Lakeside Mental Hospital

Lakeside Mental Hospital, originally known as Ballarat Asylum, later as Ballarat Hospital for the Insane and finally, before its closure, as Lakeside Psychiatric Hospital, was an Australian psychiatric hospital located in the suburb of Wendouree, the north-western fringe of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The hospital first opened in 1877 for the "imbecile and idiot" (low intellect) class of patient rather than patients with acute insanity. It closed again soon after. A reformatory for boys also operated on the site, and some of its buildings were reused when the hospital was reopened in 1893, specialising in the treatment of epileptics. A brick building was converted into a ward to house 30 male patients. This was extensively damaged in a fire in 1917. A report in 1895 said that the patients did not have enough warm clothing, and that they were shivering during the cold Ballarat winter. Proposals to expand the asylum were mooted in 1909. Large scale extension and alteration were put forward by the state government in 1916. In 1934, the Ballarat Asylum was renamed Ballarat Mental Hospital and, in 1969, the name changed again to Lakeside Hospital. Lakeside Hospital was decommissioned in 1996. The hospital at its peak employed about 600 staff and could hold 1500 patients. The site was 83 hectares, of which 40 hectares was used as a farm. Crops planted in 1910 included leeks, caul

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