The Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum (1811–1826) and the Origins of Eclectic Pragmatism in Australian Psychiatry

Abstract

Australia's first lunatic asylum was improvised in a disused convict barracks. The first doctors were themselves convicts, who were in conflict with a sternly moral lay superintendent. Disturbances, including a murder, occurred among the patients. The Governor restored peace by dismissing the superintendent and abolishing the post of resident doctor but deprivation and dirt prevailed until the asylum was transferred to further makeshift quarters. Primitive colonial times demanded improvisation and flexibility, i.e. eclectic pragmatism. Moreover, Government control of psychiatry over many years tended to curb the growth of any one ideology and so fostered the eclecticism which seems characteristic of Australian psychiatry. A colonial resourcefulness is an asset in work where patients' individual differences can defy any one theoretical framework and remedies must be pragmatic.