Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Callan Park Mental Hospital

One of the first purpose-built hospitals for 'moral therapy' which opened in 1884.

Milestone
Opened
1884
Died
13 Dec 1906
Died
21 Dec 1916
Merged into
1976
Position
1876 - 1898
1907 - 1915
Property
Occupied
1874 - 1991
Type

Callan Park Mental Hospital

,
2008

Developed on the Garryowen estate built by John Brenan from the 1830s, Callan Park hospital was designed to treat insanity by the most modern methods available when it opened in 1884. During the twentieth century, overcrowding and ad hoc additions diluted the original intent and design, and by the 1960s the hospital was a place of squalor. The buildings are now used for other purposes.