AustLit

'Larundel Psychiatric Hospital was ‘the madhouse on the edge of town’ – until the 1990s, a Melbourne cultural icon shrouded in mystery in the outer suburb of Bundoora.

'What was it really like inside this madhouse? 

'This story takes us into the heart of Larundel through the voices of former inmates and staff, exposing the best and worst aspects of the mental institutions of the times.  It shows the shifts in psychiatric treatments, the social forces at play, and changes driving mental health policy.  It explores what de-institutionalisation and ‘care in the community’ actually meant for those suffering mental illness, as well as for those treating, and caring for them.

'What did we lose with Larundel’s closure in 1999 and the move to acute psychiatric wards in general hospitals? The notion of asylum? Is the more recent notion of ‘recovery’ a hopeful signpost towards a brave new world for mental health? 

'The authors are Sandy Jeffs, a former inmate of Larundel, who became an advocate for her ‘mad’ comrades and is now a poet of distinction; and Margaret Leggatt, sociologist, occupational therapist and activist for the friends and families of mentally ill people. 

'‘A significant and lively contribution to the history of mental health services in Australia, offering vital insights for the progress we must work for.’  – Jack Heath, CEO, SANE Australia'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'The Victorian bushfires of February 2009 captured the attention of all Australians and made headlines around the world. One hundred and seventy-three people lost their lives, the greatest number from any bushfire event in this nation's history.

'In the wake of this tragedy much media and public commentary emphasised recovery, resilience, community, self-sufficiency and renewed determination. Peg Fraser, working as a Museum Victoria curator with survivors in the small settlement of Strathewen, listened to these stories but also to other, more challenging narratives.

'The memories and thoughts that Fraser heard, and gives voice to in this book, complicate much of what we thought we knew about the experience of catastrophic natural events. Although all members of the same community, Strathewen's survivors lived through Black Saturday and its aftermath in ways that were often very different from each other.

'Beginning each chapter with an object from the bushfires - among them a Trewhella jack, a burned mobile phone, a knitted chook and a brick chimney - Fraser explores and reveals how each person's identity, including as a man or a woman with a particular social position in the town, impacted upon experiences and understandings of loss, survival and even the future.'

'This is historical truth of the most vital, affecting and powerful kind.'  (Publication summary)