Kenmore Asylum

Kenmore Asylum, also known as Kenmore Hospital or Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located in Goulburn, a town in New South Wales. Construction began in 1894 and opened in 1895, capable of housing 700 patients. In March 1941, the Australian Army accepted an offer from the New South Government, where the Kenmore Asylum would be the site for a military hospital. As a result, patients located at the asylum were moved to various mental institutions in Sydney. In 1946, the Australian Department of Health resumed control of Kenmore Asylum after the army moved out. The property was sold in 2003 and resold in 2010, and it is described as one of Australia's "most haunted locations".

The property was sold to Australia China International Pty Ltd in March 2015 and it is planned to restore the once derelict building as Kenmore Gardens with likely uses to include retirement living, government services, or educational facilities.

Background and construction
In October 1879, 340.5 acre of land of the Kenmore Estate was purchased by the government at a cost of £1,252. Frederick Norton Manning, who was recently appointed as the colony's Inspector-General of the Insane purchased the estate, making it his first major achievement in his new role. A new hospital for the site was planned, in which the first constructed wards were intended for chronic cases which have accumulated in existing hospitals from the southern districts of the New South Wales colony. Several concerns were raised about the location of the proposed hospital. Although Manning considered the site to be "very suitable", questions were raised about the water supply, and there was little outlook. Members of the Public Works Committee agreed that the Rossiville Estate was a more suitable site for a new hospital, providing that a sewerage scheme could not be obtained without polluting the Goulburn water supply.

The estimated cost of building the asylum was £150,000; the cost was spread over a period of five years, and up to 650 patients could accommodate it. The first construction contracts were permitted in 1894, the major one going to John Baldwin, a builder from Sydney for £12,760. Local Goulburn builder J.C. O'Brien was granted the second contract for £923, where his contract involved the erection of a number of buildings in brick, as well as a few temporal wooden structures. In O'Brien's contract, it also called for the erection of a small brick "special ward" for patients who became violent or uncontrollable, although the first patients for the asylum would be chosen for their quiet and industrious nature. Violent and uncontrollable patients would be kept under lock and key.

By the end of 1894, the asylum was ready to temporarily accommodate 140 patients, with several wards of the hospital yet to be complete. In January 1895, the first personnel for the asylum were officially appointed, and upon opening, 152 patients from other hospitals were transferred to Kenmore; of the 152 patients, 146 of them were male. Despite several wards being opened for operation, the asylum was anticipated for completion by June 1897 to provide services for the southern regions of New South Wales. By 1896, a considerable amount of work was made, where edifices of brick now lay upon several acres of land. The new contractors, Messrs, Parry and Farley, hoped to get through their contract by the end of the year despite it only intending to complete one third of the work. The number of patients rose up to 156 in that year. In addition, there were temporary offices and quarters for the staff, which composed of two officers, 17 attendants, a cook, a laundress and a needlewoman.

Further progress was made in 1897, with most of the prominent buildings being completed and taken in possession by the staff and patients. It began assuming the appearance of a township, and £70,000 was already spent on its construction between a three to four year period. A further £70,000 was estimated to complete the complex. A new contract was also made, and it composed of a nurses' and attendants' home, which stand on either side of the administrative block and thus would complete the front elevation of the asylum. The remainder of the work primarily consisted of the construction of additional wards which stretched outwards towards a nearby river, forming a "V-shape" from the central quadrangle. In 1897, 150 male and 42 female patients resided at the asylum. By 1901, Kenmore Asylum had been completed, although small additions were expected in the future.

20th century
Several deaths at Kenmore began to plague the complex. In 1902, Henry George Bailey, a patient who was admitted to the asylum, committed suicide by hanging himself from a window shutter, using a thick canvas rug by tearing a thick piece off of it. These rugs were specifically made to be strong because they were used on violent patients. Due to his violent and homicidal tenancies, Bailey was visited by an attendant every half-hour. At 5 o'clock, the attendant saw Bailey sleeping, but upon returning to him 25 minutes after the last visit, Bailey had committed suicide. An inquiry was held by the coroner who concluded that he did commit suicide. A year later, a second patient who was admitted to the asylum died. The coroner found that the patient died from suffocation, as a result of an epileptic fit. In 1908, a patient was attacked and killed by another resident of the asylum, who struck him on the head with a holystone. The patient, Prince Dean, had a history of hitting other patients and explained why he had struck him, saying it was "for fun". At the time of the incident, the victim, John Cubitt, was scrubbing floors with Dean.

In 1909, tenders were received for the erection of two convalescent wards, one each for males and females. A new admission block and doctor's quarters was also proposed. The accepted tender involved a new admission block and a new administration block, costing £10,995. The asylum suffered considerable damage in 1912, where a fire broke out at 2 o'clock in a drying room. All of the clothing in the dryers was destroyed, and furnishings of the room were burnt; in addition, the value of this loss was considerable. The cause was unknown.

Years after the deaths of patients at Kenmore, many more were reported. In 1917, a patient named James Claxton hung himself from a tree, despite being noted as a quiet sociable, well behaved person who never indicated any desire to commit suicide. Two years later, in August 1919, a pneumonic influenza pandemic swept across the asylum and killed 21 more patients; of these, 19 patients were male and two were female. In 1920, Alston Paul Broome was sentenced to death for murdering his wife at the asylum.