Possibilities and Realities: South Australia's Asylums in the 19th Century

THE FIRST ASYLUM

South Australia, although a planned colony with an emigration policy that focused on populating the colony with a young and physically able population, 1 soon found itself required to care for the mentally ill due to selection processes in England and the effects of a long sea journey on some individuals. 2 Colonial life proved less than they had hoped for and led to mental breakdowns. South Australia's first asylum was a rented house at Parkside, just outside the Parklands, which surrounded the town of Adelaide. The house consisted of five rooms to house both male and female patients. It soon became clear that this arrangement was very unsatisfactory. It was difficult for the keepers to manage the patients because they were being kept in large rooms, and to prevent violent attacks. 3 Given that those with mental illness were residing in the debtors' yard of the Adelaide Gaol due to the small size of this converted house, Lt Governor Robe called on Dr Nash, the Colonial Surgeon, to select a site for a new purpose built asylum. The chosen site was close to the colonial hospital on one of the main thoroughfares surrounding the town of Adelaide.

In 1849 the Colonial Engineer drew up plans for an asylum to accommodate 60 patients, a house surgeon, three keepers and a couple of domestic staff costing £5000-£6000. 3 Tenders were called in 1850 and the new Adelaide Lunatic Asylum was opened in March 1852.

ADELAIDE'S FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT ASYLUM

The new asylum consisted of a single linear building with the kitchen and laundry forming an attached annex to the rear of the main building. The ground floor consisted of a central administrative set of rooms with wards on either side. Each ward consisted of seven sleeping rooms and a day room, with the lavatory, bath and water closet opposite the sleeping rooms. At the end of the ward were three more rooms: two for refractory patients and one for incontinent patients. The first floor consisted of two wards each composed of four dormitories, a corridor ward, and day room, while in the centre space were two infirmaries and the master's and matron's rooms. The asylum was divided effectively into male and female sides by the placement of the administrative rooms. The small second floor over the central section had two dormitories and a foyer around the stairs.

Less than 2 years after its opening, the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum proved to be too small, with two men occupying each cell; accommodation was required for 40 more patients. More day rooms were needed for both men and women and a new laundry was required, as were separate yards for the men and women. At that time they were using the one yard alternatively. Plans were drawn up in 1853 for two new wings of two stories each, to extend back from the existing building; a new laundry, drying room, fuel shed and boiler house. A boundary wall, new airing courts, a laundry yard and a carriage drive were included in the planned changes. The total cost of these plans was £14 020; however, only £2937 had been approved in the Parliamentary Estimates for 1854 for building work at the asylum. 3

The same year, the Select Committee on the Expediency of Carrying out Certain Public Works considered the plans for the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum. Under examination, the Colonial Surgeon suggested that the Government should consider the erection of a new asylum to accommodate 200 patients located on a site from 50 to 100 acres, approximately 2 miles from town. This would be convenient for family and inspection visits but far enough to keep the curious from trips to the establishment. 4 The Colonial Architect, Bennett Hays, indicated that a new asylum could be built in the same timeframe as that required to build additions to the present asylum. The Committee, who were also considering additions to the Destitute Asylum at a cost of £3500, took a practical approach and recommended that a new asylum be built. This would leave the present asylum available for the accommodation of the destitute, for which it was well adapted.

The Parliament agreed with the Committee's findings and in 1854 land for a new asylum was bought in the village of Woodforde, at the base of the Adelaide hills, and plans were drawn up by the Colonial Architect embodying the best of English asylum design combined with adaptations to the Australian climate. The anticipated cost of the new asylum for 228 patients was £80 300. 5

Despite this progress it was decided not to go ahead with the new asylum, or even with modifications to the existing asylum. Instead, the Colonial Secretary informed the Colonial Architect that part of the Adelaide Gaol was to be modified and declared a lunatic asylum. 3 At this time the Gaol was already acting as an unofficial asylum, taking the overflow from the overcrowded Adelaide Asylum. 3 There is no indication that this modification work was ever begun.

