Gladesville Mental Hospital was a psychiatric hospital established in 1838 in the suburb of Gladesville

Gladesville, New South Wales

Gladesville is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the Municipality of Hunter's Hill and is part of the Northern Suburbs area.Gladesville prides...

, Sydney, Australia, its original name was Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum.

Description and history

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

Liverpool, New South Wales

Liverpool is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool is located 32 km south-west of the Sydney central business district, and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Liverpool...

, a suburb on the south-western fringes of Sydney, or at the Female Factory in Parramatta

Parramatta, New South Wales

Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...

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

Parramatta River

The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....

, in the area now known as Gladesville. The original sandstone

Sydney sandstone

Sydney sandstone is the common name for Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, historically known as Yellowblock, is a sedimentary rock named after the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this sandstone is particularly common....

 complex was designed by the Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis

Mortimer Lewis

Mortimer William Lewis , was an English architect and surveyor who migrated to Australia and became Colonial Architect in the state of New South Wales from 1835 to 1849. Lewis was responsible for designing and overseeing many government buildings in Sydney and rural New South Wales, many of which...

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

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

Frederick Norton Manning 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...

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

Henry Parkes

Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG was an Australian statesman, the "Father of Federation." As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he was the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers.Parkes was described during his...

 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 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 that of 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, who had an influence on the early development of Hunters Hill. The hospital acquired it in 1888. It was listed on the 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, New South Wales

North Ryde is a suburb 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 of Ryde...

 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 are listed on the Register of the National Estate

Register of the National Estate

The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...

.

• Original Quadrangle Complex of 1838
• Gatekeeper's Cottage near Punt Road gates
• Punt Road gates
• Doctor's Residence, south side of Punt Road gates
• Group of Service Buildings between 1838 buildings and Punt Road gates
• Workshop (former Male Ward 9)
• All Sandstone Walling within hospital
• Gardener's Store
• Escarpment Terraces
• Wards 17 and 18
• Former Medical Superintendent's Residence
• Cypress Grove, Victoria Road
• Gatekeeper's Lodge, Victoria Road
• Medical Records Department, Victoria Road
• Pottery Building
• Provision Store
• The Priory, Salter Street