well as a type of criminal.Fernald, Walter E. (1912). ''The imbecile with criminal instincts.'' Fourth editi ...

' at lunatic asylums up until the 1880s. Overcrowding, and the primitive living conditions, were problems at Yarra Bend over a long period. The overcrowding was relieved to some extent when new asylums were opened at Royal Park, and Mont Park in the metropolitan area, and Sunbury outside the metropolitan district. Victorian Premier Sir Thomas Bent decided in 1905 that no more money was to be spent on Yarra Bend, and the buildings fell further into disrepair. Despite that, the asylum continued to operate until new admissions eventually ceased in 1924, and the institution was finally closed in 1925. All remaining patients were transferred to

Mont Park Asylum Mont Park Asylum was a psychiatric hospital located in Macleod, an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The hospital opened in 1912 and closed in the 1990s. Some of the former hospital buildings have since been used by the La T ...

Demolition and later use

In 1926 many of the wooden buildings were demolished, leaving the ha-ha wall, gateway and infirmary building. The closure of the asylum saw much of the land released for public use. The infirmary building became part of the Fairhaven Venereal Disease Clinic. After Fairhaven's closure, the gates, walls and infirmary were incorporated into Fairlea Women's Prison which was built on the site. The prison was severely damaged by fire in 1982, and the asylum structures were demolished as a result. The only visible remaining structure is one of the 1860 gate pillars which was relocated to the opposite side of Yarra Bend Road, though some of the bluestone and brick foundation walls of the asylum still exist below ground level.

Cemetery

Inmates who died at Yarra Bend Asylum were usually interred in unmarked, common graves within the asylum grounds. Families who wished their relative to be buried in a single grave were required to pay an extra fee. The exact number of interments that took place, and their location, is unknown, but it has been suggested as many as 1,200 former inmates were buried in up to 400 graves. According to Parks Victoria, the cemetery was located along the banks of the Yarra, along what is today a practice fairway of the Yarra Bend public golf course. The cemetery and other features of the asylum are marked on contemporary plans prepared by the

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia, set up in 1891 to provide water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. In 1992, the MMBW was merged with a number of sm ...

, e.g
MMBW Plan 39, 160 feet to the inch

References

{{Hospitals in Victoria Hospitals in Melbourne Psychiatric hospitals in Australia Hospitals established in 1848 1925 disestablishments in Australia Defunct hospitals in Victoria (Australia) Demolished buildings and structures in Melbourne 1848 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Yarra Heritage sites in Melbourne

Decline and closure

Demolition and later use

Cemetery

See also

References