Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit is a mental health facility specialising in the problems of young people. It is located at Hospital Road,

Concord West, New South Wales Concord West (also known as West Concord) is a suburb in Sydney's inner-west, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Ci ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The facility is housed in the former Thomas Walker Hospital, which is listed on the

New South Wales Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

Description and history

Rivendell Unit was originally located at Broughton Hall,

Lilyfield Lilyfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lilyfield is located 6 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Lilyfield is ...

, before being relocated to Concord West in 1977. Its founding director was Dr

Marie Bashir Dame Marie Roslyn Bashir (born 1 December 1930) is the former and second longest-serving Governor of New South Wales. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positions ...

, later to become Governor of New South Wales. Dr Bashir was replaced by Professor Joseph Rey in 1988. Rivendell is, as of 2009, a twenty-bed facility offering mental health services for children and adolescents in the Sydney area and rural New South Wales. Care is provided on both an outpatient and inpatient basis. Around five hundred children and their families are helped by Rivendell each year. Rivendell is a teaching hospital of the University of Sydney. The Concord West premises are located on the banks of the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, Ria, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average Altitude, height, and depth, depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour ...

and were originally known as the Thomas Walker Hospital. They were designed by Sir

John Sulman Sir John Sulman (29 August 1849 – 18 August 1934) was an Australian architect. Born in Greenwich, England, he emigrated to Sydney in 1885. From 1921 to 1924 he was chairman of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee and influenced the develo ...

and built from 1891 to 1893 by A.M.Allan. The money came from the will of the philanthropist Thomas Walker, who had lived in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

mansion Yaralla, also located at Concord West (and now known as the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital). The buildings are made of brick and sandstone, which is characteristic of the Federation Free Classical style. They feature marble fireplaces and cedar joinery, and are considered an important example of John Sulman's work. They are now listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

Opera night

Opera Night at Rivendell is held annually and is a major fund-raising event. It is an open-air event and routinely draws two thousand people. The 2008 opera raised money that went towards the purchase of equipment for the hospital's intensive care unit. Money raised by the 2009 event was earmarked for the hospital's clinical school. Music was provided by the Rivendell Philharmonic Orchestra, a 35-piece orchestra led by the conductor Steven Hillinger.

Rivendell Flower Show

In 2017 it was announced that Rivendell would play host to the Rivendell Flower Show in September 2017 as a fund-raising event for Concord Hospital with all money raised to go to the Department of Geriatric Medicine. The event is expected to host display gardens, keynote speakers, activities, floral arrangements, workshops, high tea and performances from the local community.

Film Location

The scenes of the film

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

(2013) showing the sanatorium where Nick Carraway visits his psychiatrist were filmed at Rivendell. Scenes from the film "Flirting" were also filmed at Rivendell.

Gallery

Image:ThomasWalker1.JPG, Main gates Image:ThomasWalker2.JPG, Side view Image:ThomasWalker9.JPG, North entrance Image:ThomasWalker6.JPG, Water gate where guests sometimes arrived by boat

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sydney South West Area Health Service
Hospitals in Sydney Hospitals established in 1893