Lands at Mont Park were first considered for an asylum site in 1906 when the members of the Cabinet under the State Premier Mr Bent (later Sir Thomas Bent) and the Inspector-General for the Insane, Dr. Ernest Jones inspected 214 acres of land including the area known as Sugarloaf Hill.
It was noted as conveniently located to the Heidelberg railway with the potential for a spur line to be built in the Asylum grounds for transportation of goods and as a convenience for doctors wishing to see patients.
It was assumed at the time that if the site was successfully acquired, the facility would take the place of the old Yarra Bend Asylum constructed in the 1860s and widely condemned by Jones as the “worst for the purposes he had ever seen”.
At the same time, another area of 700 acres at South Morang was under consideration (later revealed to be Wilton Vale on the banks of the Plenty River), but the State Cabinet decided in February of the following year to make an offer for the Mont Park site.
Negotiations were completed the following month
No purchase price was mentioned at the time , but Bent late in 1908, when he w.as under pressure after some dubious land dealings in his own seat of Brighton including the re-routing of a recently constructed electric tramway from St, Kilda to Brighton past an estate he owned, claimed that he had personally negotiated the price down from £50 to £40 per acre.
At the same time, an announcement was made of plans for the construction of a modern asylum to ultimately accommodate 800 patients at a cost estimated up to £250,000 with work to proceed gradually over several years.
By October, 1908, plans were still incomplete and it was being suggested that the site was too small and that the land required for the railway siding had yet to be obtained. Facing an election in December, the Government pushed through legislation in November authorising the expenditure for establishment of the asylum and Jones was given permission to go ahead with his preparations.
Bent’s Government won the election, but with the allegations of his land dealings still rife, Bent stood down as Premier in January, 1909.
His successor, John Murray ordered a Royal Commission in 1910 into Bent’s land dealings – they also included the purchase of Pender’s Grove in Northcote – which was told by an officer from the Titles Office that the land had been sold by the Commissioners of Saving Banks in 1899 to a Mrs Alice James for just £1,624 and been bought by the Bent Government from her in 1906 for £8,500 (an increase of 32 percent per annum).
Mrs James’ son confirmed the original asking price, bur Ernest Jones reiterated that site was too small to accommodate what had now risen to 1,000 patients and another 200 acres were required.
The Commission ultimately found that while Bent’s acquisitions had been highly irregular, there was no evidence to suggest he had made personal gain, but there was something of an uproar locally later in the year when the new Cabinet discussed the possibility of turning the site into a prison under the Indeterminate Sentences Act (i.e. prisoners to be confined at His Majesty’s pleasure).
(Bent died in September of the following year; many put his death down in part to the strains of the Royal Commission).
The municipalities of Heidelberg, Preston, Northcote, Collingwood, Whittlesea, Epping and Eltham formed a deputation to Premier Murray in opposition to the proposal, which was later watered down from an adult prison to a reformatory school.
Again local opposition proved a considerable obstacle, and it was announced that a road would be constructed and the Asylum would be constructed in stages as originally planned despite the continued opposition of Jones.
Some histories place the opening of Mont Park as in 1910, but in reality the first tender for construction “for the erection of group of farm buildings and cottages for working patients” was not awarded until December of that year, the successful tenderers Coates Brothers with the lowest price of £17,232.
Another tender was awarded in June, 1911, for the erection of the first buildings for the accommodation of paying patients (estimated at 140) at £21, 840, the building to be of brick with tile roofs “and to conform to the most modern requirements of such institutions”.
Both tenders ran several months behind schedule due to a shortage of skilled labour during something of a building boom – it was, however, noted in July that considerable progress had been made on works that did not require significant building skills – the laying of water pipes, fencing and temporary tram lines for the transport of materials.
With the site occupying what was considered prime farming land, the Government was obviously keen to make the institution as self-sufficient as possible and following the initial contract for farm buildings, another tender was issued in November for a dairy farm with bails for 50 cows and stabling for 12 horses, again awarded to Coates Brothers at a cost of £3,300.
