Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 84
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Lunatic asylums
A lunatic asylum for the mentally ill was first established in 1811 at
Castle Hill. In 1825 the patients were moved to Liverpool Court House
which served as an asylum until Tarban Creek (later known as
Gladesville) was built.
Tarban Creek
Lunatic Asylum
In 1835 Governor Bourke advised the Colonial Office of the necessity for
a new asylum to be built, and described the present one at Liverpool as
'a wretched hired building without outlet of any kind'. (HRA vol. 17,
p.631). The completion of the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum allowed
patients to be transferred there from Liverpool and from the Female
Factory, Parramatta. By 22 November 1838 all 28 female patients
committed to the Liverpool Asylum had been transferred and the first
male patients from Liverpool arrived on 10 January 1839. (Bostock,
Dawn of Psychiatry, pp.44-5)
Liverpool Asylum
The Benevolent Society with government assistance established an
asylum near present-day Central Railway Station in 1820. Refuge was
also needed for the poor, infirm and destitute. The Liverpool Asylum for
the Infirm and Destitute (Liverpool State Hospital from 1933) also
began as a branch of the Sydney Benevolent Society on 26 November
1851. Many inmates had originally arrived as convicts.
Overcrowding at the
Liverpool Asylum
In January 1862 the Select Committee on the Benevolent Asylum,
Sydney, found the Liverpool institution seriously overcrowded. Intended
for 190 inmates it actually held 352. (Report from Select Committee on
the Benevolent Society, 7 January 1852, Votes and Proceedings 1861-2,
Vol. 2, p.910).
Later Asylums for
the infirm and
destitute
The Colonial Secretary arranged the transfer of 200 men from the
Liverpool Asylum to a Government Asylum on Parramatta Wharf.
(Asylum for the Destitute (Correspondence) 2 July 1862, Votes and
Proceedings 1862, Vol. 4, p.317). On 16 March 1862 the Government
resumed the Liverpool Asylum building and took charge of its inmates.
(Asylum for the Destitute, p.325). A Board for the Management and
Superintendence of the Expenditure from the Public Revenue for the
Infirm and Destitute was established to manage the Government
institutions and decide upon admissions. (Asylum for the Destitute,
p.317). The Board administered the Government Asylums for the Infirm
and Destitute branch of the Colonial Secretary's Department.
7.2
Indexes to the records
Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788–1825 *ARK and is
available on State Records' website
Colonial Secretary's Correspondence: Index to convicts and others,
1826–77 and ongoing. Compiled by Joan Reese
Colonial Secretary's Correspondence: Index to letters sent re
convicts, 1826–May 1855. Compiled by Joan Reese
Contemporary Colonial Secretary's Indexes and Registers, 1826–
1900, NRS 922 available in State Records' reading rooms
Female Factory Parramatta, 1826–48 – Index to inmates. Compiled
by Norma M Tuck and Joan Reese
State Records Authority of New South Wales
81