Yarra Bend Park

Fairfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km (3.7 mi) north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Darebin and Yarra local government areas. Fairfield recorded a population of 6,535 at the 2021 census.Fairfield is bounded by Grange Road to the east, the Yarra River to the south, Darebin Road to the north and Northcote to the west.

HM Prison Fairlea was an Australian female prison located on Yarra Bend Road in the suburb of Fairfield, Victoria, Australia. The first all-female prison in Victoria, it was built on the site of the Yarra Bend Asylum, with remnants of the walls and gates being used in the layout of the prison. In 1982 a deliberately lit fire led to the deaths of three inmates. The rebuilt and expanded prison reopened in 1986. After closing in 1996 due to privatisation of sections of the prison system, Fairlea was demolished and the site converted to parkland.

Yarra Bend Asylum was the first permanent institution established in Victoria that was devoted to the treatment of the mentally ill. It opened in 1848 as a ward of the Asylum at Tarban Creek in New South Wales. It was not officially called Yarra Bend Asylum until July 1851 when the Port Phillip District separated from the Colony of New South Wales. Prior to the establishment of Yarra Bend, lunatic patients had been kept in the District's gaols. Yarra Bend was proclaimed an Asylum under the provisions of the Lunacy Statute 1867 (No.309) in the Government Gazette in October 1867. From its establishment until 1905 the institution at Yarra Bend was known as an asylum. This title emphasised its function as a place of refuge rather than a hospital which provided treatment for mentally ill people who could possibly be cured. The Lunacy Act 1903 (No.1873) changed the title of all "asylums" to "hospitals for the insane". This Act came into operation in 1905. Despite the change in designation the function and structure of the agency was unchanged. The title was altered to reflect the community's changing attitude towards mental illness and the Victorian Government's approach to the treatment of mentally disturbed persons. An asylum/hospital for the insane was any public building proclaimed by the Governor-in-Council in the Government Gazette as a place for the reception of lunatics. An asylum could also provide wards for the temporary reception of patients as well as long term patients. Patients could not be retained in an asylum without a warrant requesting their admission. Prior to 1867 the warrant was signed by the Governor. After this date the Chief Secretary (VRG 26) was responsible for this function. Under the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1914 (No.2539) patients could also be admitted to a hospital for the insane on a voluntary basis, that is, on the patient's own request for a specified period of time. The Yarra Bend Asylum was situated near the junction of Merri Creek and the Yarra River near the former site of Fairlea Women's Prison.

Kane's Bridge, also written as Kanes Bridge and previously known as Kane's Suspension Bridge, is a wooden suspension bridge located in Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne, Australia over the Yarra River, linking the inner-city suburbs of Fairfield and Kew. The bridge is for use exclusively by pedestrians, with cyclists required to dismount before entering the bridge. The bridge was originally built in 1928 with the intention of connecting Kew with the public golf course located on the opposite side of the Yarra River, in Fairfield, replacing a ferry service. It was named after T J Kane, a councillor at the City of Collingwood. In the early hours of Saturday 1 December 1934, as a result of the 1934 Victorian floods, the original bridge was washed downstream and damaged beyond repair. A ferry service replaced the bridge beginning in the days following the collapse. A replacement bridge was constructed in 1935, resembling the design of another bridge further upstream linking Kew to the Yarra Bend Asylum. The suspension of the bridge is made of undressed timber posts, and the deck of the bridge is also wooden. The suspension is made up of steel cables.

Thomas Embling Hospital is a high-security forensic mental health hospital located in Fairfield, an inner Melbourne suburb in Victoria, Australia. The facility is operated by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, known as Forensicare, who are responsible for providing adult forensic mental health services in Victoria.The hospital provides acute and continuing care for patients from the criminal justice system who are in need of psychiatric assessment, treatment or care (security or forensic patients) as well as patients from the Victorian public mental health system who need specialised management (compulsory patients). Purpose-built with 116 secure beds, the hospital opened in April 2000. The hospital is named after mental health reformer Dr Thomas Embling, who was appointed as Yarra Bend Asylum's first Resident Medical Officer.Patients are usually admitted from the criminal justice system, either via prison transfer or from a court order for psychiatric treatment.

Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, originally known as Queens Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, operated from 1904 to its closure in 1996. Perched high on the banks of the Yarra River at Yarra Bend in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fairfield, it developed an international reputation for the research and treatment of infectious diseases. When it closed, it was the last specific infectious diseases hospital in Australia. Initially the hospital was devoted to the treatment of patients with fevers. Diseases treated included typhoid, diphtheria, cholera, smallpox, poliomyelitis and scarlet fever, and in its final years, HIV/AIDS became very prominent.

