Callan Park Lunatic Asylum for the Mentally and Criminally Insane

The Callan Park Lunatic Asylum for the Mentally and Criminally Insane is located in the grounds of Callan Park, an area of the Sydney suburb of Rozelle in Australia.

History: 'Bedlam in Balmain'
In 1873 the Colonial Government of N.S. Wales purchased the Callan Park site, then known as “Callan Estates”, with the purpose of building a large lunatic asylum to ease the severe overcrowding at the Gladesville Hospital for the Insane, at Bedlam Point, near Tarban Creek in Gladesville. The new lunatic asylum was designed according to the 'enlightened' views of Dr Thomas Kirkbride, an American. Colonial Architect James Barnet worked with Inspector of the Insane Dr Frederick Norton Manning to produce a group of twenty neo-classical buildings. These were completed in 1885 and named the Kirkbride Block, offering care and detention of inmates.

The buildings were originally designed to accommodate 666 inmates, but by 1890 the asylum was seriously overcrowded with a total of 1078 inmates. A further group of buildings were built close to the Kirkbride complex around 1900 to ease the overcrowding problem.

The Kirkbride complex continued to be used for the housing and treatment of inmates until 1994, when the last remaining services were transferred to other buildings in the Callan Park grounds, towards the Broughton Hall at the southern end of the site. Many inmates were also transferred into half-way-houses in the local communtiy, in line with the policy of the State Government (see The Richmond Report of 1983 which accelerated the move towards de-institutionalising care), creating a number of social and moral problems.



The asylum today
The asylum has now moved further west into the park, no longer utilizing the historic sandstone complex. The former facility is now occupied by Sydney College of the Arts, the fine arts campus of Sydney University. The modern hospital is administered by the New South Wales Department of Health and is home to both male and female inmates who are insane or criminally insane. It is formally known as the Rozelle Hospital. The institution provides a range of other services such as mental health, psychiatric rehabilitation and psychogeriatric services. A number of wards feature maximum security features which are designed to minimise the number of break-outs and protect residents in the local community.

The current Warden is G. Cleaver.

A number of the historically significant buildings have fallen into disrepair after being vacated, adding to the eerie and dark atmosphere which pervades the estate. Currently, the parklands are open to the public for their use and enjoyment, with the asylum being confined to a number of purpose-built complexes. Dog walkers, joggers and personal fitness trainers have replaced the sight of confused inmates wandering aimlessly throughout the estate. Yet the asylum’s vastly different past is never too far away: in the late afternoon, the calls of magpies and currawongs hint at the cries and deranged sounds of the inmates that once echoed between the sandstone wards. The inmates have, however, left their mark on the environment - with the development of the grounds forming part of their treatment. Small poorly-constructed footbridges in what appears to be an oriental style, odd rock-gardens and quasi-sculptures are dotted randomly throughout the parklands.

See official website and also here

Future
The future of the Asylum buildings at Callan Park is unclear, with the remaining patients to be transferred to Concord Hospital in 2007-08. The NSW Callan Park (Special Provisions) Act 2002 restricts future uses of the site to health and education, but the New South Wales Government has not revealed its development intentions when the existing facilty closes.

Famous inmates

 * Australian suffragist Louisa Lawson, her sons Charles and Peter, and The Bulletin publisher and editor J. F. Archibald (who famously published much writing by Louisa's son Henry Lawson), were inmates, but Henry Lawson was not.

Theft of antiques
In 2003 it was revealed that thousands of medical antiques from the Callan Park Lunatic Asylum, including a human skeleton and medical and dental instruments, have been stolen from a collection held at the Rozelle Hospital Ward. Antique syringes, mortuary and teaching tools, medical lithographs and furniture are among the missing items. See: article