Collingwood Stockade
Encyclopedia
Collingwood Stockade was a penal stockade in modern day Carlton North, Victoria
, Australia
. It was built in 1853 and was in use until 1866 when it was converted into an asylum, which then closed in 1873. The stockade no longer exists but the area has several reminders of it, including the Stockade Hotel on Nicholson Street
and Lee St Primary School which is built on the site of the old stockade buildings.
area at the time, Collingwood Stockade opened on the 3 February 1853. Originally built to house 60 prisoners, it was only ever intended as a temporary structure and was constructed of wood, which made life somewhat easier for prisoners who wished to escape. The buildings initially comprised a main hall with three dormitories, although extra wings and bluestone
buildings were added later, and by 1855 it could house 300 prisoners.
The stockade was on 6 acres (2.4 ha) of grounds bordered by what are now Newry Street to the north, Princes Street to the south, Canning Street to the east and Rathdowne Street to the west. Prisoners could obtain remission of their sentences by working in the bluestone quarry
in what is now Curtain Square, or by attending educational classes and Sunday school
.
, and in August 1866 the stockade became an asylum
, initially for mentally ill prisoners from other jails, and then as a public asylum with both short- and long-term wards. In 1868 Collingwood ceased to admit acute patients who had previously been retained in the gaols. The recently opened country asylums at Ararat
and Beechworth had eased the pressure on Collingwood to accommodate those patients, thus Collingwood became an establishment for the accommodation of the mentally retarded. With the opening of the Kew Asylum
in 1872, Collingwood ceased to function as an independent institution, and functioned merely as a ward of Kew. In June 1873 all patients were transferred from Collingwood to Kew, and the building passed to the Education Department.
Carlton North, Victoria
Carlton North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Melbourne and Yarra...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was built in 1853 and was in use until 1866 when it was converted into an asylum, which then closed in 1873. The stockade no longer exists but the area has several reminders of it, including the Stockade Hotel on Nicholson Street
Nicholson Street, Melbourne
Nicholson Street is a street in inner Melbourne. It is named after William Nicholson, then member of the Legislative Council, and later Premier of Victoria from 1859 to 1860.-Geography:...
and Lee St Primary School which is built on the site of the old stockade buildings.
Stockade
One of four stockades in the MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
area at the time, Collingwood Stockade opened on the 3 February 1853. Originally built to house 60 prisoners, it was only ever intended as a temporary structure and was constructed of wood, which made life somewhat easier for prisoners who wished to escape. The buildings initially comprised a main hall with three dormitories, although extra wings and bluestone
Bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:*a feldspathic sandstone in the U.S. and Canada;*limestone in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S...
buildings were added later, and by 1855 it could house 300 prisoners.
The stockade was on 6 acres (2.4 ha) of grounds bordered by what are now Newry Street to the north, Princes Street to the south, Canning Street to the east and Rathdowne Street to the west. Prisoners could obtain remission of their sentences by working in the bluestone quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
in what is now Curtain Square, or by attending educational classes and Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
.
Asylum
Demand for land, public animosity toward the stockade and prison reform led to the stockade's closure. All prisoners were transferred to the new prison at PentridgeHM Prison Pentridge
HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison built in 1850 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997....
, and in August 1866 the stockade became an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
, initially for mentally ill prisoners from other jails, and then as a public asylum with both short- and long-term wards. In 1868 Collingwood ceased to admit acute patients who had previously been retained in the gaols. The recently opened country asylums at Ararat
Ararat, Victoria
Ararat is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia, about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera...
and Beechworth had eased the pressure on Collingwood to accommodate those patients, thus Collingwood became an establishment for the accommodation of the mentally retarded. With the opening of the Kew Asylum
Kew Asylum
Kew Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located between Princess Street and Yarra Boulevard in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. Later known as Willsmere, the complex of buildings...
in 1872, Collingwood ceased to function as an independent institution, and functioned merely as a ward of Kew. In June 1873 all patients were transferred from Collingwood to Kew, and the building passed to the Education Department.
School
On the 3rd of June, 1873 the Rev. C. S. Perry suggested that the Collingwood Lunatic Asylum should be secured for State School purposes. This proposal met with approval and on the 16th June 1873 the last of the asylum inmates were transferred to Kew and the Collingwood site was officially made available to the Education Department as of the 17th June. As with the two previous establishments on the site, the school was to have been a temporary measure until a North Fitzroy school was completed; a temporary measure which continues to this day. The school buildings were in a poor state of repair, and the majority were replaced by the existing school buildings in 1878. In 1879 the school changed its name to Lee Street State School. Only two buildings survived into the twentieth century – the Governors House and Prisoner's mess. The Prisoner's Mess was one of the earliest buildings of the stockade. Constructed out of timber and iron, it was used as the school's shelter shed until the 1920s when it was demolished. The Governors House later became the school principal's residence and was also demolished in 1913 after it had fallen into a state of disrepair. The present day school has a bluestone slab thought to have been part of the Governor's House which reads H.M.S. (Her Majesty's Stockade) T.M.S. (Thomas Malcolm Smith, the first Governor).External links
- http://www.unimelb.edu.au/infoserv/lee/htm/passages.htm
- http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/component/daPublicBaseContainer?component=daViewAgency&entityId=2851
- http://www.unimelb.edu.au/infoserv/lee/history_site/html/Then_Now_The_Stockade.html