Yarra Bend

The incomparable beauty and seclusion of the Yarra Bend appeared to recommend it as an isolated and picturesque spot forthe erection of alunatic hospital. (Horne, 1853 12)... 

This Statement, which was made in 1853 in the Melbourne paper, The Argus, in relation to the Melbourne asylum of Yarra Bend, encapsulates an attitude to nature and landscape that can be reasonably described as one of salvation or transcendence (Fig. 80.1). It reflects expert medical opinion of the 19th century centered on... 

La Trobe, the first governor of the colony suggested as much in 1845 in talking about the requirements for the new asylum at Yarra Bend ... 

The warm climate was considered a factor, which not only encouraged heavy drinking but produced a peculiar condition of the blood which induced deliriums tremens (Black, 1856), one of the major reasons for admissions to Yarra Bend and Kew Asylums (Brothers, 1957 341-347). Loneliness, despair, isolation were all counted as contributing factors and were listed in official reports. The 1858 Select Committee inquiring into a new site for instance, raises peculiar climate, northerly winds and disappointment as possible explanations (Report from the Select Committee upon the Lunatic Asylum, 1858 26, 28, 34, 37, 40). This last suggestion of disappointment was particularly associated with young women who had been only a short time in the colony and who found the reality of their new home so at variance with their idealized hopes, that they took to drink and became mad (Report from the Select Committee upon the Lunatic Asylum, 1858 10). 

Fig. 80.2 Yarra Bend and Kew Asylums (right), 1900-1910. (W.T. Pater Postcards Collection, State Library of Victoria)...

Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy Report (1844) in England which favored a rural geography as Chris Philo has expressed it (Philo, 2004 568-575). It could also be argued that it indicates the importance attached to seclusion which is emphasized by the way in which the waterways enclose the land, particularly at Yarra Bend Asylum. The road network also developed in such a way that that discouraged interaction with the general public. 

Fig. 80.5 Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum, 1864 ( Scene on the Yarra image in Austraiian News,...

So, at Yarra Bend, a visitor familiar with St Luke s in England describes the grounds as follows ... 

The other feature of the asylum grounds that is emphasized in visual representations, is the rurality of the sites, both in terms of location and function. In fact, one of the interesting observations to note from representations of Yarra Bend and Kew is that the proximity to the city or suburbs is never referenced, despite the fact that eye witness accounts indicate that the nearby city and suburbs could be clearly seen in 1858 (Report from the Select Committee upon the Lunatic Asylum, 1858 12). Further, representations of the asylum as a rural retreat, persisted well into the 20th century, even when the sites were abutted by suburbs. An example of this is the 1920 postcard of the road through Yarra Bend that crossed the Yarra River to Kew, Track to the Asylum which retains the device of the picturesque and rural in both visual and verbal language (Fig. 80.9). 

The ambiance of a rural property is also evident in a series of 31 photographs taken by a government official within the grounds of the newly closed Yarra Bend Asylum in 1927 (Fig. 80.10) which give no indication of the crowded suburbs on the other side of the river (Fig. 80.11). 

Humanitas. (1856). The Yarra Bend Asylum. The Argus (p. 6). 5 Febmary. 

Vagabond. (1876a). A month in Kew Asylum and Yarra Bend. No. IV. The Argus, 12 August. 

Willson, R. W. (1859). A Few Observations relative to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum. Reprinted from the Australian Medical Journal. Melbourne, VIC Goodhugh and Co. 

---