page_title: Kew Asylum
section_title: Investigations and inquiries
hierarchical_section_title: Kew Asylum / Investigations and inquiries
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut from Lee's Pictorial Weekly Budget Police News - close up of "Horrors of Kew Asylum"
context_page_description: Kew Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located between Princess Street and Yarra Boulevard in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. Later known as Willsmere, the complex of buildings were constructed between 1864 and 1872 to the design of architects G.W. Vivian and Frederick Kawerau of the Victorian Public Works Office to house the growing number of "lunatics", "inebriates", and "idiots" in the Colony of Victoria.
  The first purpose built asylum in the Colony of Victoria, Kew was also larger and more expensive than its sister asylums at Ararat and Beechworth. The asylum's buildings are typical examples of the Italianate architecture style which was popular in Victorian Melbourne. Designed to be elegant, beautiful, yet substantial, and to be viewed as "a magnificent asylum for the insane" with the aim of portraying Melbourne as a civilised and benevolent city whilst avoiding the jail-like appearance of other asylums. These aims were furthered by the use of low ha-ha walls and extensively landscaped grounds.
context_section_description: Despite initial grand plans and ideals, Kew Asylum had a difficult and chequered history resulting in several inquiries, including a Royal Commission.  The first inquiry occurred in 1876, only five years after Kew opened. Another notable inquiry occurred in 1907 after a severe outbreak of Typhoid fever, which at the time was thought to have been virtually eradicated in Melbourne. This inquiry in turn led to amendments to the Lunacy Act, improvements to Kew (and the state's other asylums) and the planned construction of Mont Park Asylum.
caption: Woodcut from 1876
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