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Kew Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located between Princess Street and Yarra Boulevard in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. Later known as Willsmere, the complex of buildings were constructed between 1864 and 1872 to the design of architects G.W. Vivian and Frederick Kawerau of the Victorian Public Works Office〔Day〕〔 〕 to house the growing number of "lunatics", "inebriates", and "idiots" in the Colony of Victoria.〔 The first purpose built asylum in the Colony of Victoria, Kew was also larger and more expensive than its sister asylums at Ararat and Beechworth. The asylum's buildings are typical examples of the French Second Empire style which was popular in Victorian Melbourne. Designed to be elegant, beautiful, yet substantial, and to be viewed as "a magnificent asylum for the insane" with the aim of portraying Melbourne as a civilised and benevolent city whilst avoiding the jail-like appearance of other asylums.〔VPP1876 vol.3, p.57〕〔Day, p.31〕 These aims were furthered by the use of low Ha-Ha walls and extensively landscaped grounds. Long considered of cultural and historic significance to Melbourne, Kew Asylum and its complex of buildings were registered on the Register of the National Estate in March 1978.〔 Despite initial grand plans and ideals, Kew Asylum had a difficult and chequered history contributing to several inquiries〔Day, p.36〕〔VPP1876〕 throughout its 117 years of operation, including a Royal Commission.〔Zox〕 Overcrowding, mismanagement, lack of resources, poor sanitation and disease were common criticisms during the asylum's first five decades;〔 out-dated facilities and institutionalisation were criticisms of Kew's later period. Kew continued to operate throughout the 20th century as a "Hospital for the Insane", "Mental Hospital", or "Psychiatric Hospital", treating acute, long-term and geriatric patients until it closed in December 1988. The main building and surrounding grounds were sold by the State Government in the 1980s and were redeveloped as residential properties. ==Site and planning== During the 1850s, the existing lunatic asylums of the Colony of Victoria were overcrowded.〔Day, p.30〕 Yarra Bend Asylum, while only six years old, was considered unsuitable〔Day, p.22〕 and Carlton Lunatic Asylum (which was originally a jail) was in a state of disrepair. As a result, in 1854 the Government of the Colony of Victoria commissioned a report proposing sites and designs for a new lunatic asylum.〔 Contemporary educated opinion was that lunatic asylums should be built "on a healthy site, freely admitting light and air, and drainage ...() a gentle eminence in a fertile and agreeable country". In a report by the New South Wales' Inspector of Asylums, Frederick Norton Manning stated that "the site chosen is of primary importance. On it must depend the comfort, happiness and health of the inmates."〔 p.166〕 Thus a hilltop site, across the Yarra River from Yarra Bend was recommended in a report by G.W. Vivian of the Public Works Office.〔Vivian, vol.4 p.949〕 Vivian described the site as:
The idea that breezes or wind-swept locations were healthy came from a wider Victorian belief that associated disease with congestion and squalor, and that miasmas of impure air caused epidemics.〔 The area Vivian recommended for the asylum had originally been set aside for a village reserve.〔Walker, p.4〕 Locals from Kew were upset by the proposal and petitioned the government, to no avail.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher =Public Record Office Victoria )〕 of land in the County of Bourke, parish of Boroondara, city of Kew were permanently reserved as a "Site for Lunatic Asylum" in the Government Gazette of 1864.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url = http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/kahla1933183/sch2.html )〕 Construction began in 1864, however was halted almost immediately with reports of inferior works on the foundations. An investigation followed and Frederick Kawerau resigned.〔 Contractor Samuel Amess continued construction at Kew using Kawerau's designs. They were derived from plans earlier outlined by Vivian, and were basically identical to Kawerau's designs for Ararat and Beechworth, though Kew was much larger,〔Day, p.29〕 and more expensive at a cost of ₤198,334.〔According to Dr Dick's assessment in 1884 'the Kew Asylum for buildings, fittings, boundary walls, fencing, and laying on services of gas and water cost 198,334 pounds compared to Ararat ()128,222 ... Beechworth ()166,403' (Zox, vol.4 p.12)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kew Asylum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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