Shared Stories: Being Separated

Being separated

Lands maps divide up the landscape. The parts are labelled and coloured for use and status.
On this lands map, we can see that the Morisset Hospital grounds are surrounded by a thin red line. None of the residential blocks immediately surrounding the hospital have been sold. Printed across the hospital grounds at the base of the map are the words ‘Hospital For The Insane’.

Morisset Hospital has operated drug and alcohol, disability and geriatric services in its relatively remote location. Its central function has been mental health services, including operating criminally insane and acute psychiatric care facilities.

Until the 1970s a park-like setting and isolation from broader society were thought to be important in managing mental health. Mental health is now often managed from a community setting.

Construction of the Hospital began in 1908. Morisset Hospital is still in use today.

Morisset planning map
Unknown maker
Unknown date
Lake Macquarie City Council Local Studies Collection
Unknown donor

This work by Lake Macquarie City Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License