City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYPlenty Hospital and Kingsbury Training CentreIn 1960 Mont Park was divided in two, with Plenty Hospital gazetted as a separate institution.In 1973 it took patients from Pleasant View Mental Hospital in Preston, which closed. Thecatchment for Plenty Hospital was the northern suburbs. The other part became KingsburyTraining Centre, with 30 children in residence in 1974. The children attended EducationDepartment Special Schools (O’Neill & Taylor, 1995:42).LarundelLarundel Mental Hospital was built to take patients from Kew Mental Hospital, wherefacilities were outdated and local residents were objecting to a mental hospital nearby.Construction commenced in 1938 to a design by Public Works Department Architect, PercyEverett. The war slowed work and caused staff shortages, so the incomplete building was usedby the Airforce, as noted in Chapter 7. After the war, the Housing Commission used thebuilding for emergency housing until 1947. There was even a school (State School No. 4631)provided for the children of the families living there (Kenna, 1988:140-5).In 1948 the first patients were transferred from Mont Park, and later from Beechworth MentalHospital following a fire in that institution. Due to war-time and post-war shortages Larundelwas still not completed, and it operated, albeit understaffed and under-equipped, as part ofMont Park. Eventually, in 1953, Larundel was proclaimed a Mental Hospital and opened as aseparate institution, with eight new wards added in 1955. In 1957, to address the shortage ofpsychiatric nurses, a Nurse Training School opened at Larundel, and nurses’ hostels were built.The new 1950s buildings did not stick to the original plan, their austerity compared with theoriginal Everett buildings suggests the need for economy. Larundel was declared a ReceivingHouse, which made it a centre for admissions and early treatment (Kenna, 1988:140-5; Lia2002b).In the 1990s, new methods of treatment for psychiatric patients allowed them to live in thecommunity rather than remaining institutionalised. Larundel and Bundoora’s other psychiatrichospitals were made redundant. Mont Park and Larundel have since been taken over for urbandevelopment as Springthorpe Estate and Lancaster Gate. The name Springthorpecommemorates Dr John Springthorpe of the Mont Park Hospital (Lia 2002b).Providing local hospital servicesThe institutions outlined above were parts Melbourne’s health system located withinDarebin’s boundaries because of availability of suitable land. As institutions they had littleimpact on Darebin’s people, except for individuals who happened to have been admitted toany of them, or who may have worked in them. Darebin did not have a hospital for its owncommunity until the 1950s.Preston Council first proposed a community hospital for Preston in 1941 as a war memorial.The idea was taken up by the South Preston Australian Natives Association (ANA) whichcalled a meeting of all the other friendly societies in the district, along with the RSL, other localorganisations, doctors and prominent citizens. Friendly societies were then the providers ofhospital and health insurance, hence their interest in the matter. It was decided that a 25 bedhospital to be named the Preston and Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH), would beappropriate, and a committee was appointed to investigate the matter. When the chairman ofthe committee contacted the Hospitals and Charities Board, he found that there were alreadygovernment plans to build a 150-200 bed hospital in Preston. It was to be one of a number ofhospitals planned for suburban Melbourne, and negotiations had already begun to buy a site,however building could not commence until after the war. Meanwhile the Darebin communitywas given the task of raising one quarter of the expected cost of £50,000. From then on theproceeds of many of the community’s social events were earmarked for PANCH.119