Historical information

Taken about 1880, this photograph depicts nine people and a horse-drawn carriage in front of the Administration building of Beechworth Mental Asylum.

Constructed between 1864 and 1867 to the designs by the Public Works Department (PWD) is the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum which was renamed Mayday Hills Mental Asylum.

The decommissioned asylum was one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in Victoria and consisted of sixty-seven buildings, one thousand two hundred patients and five hundred staff members. The asylum was predominately inhabited by long-stay patients but there were active out-patients. The asylum was one of the first asylums to focus on treatment and rehabilitation instead of institutional confinement. At the asylum, active work was considered imperative and workshops were located near the male accommodations and laundries and drying yards near the female accommodation.

The asylum closed in 1995 and was sold to La Trobe University before being closed and sold again in 2011 to a private owner.

Significance

This photograph is historically significant as it shows one of the main buildings of the Beechworth Mental Asylum that was pivotal in changing the approaches to treating the mentally ill.

Physical description

Sepia rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper mounted on card.

Inscriptions & markings

Reverse:
1997.2458/
Front view/
Beechworth/
about 1880/
Lunatic Asylum/