In 1856, a Parliamentary Select Committee was appointed to consider the treatment of lunatics in Her Majesty's Gaol and the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum. The Committee condemned conditions at both institutions; in the asylum, patients were doubling up in single cells and many of the rooms were being used by the staff. The Committee recommended the expansion of the present asylum rather than any modification of the gaol, and the same year work began on an additional male dormitory extending out from the rear of the Adelaide Asylum. The new building had eight single rooms on each of two floors, an attendant's room on each floor and a day room. 5

In 1858, reflecting the adaptation of the asylum spaces to fit daily requirements, the sheds in the airing yards, used as ad hoc dining rooms, were converted into proper rooms with fireplaces. 6 Although funds for additions had been approved in 1859, no work was undertaken. In 1861, accommodation pressures led to the use of the adjacent old hospital building as temporary asylum accommodation. 7 Overcrowding continued to be a problem and, beginning in 1861, a further male dormitory was constructed abutting the first addition, providing 18 single rooms, two dormitories, two small rooms and one medium day room over two floors and a partial lower floor. Work also appears to have begun on a set of rooms for both men and women at some distance from the main building.

Problems with the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum design and overcrowding led to the appointment of a Commission to inquire into the management of the Lunatic Asylum and Hospital in 1864. They found that the existing asylum did not allow for sufficient classification, and the site had become inappropriate. The expansion of the town of Adelaide and the suburbs on the other side of the Parklands meant that the roads passing the asylum had become main thoroughfares. Again, the question of expanding the present asylum was considered but the limitations of the size of the site and the costs involved meant that this was not a practical solution. Instead, the Commission recommended the construction of a new purpose-built asylum for 700 patients along the best European and American lines. However, they rejected the land purchased at Woodforde as being too far from Adelaide, and recommended the purchase of land within 4 miles of the centre of Adelaide. 8

The next 2 years saw a period of activity, with the Colonial Architect, W M Hanson, drawing up plans for a new lunatic asylum to house 350 patients at a cost of £50 000. In 1865, a separate residence for the resident medical officer was built at Adelaide Asylum, freeing up rooms in the main building for patient use, and in 1866 a new female dormitory was added. Most importantly, 1866 saw the purchase of land for the new asylum at Parkside, just beyond the Parklands, which surrounded the town of Adelaide. Foundations for the new asylum were laid in December 1866 and the new Parkside Lunatic Asylum opened in March1870.

PARKSIDE ASYLUM

The asylum at Parkside was planned as a series of three pavilions housing several hundred patients, but by 1870 only one building had been built. Of its three storeys, the ground floor was devoted mainly to administrative and service rooms, with the addition of two large day rooms and a billiards room for the men and a workroom for the women. The first floor was given over to a range of sleeping accommodation including single rooms and larger ward rooms. The second smaller floor also offered large ward rooms.

Initially, only men were moved to the new asylum, where they could be employed in labouring tasks. The presence of only one airing court prevented the movement of the women to Parkside. The Parkside Asylum remained incomplete for a number of years and the front rooms of the building remained empty. 9 It was anticipated that the front offices could be used as additional dormitories to ease the overcrowding of the male wards at Adelaide if the necessary airing courts were built. Day rooms would need to be provided in these new airing courts because there was not enough day space. Work did not begin on the airing courts until 1877, as did work on a laundry. 9 Consequently, for 7 years the rooms remained empty.

Overcrowding continued at Adelaide Lunatic Asylum on both the male and female sides. The women could not be moved into Parkside Asylum because, despite the existence of an airing court that would allow them to exercise, there was no separate dining room in which they could eat. 9 The lack of ground floor rooms suitable for the more acute cases meant that Parkside could take only those with chronic illness, and Adelaide remained the admitting institution. Many of these problems arose because Parkside had not been completed with the intended male and female pavilions. The central administrative building, which had been built, was intended to provide only limited patient accommodation. 9

Ten years after its opening there was a flurry of work at Parkside. Work began on (i) the medical officer's residence at Parkside, which would free up his rooms for patient accommodation; (ii) a new pavilion block for 150 female patients; and (iii) a multifunctional room in the women's airing court, which was to serve the triple purpose of dining room, chapel and general recreation hall. 9 Overcrowding continued to be a problem in the late 1880s 10 but no further major building work was undertaken. Interestingly, despite being opened for 13 years, the patients of Parkside Asylum were limited to their airing courts because there were no boundary walls. In the mid to late 1880s other small additions were made to both Adelaide and Parkside Asylums, including six single rooms and a bathroom at Adelaide for feeble and aged women in 1886, and a ward for violent women at Parkside in 1888. Libraries were also opened in both asylums.

