Historical information

This glass slide captures the driveway into Mayday Hills Mental Asylum formally known as the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum circa 1900. The slide depicts the driveway lined with an elevated landscape featuring tall trees, shrubbery of different varieties and well shaped bushes.

The Mayday Hills Mental Asylum was constructed between 1864 and 1867 to the designs by the Public Works Department (PWD). 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 glass slide captures social and historical significance as it represents a one small part of a much larger and pivotal location within Beechworth history. This lantern slide stands testament to a special place in Beechworth’s history and its significance continues to be remembered today.

Physical description

Thin translucent sheet of glass with a square image printed on the front and framed. It is held together by metals strips to secure the edges of the slide.

Inscriptions & markings

NOW SCENE /
ASYLUM AVENUE/
R.P.B. HALL/
BEECHWORTH.