City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2World War, killed in action in New Guinea in 1942, is commemorated in the suburbKingsbury (Forster, 1968:102-3).Military incursionsMont ParkIn 1910, compulsory military training was introduced for Australia’s young men, but evenbefore this fears of war in Europe and a desire to support the mother country led to theestablishment of an organised militia. One of the military training grounds was in Bundoora,the future site of the Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital. A major annual event was Easter camp.Kenna describes the 1914 Easter Camp at Bundoora, when the 16 th Infantry Brigade marchedout to Bundoora from Clifton Hill Station. The camp was made on the corner of Plenty Roadand Grimshaw Street, but manoeuvres ranged over a large area including Mount Prospect inBundoora Park and as far as Janefield and the Plenty Gorge.By this stage Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital had been built, and following the outbreak of theFirst World War the laundry workers block was handed to the Defence Department for use asa military hospital. In 1915, another large ward was taken over as a military hospital. Known asAustralian General Hospital No.16, it could accommodate 1000 patients. After the war theservicemen suffering from psychiatric illness continued to be treated at Mont Park, and aspecial military hospital ward was built there in 1924.During the Second World War, Mont Park was again called upon, this time to provideaccommodation and training. The Australian Women’s Land Army was formed to replace menin rural industries. From 1942 to 1945, the farm at Mont Park became a training centre, wherewomen, presumably from the city, learnt to milk cows and plough, garden and care foranimals, before they were sent out to work on farms. The supervisor was Mrs O. Mellor, thefirst woman to graduate as a landscape architect from the Burnley Horticultural College(though by no means the first women landscape designer) (Kenna, 1988:158-9).At the same time the newly completed Larundel Mental Hospital at Mont Park was taken overas the depot for the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force. Between 1943 and 1945, theDepot accommodated 5000 women who were trained for Air Force duties that freed men foractive service (Kenna, 1988:159-60).Repatriation Hospital BundooraIn 1920, the Commonwealth Government purchased Bundoora Park and established aConvalescent Farm for ex-servicemen suffering from psychiatric problems. This was the firstpsychiatric hospital for returned servicemen in Victoria. It was part of the system ofgovernment support for veterans, and it widened the concept of ‘repatriation’ from merelybringing them home from war. Bundoora Park, as a large property isolated from urbansettlement, was ideal for the purpose, and furthered Darebin’s role in the history of psychiatricservices in Victoria. This will be discussed in Chapter 7.The Smith mansion was used as the administration centre and buildings were transferred fromarmy bases at Broadmeadows and Watsonia. Patients worked in the vegetable and flowergardens, orchard and poultry sheds. Such work was part of the rehabilitation process, but it wasalso a method of self-sufficiency for the hospital. The water supply came from Janefield (a fewkilometres to the north along Plenty Road) and was pumped into an iron tank on Mt Cooper.A boiler attendant went to Janefield each day to start the pump. A concrete tank was latererected alongside to improve the service. Both structures are still standing. In 1933 all of thepsychiatric patients were transferred to Bundoora, which had been renamed the MentalRepatriation Hospital in 1924 (Kenna, 1988:123-9).96