City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYResource Centre). The temperance movement was strong in Preston, due to the work of theRechabites and the Protestant churches, hence the relatively small number of hotels(Forster,1968:35; Bartlett b; Lemon 1983:79, The Temperance News, October 1889). The Star ofNorthcote Rechabite Tent commenced in 1876 and built their hall in Westbourne Avenue in1901 (The Rechabite, June 1976).The Australia Natives Association (ANA) was particularly influential in community matters, aswas seen in the establishment of the library and will be seen in the move to have a hospital forthe district. Both Northcote and Preston had branches of the Australia Women’s Association,which was a sister organisation to the ANA. Northcote also had the Lady Gwalia Lodge, thewomen’s equivalent of Druids. In 1904 a Northcote resident (presumably male) wrote to theLeader in disgust:I am sorry to see that some of the women of Northcote are so far forgetting their womanhood as toform a branch of the A.W.A. It is not very edifying to see our womanhood ‘playing atParliament’ when they should be home darning socks or taking care of the children (cited inLemon, 1983:144).The strictly male -only Freemasons made their first appearance in Darebin in 1889, whenPreston Lodge No. 148 was formed. Early meetings were held in the Council Club Hotel, thenBradford Hall, before the Preston Masonic Temple was built in 1919. The temple, in BellStreet, was an early work of architect Harry A. Norris. As Darebin grew and developed andmore Masonic Lodges formed in the district, the Preston Masonic Temple became the meetingplace for fourteen different lodges (Forster, 1968:103-4).7.4 Providing Health and Welfare ServicesProviding institutional careDarebin, although close to Melbourne, was isolated by poor transport services, as we have seen,and its large undeveloped areas attracted various health and welfare institutions seeking ruralland near the city. Darebin became home to a number of institutions that brought people infrom the wider community for care and treatment. The first two, the Inebriates Retreat and theLittle Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, were commenced in nineteenth centuryNorthcote.In the twentieth century large psychiatric institutions were established in Bundoora. Therepatriation of returned servicemen was established by the Commonwealth Government atBundoora and Macleod, see section 6.4 Defending Australia.Inebriates RetreatThe first of the health institution to take advantage of Darebin’s rural seclusion was theInebriates Retreat, founded by Dr Charles McCarthy on a 32 acre site on a bend in the MerriCreek. Dr McCarthy, concerned over the drinking excesses in the Victorian community, was apioneer in the treatment of alcoholism. He believed it to be a ‘disease of the nervous system’,that could be cured with a regime of abstinence and ‘suitable diet, medicine, exercise andcheerful occupation and in moral persuasion and kindness on the part of the superintendent’,as prescribed by the regulations of the Inebriates Act 1872 (Lemon, 1983:64). McCarthy hadbeen campaigning for the establishment of such an institution for many years, and heeventually received a government grant to buy Sumner’s property and build suitableaccommodation. He opened the Retreat in 1873, and over nearly twenty years treated 650patients, although his success rate is not known. McCarthy ran his Retreat as a privateenterprise, but it was taken over by the government in 1890 and closed in the following year,because the costs were thought to outweigh the benefits (Lemon, 1983:63-5, 122). The site isnow occupied by Merri Park and Northcote High School.115