Johnston Street Bridge is a concrete road bridge crossing the Yarra River between the Melbourne suburbs of Abbotsford and Kew. The current bridge was constructed in 1954-6 by the Victorian Country Roads Board (CRB) using a design employing cast-in-place reinforced-concrete curved Tgirders and an integral flat slab deck. The bridge was designed by Bruce A. Watson of the Country Roads Board. Watson went on to become later to become the CRB Chief Bridge Engineer.The early 1837 survey for the Melbourne township established a preferred route to the east of the Yarra River along Johnston Street, which was confirmed in La Trobe's 1841 plan of proposed roads to outlying districts. This became one of the earliest road construction projects, with gangs of unemployed immigrants undertaking roadworks in 1842. Johnston Street was named a Melbourne City Councilor in 1851 and a toll gate was installed soon after. The river could be forded nearby at Dight's Falls, but advocates for a bridge over the Yarra in 1855 debated over a preferred crossing at this site or near the end of Clarke Street or near the current Collins Footbridge. Another privately owned "Penny Bridge" was provided nearby at the end of Church Street in 1857.The bridge is also known as the Studley Park Road bridge, with the first bridge having been built as a laminated timber arch with timber lattice truss spandrels in 1858 and was replaced with riveted wrought iron girders in 1876.A section of the original riveted wrought iron lattice handrail survives as a fence across the surviving eastern bluestone abutment. The 1876 structure was built by W. A. Shand, father-in-law of prominent ironworker and engineer, Mephan Ferguson. The wrought iron spans were about 18 metres on the same alignment, adapting the original abutments. This was one of the first local bridges to employ cylindrical iron columns, which were filled with concrete to provide slender piers to reduce any impediment floodwaters. It is located on State Route 34. The Abbotsford end of the bridge was the terminus of the Collingwood cable tramway line, with a car shed located nearby. The car shed has now been demolished. The line closed in 1939, and nowadays bus routes 200 and 207 use the bridge.

Villa Alba at 44 Walmer St, Kew, is a museum in the State of Victoria, Australia. It was built and decorated between 1882 and 1884 for Anna Maria McEvoy and her husband, William Greenlaw who was the General Manager of the Colonial Bank of Australasia in Melbourne. Villa Alba is located in Kew opposite Studley Park adjacent the Yarra River. The Yarra separated the Greenlaw's Villa Alba from the working class terrace houses located on the other side of the river in Abbottsford and Collingwood. An early photo shows that the villa was surrounded by the McEvoy's neighbouring larger property. The Paterson Bros. firm of decorators, then at the height of its reputation, was commissioned by the Greenlaws for the decoration of Villa Alba in 1883 and 1884.

Collingwood Children's Farm is a not-for-profit, inner city working farm situated on the Yarra River in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, Australia. It is located within Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung country. It is adjacent to, and considered part of the larger Abbotsford Convent complex. The Abbotsford Heritage Precinct Farmlands (APHF) supporting the Collingwood Children's Farm are unique in being the oldest continually farmed land in the state of Victoria. European farming commenced in early 1836, with formal land sales occurring in 1838. Farming on the APHF has continued uninterrupted from its agricultural use by Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung to grow crops such as Murnong (Microseris lanceolata). It is also the oldest Children's Farm in Australia, established in 1979. The farm holds a monthly Farmers' market, on the second Saturday of each month. To celebrate the Winter Solstice and as a fundraiser, the farm also holds an annual bonfire event.The farm has a range of animals from peacocks to goats, sheep, horses, ducks, pigs, chickens and guinea pigs. Nearly all of the animals at the farm are classified as rare breeds. The farm began in 1979, when a community committee leased a small plot of Crown land next to the Yarra River, used by the farm and Community Gardeners. Funding has come from various sources over the years and now entrance fees and donations make up the bulk of the farm's income. The farm relies on community effort with staff, volunteers and a Young Farmers' Program working to maintain the farm. The Yarra River Trail passes through the farm.

Sophia Mundi Steiner School is a school located in Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia, that follows Rudolf Steiner's educational philosophy. Schools which follow Rudolf Steiner's theories are known as Steiner schools, or Waldorf schools. Sophia Mundi was founded in 1985 by a group of parents. Classes Prep to Year 12 are based in the St. Mary's building of the Abbotsford Convent complex. A Playgroup is also offered on site.

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) is a classical music performance training facility. ANAM is a national organisation with students from across Australia and New Zealand. Since 2020 located at the Abbotsford Convent in Abbotsford, Melbourne, it is a member of the Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence. Current artistic director Paavali Jumppanen was appointed in 2021. Former artistic director Nick Deutsch was appointed in 2016 and past artistic directors include composer Brett Dean and clarinettist Paul Dean.Established in 1994, ANAM's Professional Performance Program is for students wishing to study their instrument in the following categories: strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, and keyboard instruments. From 2012, ANAM offered a master's degree delivered in collaboration with Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, along with fellowship and short course opportunities.

The Abbotsford Convent is located in Abbotsford, Victoria, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Convent is in a bend of the Yarra River west of Yarra Bend Park, with the Collingwood Children's Farm to its north and east, the river and parklands to its south and housing to its west. During the 19th and part of the 20th century, the 6.8 hectare site was occupied by one of the largest convents in Victoria. For more than 100 years, the Abbotsford Convent provided shelter, food, education and work for tens of thousands of women and children who experienced poverty, neglect and social disadvantage. Recognised as a place of outstanding historic value to Australia and the Commonwealth, because of the site's strong capacity to demonstrate the course and pattern of welfare provision in Australia, the convent was added to the National Heritage List on 31 August 2017.Today the site and its buildings are used as an arts, educational and cultural hub, the grounds, historic buildings and gardens are occupied by and host artisans; community and cultural events and cultural institutions, a community classical music radio station (3MBS), a Steiner School (Sophia Mundi), live music performances, a gallery, theater, markets, bakery, bar, cafe and a pay-as-you-feel restaurant. There are 11 buildings on the site; the Convent, Convent Annexe, St Euphrasia, Providence, Rosina, St Mary's, Mercator, Magdalen Laundries, Sacred Heart, Industrial School and St Anne's.