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Psychiatric Services Collection
Image: Electro-Convulsive Therapy Machine
Source: Museum Victoria
The Psychiatric Services Collection is made up of over 1600 objects and covers the period of 1870-1980. The objects collected from several Victorian psychiatric institutions tell a sad story of neglect and lack of political will. Much of the museum's collection was assembled during the 1950s by Dr Charles Brothers while he was working within the system to bring about reforms.
Victoria's first 'lunatic asylum' was a bluestone barracks in extensive grounds at Yarra Bend.
By the late 1860s, the colony's population of people with psychiatric disabilities, including confused and dementing elderly people, had increased enormously.
Between 1867 and 1872, the government opened three institutions, at Kew, Beechworth and Ararat, as shelters for 'lunatics'. The buildings were huge, with large dormitories and kitchens, and extensive gardens and farmlands. Capable patients could learn and work at a trade, and a strict routine was followed, with the aim of 'imposing order on chaotic minds'. Soon these institutions were themselves overcrowded, and attempts to separate patients by type of illness faltered.
The asylum population comprised people with intellectual disabilities, confused elderly, and those with psychiatric illnesses. Treatments included restriction, isolation and sometimes, sedation, and there was limited contact with families and friends. Some people were calmed by the regular routine and the break from outside responsibility and were able to be discharged, but many stayed in institutions until they died.
Dr Brothers' investigations uncovered the institutionalised poverty and lack of hope resulting from decades of government and community neglect. The texture of daily life in an impoverished and overcrowded institution is evoked by well-worn domestic objects, battered metal chamber pots and standardised clothing. Collection objects range from uniforms, restraining devices, medications, surgical instruments, kitchen utensils, gardening tools, artworks and building fittings.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 31 - 40) 711 items
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Artificial Teeth - Incisors, Anatoform, circa 1925
Set of six Porcelain Incisors Artificial Teeth, manufactured by Anatoform, circa 1925. Distributed by the Amalgamated Dental Trade Distributors Ltd, London. They were used in the mental ...
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Artificial Teeth - Porcelain Cuspid & Molar, DeTrey's Diatorics, circa 1925
Half set of Porcelain Cuspid and Molar Artificial Teeth, manufactured by DeTrey's Diatorics, for the Amalgamated Dental Co., Ltd, London, England, circa 1925. They were used in the psyc ...
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Petri Dish - Glass, circa 1930
Glass Petri Dish made, circa 1930. It was used in a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia
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Dress - Cotton, Blue & White Stripe, circa 1940
Cotton dress with blue and white stripe pattern, made circa 1940. It is part of a uniform worn by female patients at Ararat Lunatic Asylum, in the mid 1940s. It was worn by a female pat ...
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Electro-Convulsive Therapy Machine - Both Equipment Pty. Ltd, circa 1930
Alternative Name(s): ECT Machine Electro-Convulsive Therapy Machine manufactured by Both Equipment Pty. Ltd, circa 1930. It was used for electro-convulsive shock therapy at a mental he ...
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Trephine - Stainless Steel, circa 1920
Stainless Steel Trephine, made circa 1920. This surgical instrument was used during brain surgery to cut holes in the patient's skull. It was used in a mental health hospital in Victori ...
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Artificial Teeth - Porcelain Cuspid & Molar, DeTrey's Diatorics, circa 1925
Set of porcelain teeth for dentures, comprising cuspids and molars. Made by DeTrey's Diatorics for the Amalgamated Dental Co. Limited, London, England, circa 1925. Used in the mental he ...
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Artificial Teeth - Porcelain Cuspid & Molar, DeTrey's Diatorics, circa 1925
Set of porcelain teeth for dentures, comprising cuspids and molars. Made by DeTrey's Diatorics for the Amalgamated Dental Co. Limited, London, England, circa 1925. Used in the mental he ...
Images: 1 -
Artificial Teeth - Porcelain Cuspid & Molar, DeTrey's Diatorics, circa 1925
Set of porcelain teeth for dentures, comprising cuspids and molars. Made by DeTrey's Diatorics for the Amalgamated Dental Co. Limited, London, England, circa 1925. Used in the mental he ...
Images: 1 -
Artificial Teeth - Porcelain Cuspid & Molar, DeTrey's Diatorics, circa 1925
Set of porcelain teeth for dentures, comprising cuspids and molars. Made by DeTrey's Diatorics for the Amalgamated Dental Co. Limited, London, England, circa 1925. Used in the mental he ...
Images: 1
