Zig Zag Bridge, Kew

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 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 Italianate architecture 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. 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 throughout its 117 years of operation, including a Royal Commission. Overcrowding, mismanagement, lack of resources, poor sanitation and diseases 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.

Yarra Bend Park 260-hectare (640-acre) park in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. Located 4 km northeast of Melbourne's CBD, it is the largest area of natural bushland left in inner Melbourne. The most notable feature of the park is the Yarra River which flows for 12 km through it. The park hosts two golf courses, two historic boathouses, sheds and a number of cycle and walking trails. It receives approximately 1.5 million visitors per year.

The Freiberg House, designed by Melbourne-based architects Chancellor and Patrick, was built in 1958-60 on a sloping site as a residence for the Freiberg family and is located at 26 Yarravale Road Kew, Victoria. The Freiberg is an example of post-war architecture in Victoria featuring a 2+1⁄2-storey geometric structure with a modified cruciform plan. Featured on the cover of Best Australian Houses (1961), edited by Neil Clerehan, the Freiberg house was significant for its use of traditional Australian forms and materials, combined with the Melbourne post-war interest in avant-garde planning, forms and structure. It is also notable for having the first entirely native garden planned by Edna Walling, with whom Chancellor and Patrick was a long-time collaborator.

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.

Medical terms in this article are in the context of what was legally correct usage for that period where they appear in the text. Therefore "feeble-minded", "idiot", "imbecile", "lunatic", etc., should not be taken at their modern significance.'Kew Cottages', Kew Children's Cottages and finally as Kew Residential Services is a decommissioned special development school and residential service located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

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.

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.

Raheen is a heritage-listed Italianate mansion located at 94 Studley Park Road in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, Victoria, Australia. Built in the 1870s, its name means "little fort" in Irish. Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register on 14 July 1982, Raheen is owned by members of the Pratt family and is the principal Australian residence for Anthony Pratt.

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.

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.