The maddest place on earth

The 1850s in Victoria and Melbourne had grown to a large city with people travelling to the state to search for gold and for adventure. The sudden influx of additional people put a strain on the infrastructure of the new city, especially when the mental health of a number of the newcomers was considered to be unstable and they required housing.

In The maddest place on earth Jill Giese examines documents and newspapers from the second half of the nineteenth century to learn about the conditions in which inmates lived in asylums, especially the asylum at Yarra Bend and a second asylum across the river at Kew. These were large establishments but they soon became overcrowded and additional  accommodation, usually in the form of cottages, was built.

Jill Giese looks at the treatment of the patients primarily through the eyes of three people - the artist, George Foley, who spent his life in and out of asylums; Dr Edward Paley who for twenty years was in charge of the lunatic asylums in Victoria, especially Yarra Bend and Kew; and 'the Vagabond', a journalist who went undercover and wrote about social issues in the State.

This book provides an informative look at a little known part of Melbourne's history. It is listed as the book to be discussed at the RHSV Book Club in May 2020.