Parkside Lunatic Asylum, later Parkside Mental Hospital (GA2606)

Prior to the establishment of a dedicated building, mentally ill people were accommodated in the Adelaide Gaol. In 1846 the government leased a house on the north-east corner of Section 264 District A (Parkside), the site of the present Glenside Hospital. This first asylum at Parkside continued in use until 1852, when the building reverted to its original owner.

Overcrowding at Parkside led to calls for a new asylum to be built. In 1852 the Adelaide Asylum opened on North Terrace, and continued in use until 1902, after which the building (now demolished) was used by the Adelaide Hospital as the Consumptive Home.

In 1870, the second asylum at Parkside, Parkside Lunatic Asylum opened on Section 264, the government having bought the site from its private owner for the sum of 6,360 pounds. Built around a central quadrangle and costing 35,458 pounds, the new asylum, according to the Government Architect, was to 'combine all the excellencies and latest conveniences of the best English Asylums', and the plans were 'principally modelled on those of the Essex Asylum, one of modern construction, and highly spoken of'. The building was also constructed to be as fireproof as possible, with the staircase mounted on concrete. The contract for the existing stand of gumtrees bordering the property was put out to tender by the Government Architect in 1866.

With the opening of the Parkside Lunatic Asylum 50 male patients were transferred from the Adelaide Asylum. In 1902, all of the Adelaide Asylum's patients were transferred to Parkside. From 1913, the Asylum is referred to as Parkside Mental Hospital. On 6th July, 1967, Parkside Mental Hospital became Glenside Hospital.

Parkside also received patients from Broken Hill, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, with their respective governments being billed for public patients.

Eastwood Receiving House:

Receiving Houses were established under the Mental Health Act, for patients who were suffering mental stress, but whose symptoms were not sufficiently severe for them to be officially certified. Patients could later be certified if need be. Eastwood Receiving House was on the grounds of Parkside Mental Hospital.


Same agency as GRG34 - different archival control system.

Timeline:

Colonial Lunatic Asylum, Parkside 1846-1852 [GA2335]
Adelaide Lunatic Asylum 1852-1902 (50 male patients to Parkside in 1870) [GA2336]
Parkside Lunatic Asylum 1870-1913
Parkside Mental Hospital 1913-1967
Glenside Hospital 1967-ct [GA1980]

For a more detailed history of Parkside Hospital and its predecessors, by H.T. Kay, a former Lay Superintendent, see GRG 34/71, or see the published copy in the Printed Reference Collection, Gepps Cross Research Centre.