Search the collections
Psychiatric Institutions of the Past
Image: Straightjacket (pre-1940)
Source: Museum Victoria
Large asylums were established for the collective institutionalisation of the mentally ill in Europe in the 1700s. This included the notorious Bedlam in London, where conditions and treatment of patients were considered severe and brutal.
Psychiatric institutions were first established in Australia in the mid 1800s. Many patients were institutionalised for life. They experienced a variety of illnesses including post-natal depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar disorder and dementia.
The 'asylums' were under-resourced, and conditions were crammed and spartan.
With the advent of psychotropic drug treatment and welfare cost-cutting, most large 'asylums' were closed down in the 1980s.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 21 - 30) 50 items
-
Vaccine Vial - Anti-Pneumococcal, 1920s
Antiserum used as a vaccine to pneumonia. Manufactured by Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, about 1920s
Images: 3 -
Glassware - Soxhlet Extraction Apparatus, Bellco, circa 1920
Glass extractor, made by Bellco. Used by Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) Limited, Parkville, Victoria. c.1920. Laboratory glassware used for the preparation of pharmaceuticals. Th ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 2 -
Bottle Rack - Reagent, circa 1920
Wooden rack with set of glass bottles containing various fluids. Racks like this were widely used up until the 1960s for sets of chemical reagents or diagnostic preparations. The covere ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 2 -
Vaccine Bottle - Spanish Influenza, 1919
Landmark CSL product. First vaccine to be manufactured by Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Melbourne for the pandemic of Spanish Influenza in Australia. Vaccine against the Spanish Inf ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 2 -
Keys - Iron, circa 1860
Set out five iron keys used at the mental health hospital Yarra Bend Asylum, possibly between 1848-1925. They were used to unlock the doors of wards and possibly work areas at Yarra Ben ...
From: Fairfield, Australia Images: 1 -
Boots - Dunlop, Canvas, Prior 1950
Pair of cream canvas boots, size 9, with black laces. Worn by a patient before 1950 at Aradale Psychiatric Hospital. Aradale Psychiatric Hospital was built as the Ararat Lunatic Asylum ...
Images: 3 -
Boots - Canvas, Lace-up, Off-white, circa 1940
Cream-coloured canvas shoes lined with blue-striped cream canvas with thick leather soles and low leather heels. Made by staff or residents at Mayday Hills, Beechworth, Victoria. Canvas ...
From: Beechworth, Australia Images: 1 -
Soap - Carbolic, Kew Mental Hospital, circa 1880
Bars of carbolic soap made and used at Kew Mental Hospital, a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia, circa 1880. Four patients at Kew Mental Hospital were employed to make 84,60 ...
From: Kew, Australia Images: 3 -
Apothecary Jars - Glass, circa 1900
One of seven glass medicine jars from the pharmacy of a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia circa 1900. Some jars contain traces of medicine. One jar nearly full of powder. 46 ...
Images: 2 -
Webbed Forks - Metal, circa 1940
Set of three webbed forks used by patients in a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia, circa 1940. It was believed that webbing reduced the chances of accidental or self-inflict ...
Images: 2
