The Gladesville Mental Hospital, formerly known as the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, was a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

established in 1838 in the Sydney suburb of

Gladesville Gladesville is a suburb in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 10 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde a ...

. The hospital officially closed in 1993, with the last inpatient services ceasing in 1997.

Description and history

Before 1838, people with mental or emotional problems in the Sydney area were housed in a "lunatic asylum" in

, a suburb located on the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. S ...

's Northern banks between Sydney and Parramatta, or in the Female Factory at

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

, twenty-four kilometres west of Sydney. In the 1830s, construction of a purpose-built asylum began on the banks of the

, in the area now known as Gladesville. The original

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

complex, known initially as Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, was designed by the Colonial Architect,

Mortimer Lewis Mortimer William Lewis (1796 – 9 March 1879) was an English-born architect, surveyor and public servant who migrated to Australia and became New South Wales Government Architect, Colonial Architect in the colony of New South Wales (now a state ...

, between 1836 and 1838. Patients were then transferred from Liverpool and the Female Factory.

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Born the son of a ...

designed additional buildings in the hospital grounds precinct. On 29 January 1993, Gladesville Hospital, together with Macquarie Hospital, was revoked as a hospital, and was amalgamated to form the Gladesville Macquarie Hospital. The last inpatient services were closed in 1997. The first supervisor was John Thomas Digby, who sought to improve the treatment of the mentally ill, as did his successor,

Frederick Norton Manning Frederick Norton Manning (25 February 1839 – 18 June 1903), was a medical practitioner, military surgeon, Inspector General of the Insane for the Colony of New South Wales, and was an Australian Lunatic Asylum Superintendent. He was a leadin ...

. On a visit to Sydney in 1867, Manning was invited by

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

to become medical superintendent of the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum. Before accepting, Manning went overseas and studied methods of patient care and administration of asylums; on his return to Sydney, he submitted a notable report. He was appointed to Tarban Creek on 15 October 1868 and immediately reported on the isolation of patients from their relations in accommodation best described as 'prison-like and gloomy', the inadequate facilities for their gainful employment and recreation and the monotonous diets deficient in both quantity and quality. In January 1869, the asylum's name was changed to the Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville, wherein patients were to receive treatment rather than be confined in a 'cemetery for diseased intellects'. By 1879 radical changes in patient care and accommodation had been made. Gladesville was extended and modernized, and an asylum for

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 ...

set up in Newcastle and a temporary asylum at Cooma. Manning minimized the use of restraint and provided for patient activities The hospital continued to grow, sometimes through acquiring nearby properties. One notable acquisition was the heritage-listed ''The Priory'', a two-storey sandstone house in Salter Street, Gladesville. The house was built in the late 1840s, possibly by a family named Stubbs. In the 1850s, it was sold to the

Marist Fathers The Society of Mary ( la, Societas Mariae) abbreviated SM, commonly known as the Marist Fathers, is a men's Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right. It was founded by Jean-Claude Colin and a group of seminarians in ...

, who influenced the early development of Hunters Hill. The hospital acquired it in 1888. It was listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate in 1978. In 1915, the designation was changed again when the complex became known as the Gladesville Mental Hospital. In 1993, the Gladesville hospital was amalgamated with the Macquarie Hospital at

North Ryde North Ryde is a suburb located in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Ryde is located 15 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City ...

to create Gladesville Macquarie Hospital. In 1997, all inpatient services were consolidated at the Macquarie, North Ryde site.

Heritage listings

The following buildings and structures have various heritage listings on the

New South Wales State 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 ...

, the local government register of the New South Wales Heritage Database, and/or the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate. * Cypress Grove, Victoria Road * Doctor's Residences, south side of Punt Road gates and around Crown Close commonly called The Circle * Escarpment Terraces * Former Medical Superintendent's Residence, designed by Barnet * Gardener's Store * Gatekeeper's Cottage, near Punt Road gates * Gatekeeper's Lodge, Victoria Road * Medical Records Department, Victoria Road * Original Quadrangle Complex of 1838 * Pottery Building * Provision Store * Punt Road gates * Sandstone and stone walling within the hospital grounds * Service Buildings group, between 1838 buildings and Punt Road gates *

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...

, Salter Street * Wards 17 and 18, designed by Barnet * Workshop (former Male Ward 9)

Gallery

Image:Gladesville3.JPG, Building 30 Image:Gladesville11.JPG, Wards 17 and 18 Image:Gladesville1.JPG, Gate cottage, Punt Road Image:Gladesville15.JPG, Graves of Dr Eric Sinclair, left, and Frederick Norton Manning, Victoria Road Image:Gladesville Mental Hospital Gate cottage Victoria Road.jpg, Gate cottage, Victoria Road Image:Gladesville9.JPG, Building 11 Image:Gladesville19.JPG, Digby House, named after John Thomas Digby Image:Priory1.JPG,

, Salter Street

References

Attribution

External links