On the outskirts of Ararat, two imposing sandstone buildings still stand as relics of Australia’s mental health past.

Aradale Lunatic Asylum, formerly known locally as mad mans hill — was once the largest psychiatric hospital in Victoria.

Just down the road, J Ward confined the state’s most violent and “criminally insane.”

Behind their thick stone walls, treatments blurred with punishment, and the line between care and cruelty disappeared.

Sources:

Book your visit — Aradale, Lunatic Asylum

Books: The J Ward Story – Graeme Burgin

Aradale, The Making of a Haunted Asylum – David Waldron, Sharn Waldron and Nathaniel Buchanan

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