The Adelaide Lunatic Asylum remained open until 1902, when all the patients were transferred to Parkside Asylum, which remains open today as Glenside (Psychiatric) Hospital. The Adelaide Asylum was for several years an infectious diseases hospital before it was razed in 1938.

DISCUSSION

As can be seen from this brief history of provisions for the mentally ill in South Australia, there was a pattern of planning to provide the best possible care for the mentally ill but then a failure to follow through with the plans. This resulted in asylums that offered little in the way of appropriate rooms and space for both the management of the patients and to make life more comfortable for the staff. The Adelaide Asylum as it was originally designed offered only limited wards and some day space. This made classification of the patients difficult, with those recovering from an episode of illness in close contact with those experiencing the first throes of an episode unrestrained by modern medicines. 11 The asylum lacked the chapel, recreation hall, and workshops found in many English asylums of the period. 5 These had provided variety within the daily routine of the asylum. Instead, Divine Service and some entertainments were held in one of the front offices. The lack of exercise grounds meant that the women were allowed to access the front gardens only on Sundays when they were not at work in the laundry, while the men, who were rarely employed (there were no workshops), had access for the other 6 days. 5 Additions, when made, focused on providing more sleeping accommodation and some day space. Interestingly, there were no requests for rooms such as a recreation hall, workshops or a staff dining room that would have diversified the rooms available at the Adelaide Asylum. 5

The planned Woodforde asylum would have provided these much-needed rooms, including separate infirmaries, houses for private patients, workshops for the men, and a farm and dairy where patients could be employed. However, the South Australian Government went to the other extreme in planning to turn part of the Adelaide Gaol into an asylum with the most basic of facilities. This was followed by further ad hoc additions to the Adelaide Asylum. Although Parkside was a planned purpose-built asylum, it repeated many of the problems that had become evident at the Adelaide Asylum: the main building provided sleeping accommodation and little day space. Consequently, dining rooms had to be erected in the airing courts, with a multipurpose room in the female airing court acting as dining room, recreation hall and a chapel as needed. The laundry was added as an afterthought; linen was sent to the Adelaide Asylum for several years. The lack of boundary walls led to the public talking to the patients and prevented patients from leaving the plain airing courts. 5

There are a number of possible reasons for the failure of the South Australian government to provide the best possible care for the mentally ill in the 19th century. These include the economic realities of South Australia being a colony trying to grow in often difficult circumstances. This is best reflected in the cycle of action and lulls associated with building work at the asylums and the use of temporary buildings. Other factors may have played a role in the failure to provide the best possible care. These include a general lack of knowledge about the new ideas in psychiatric asylum design and patient management among those directly involved with the asylums, and social perceptions held by the public of those being accommodated in the asylums. 5

PROVISIONS FOR THOSE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS TODAY

To understand the present, we must understand the past. The rooms and spaces of 19th century asylums have been replicated in the designs of modern psychiatric hospitals, which are often built around the core of 19th century asylums. These have been added to over the decades until today. The limitations of the modern hospital environment may have reinforced the public view of the mental hospital as a custodial place. The hospitals are composed of single rooms and dormitories of generally two to four beds, a dining room, an activity room where videos are shown and religious services may be held, and usually some form of lounge. These arrangements often directly reflect the limited rooms found within the colonial asylums. The main variation today is the frequent separation of the different categories of patient in separate buildings.

A redevelopment and diversification of mental hospital spaces may in fact return the hospital to a comfortable place for those who, through their illness, are seen as a ‘dangerous’ threat to the general public or cannot be cared for in community housing. The modern Australian hospital, in inheriting the designs of the colonial asylums, has not drawn upon the diversity of spaces that those writing through the 19th century had recommended and which were possible. 5 The best possible environment can still be provided by the planners of hospitals, if they go beyond the concept of ward, dining room, a few lounge chairs tucked in small rooms and possibly a craft room or multifunction room. These offer the patient little variety within the day, and monotony of routine becomes the by-way of a long stay. It is likely that economics remain the key factor in the design of psychiatric hospitals, thus repeating the problems of the 19th century.