Beechworth Asylum

Coordinates: 36°22′09″S 146°41′47″E / 36.36918°S 146.69642°E / -36.36918; 146.69642

Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, originally known as the haunted Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned hospital located in Beechworth, a town of Victoria, Australia. Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum was the fourth such Hospital to be built in Victoria, being one of the three largest. Mayday Hills Hospital closed in 1995 after 128 years of operation.

The asylum was surrounded by almost 106 hectares of farmland, making the hospital self-sufficient with its own piggery, orchards, kitchen gardens, fields, stables and barn. For recreation, the asylum included tennis courts, an oval and cricket pavilion, kiosk and theatre.

Ha-Ha Walls

One of the distinctive features of both Kew Asylum and Beechworth Asylum is the use of a variation on Ha-Ha walls around the patients courtyards. These ha-has consisted of a trench, one side of which was vertical and faced with stone or bricks, the other side sloped and turfed. From the inside, the walls presented a tall face to patients, preventing them from escaping, while from outside, the walls looked low so as not to suggest imprisonment.

Beechworth

Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the 2011 census, Beechworth had a population of 2,789.

Beechworth's many historical buildings are well preserved and the town has re-invented itself and evolved into a popular tourist destination and growing wine-producing centre.

Beechworth was the winner of 2009/2010 Australian Tidy Towns Awards. As well as winning the overall Australian title, Beechworth won the Dame Phyllis Frost Litter Prevention award sponsored by Hungry Jack's "Bag it & Bin it" program, the Energy Innovation award and received commendation in the Heritage & Culture category award.

History

Originally used for grazing by the settler David Reid, the area was known as Mayday Hills until 1853, when it was renamed Beechworth. The Post Office opened on 1 May 1853 as Spring Creek and was renamed Beechworth on 1 January 1854.

Gold

In its golden heyday from 1852–1857, this was a fabulous gold region and centre of government; but its power, wealth and influence were short lived. At its wildest moments of gold discoveries, Woods related how an early party of prospectors retrieved a pan of gold weighing 14 pounds (6.4 kg) 14 lb (about 7 kg).(p. 10.) Another lucky party, said Woods, cleared some 50 pounds (23 kg)50 lb (approx. 25 kg) of gold in a week.(p. 16.) And so began a rush into this remote region. During the first election campaign in 1855, one candidate, Daniel Cameron, rode a horse shod with solid gold horseshoes. The extravagance of this event is still commemorated as the logo for Beechworth is a golden horseshoe.