The Royal Derwent Hospital, (originally New Norfolk Insane Asylum and later Lachlan Park) was built to house mentally ill and mentally handicapped persons in 1827, soon after the separation of Van Diemens Land from New South Wales. Its name was changed on 27 March 1968 to the Royal Derwent Hospital., also absorbing the nearby Millbrook Rise facility on 1 July 1968 to house patients. It was open for more than 170 years, finally closing in November 2000.
It has been claimed, arguably, that the hospital site (which is now decrepit) is one of, if not the most haunted place in Australia and had a horrific reputation.
Famous quotes containing the words royal, derwent and/or hospital:
“a highly respectable gondolier,
Who promised the Royal babe to rear
And teach him the trade of a timoneer
With his own beloved brattling.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“Adam had learned the jolly deed of kind:
He took her in his arms and there and then
Like the clean beasts, embracing from behind,
Began in joy to found the breed of men.”
—Alec Derwent Hope (b. 1907)
“The church is a sort of hospital for men’s souls, and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies. Those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their Retreat or Sailor’s Snug Harbor, where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)