Mont Park was officially proclaimed a Hospital for the Insane on 24 April, 1912 and after nearly six years since the controversial acquisition of the site, the first patients moved into the asylum in May, 1912, albeit only into the farm section “to assist in the cultivation of the area from which the authorities propose to secure produce for the use of the inmates and staff”.
There does not appear to have been an official opening ceremony – around 160 patients were admitted, initially 120 from Yarra Bend with the remainder transferred over the following month.
Late in 1914, an agreement was made with the Defence Department for the hospital to construct a new central block (sometimes referred to as “the Chronic Ward”) for use as a military hospital, eventually known as the 16th Australian General Hospital. The estimated cost of the new building to accommodate 800 patients was put at £110,000.
The military section operated from September, 1915 when 136 servicemen amongst 309 of the first wounded from Gallipoli were admitted to the ward to convalesce.
One wing was set aside early in 1918 as a recovery centre for what were rather unkindly called “bomb happy” cases, those suffering from shell shock and other traumas from which many never recovered. This section of Mont Park was the first of the military hospitals to revert back to purely civilian use, the Defence Department relinquishing control from 1 August, 1921.
Patients from the Base Depot Hospital as 5 Australian General Hospital was generally known were transferred to the Caulfield and Mont Park facilities in September, 1918. The St. Kilda Road facility was subsequently used for special cases requiring isolation, out-patients, and, because of its location, as an emergency ward.
As a result, a further ward was constructed at Mont Park in 1919 to accommodate another 80 patients suffering from psychiatric conditions resulting from their war service. This continued to operate until 1933 when the remaining patients were transferred to Commonwealth facilities.
The hospital had a close association with the Preston branch of the Red Cross with many local women serving as volunteers at the hospital and branch members either donating or raising funds towards providing comforts (including a gramophone and records).
GRAMOPHONE, &c., FOR MONT PARK.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS.
Sir,-On behalf of the Preston branch, Red Cross Society, will you grant space in your columns for us to appeal to the generous public for a gramophone and records, comforts, and games for the returned wounded soldiers, who will arrive at the Mont Park military home. Donations may be sent to the Preston Shire Hall, or to-Yours, &c.,
(Mrs.) C. STANLAKE, Bell street, president;
(Mrs.) K. ALLCHIN, Plenty road, treasurer;
(Mrs.) F. SHEPPARD, hon. secretary, 247 High Street, Preston. (The Argus, 10 September, 1915)
The Mont Park spur line
The official confirmation late in 1908 of Government plans to establish an asylum at of the Mont Park facility led to the construction of the Macleod railway station which opened on 1 March, 1911 after Mr. M. A. Macleod, who owned a strip of land alongside the railway line separating it from the Asylum, agreed to sell his 75 acres to the Government on the proviso that a railway station be erected.
“Everything is now in readiness for the carrying out of the work, and shortly a new station – probably “Macleod” – will be established on the Eltham line” The Argus, 19 February, 1910
The land of around 215 acres at Mont Park had been selected by the Government in 1906 in preference to a larger site on the banks of the Plenty River at South Morang principally because of the site’s proximity to the Heidelberg railway line.
The Railways Commissioners later intimated to the Heidelberg Shire Council which had the final say over the name to be used) that they intended to rename the station Mont Park, but the Council objected saying it saw no reason for the original name to be changed).
The purchase of Mr Macleod’s land allowed a spur line to be laid from just south of the station to serve the Mont Park Asylum complex, working commencing in March and completed the same year with the construction expense met by the government Health Department.
It opened soon after completion of the station and was a goods-only line, although some wounded soldiers were transported via rail after arriving back from overseas. An Act was passed in 1946 allowing passenger services but these were never implemented. At the same time, it was suggested that a planned railway from Alphington to East Preston would probably be extended through to Bundoora and Mont Park.
The Mont Park section was electrified in 1928, some five years after the main line, then the electrified section terminating at Eltham. The spur line was last used in 1964.
