Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital: Wednesday's Child

Wednesday's Child is a comprehensive 260-page compilation of a large psychiatric hospital. Operating in Goulburn NSW, Australia throughout the period 1894 until 1980, it advocated institutionalization for psychiatric care. For approximately 80 years this view held sway, until the Richmond Report heralded a paradigm shift in policy.Throughout eighty years, institutions such as Kenmore, provided its clients with picturesque, looming and peaceful sanctuaries. Partly because of the spiraling cost of accommodating a thousand plus patients and the maintenance and renovation of a score of wards, administration and support networks, a new means of psychiatric care was imposed.Though a seemingly ideal model loomed as the panacea for a complexity of psychiatric needs, successive governments diverged from the proposed model for budgetary reasons. The effectiveness of the service declined.The book features the renowned colonial architect Walter Liberty Vernon (1846-1914). and his aclaimed work. Being a disciple of William Morris's Arts and Crafts Movement, Walter's distinctive work is not only a feature in the Kenmore Estate but also in a score of NSW public institutions. These include the Art Gallery of NSW, Central Railway Station, and the Darlinghurst Police Station. Read more