Madness in the Family: Insanity and Institutions in the Australasian Colonial World, 1860–1914

235 Pages·2010·2.316 MB·English

by  Catharine Coleborne (auth.)

Madness in the Family
Also by Catharine Coleborne
READING ‘MADNESS’: Gender and Difference in the Colonial Asylum in
Victoria, Australia, 1848–1880
LAW, HISTORY, COLONIALISM: The Reach of Empire (edited with Diane Kirkby)
‘MADNESS’ IN AUSTRALIA: Histories, Heritage and the Asylum (edited with
Dolly MacKinnon)
Madness in the Family
Insanity and Institutions in the
Australasian Colonial World, 1860–1914
Catharine Coleborne
Associate Professor, University of Waikato, New Zealand
© Catharine Coleborne 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-57807-4
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First published 2010 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-36761-0 ISBN 978-0-230-24864-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230248649
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19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
For my own little family: Craig and Cassidy, with love
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Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Maps x
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
1 Colonial Psychiatry in the Australasian World 15
Psychiatry in the British colonial world 17
Colonial asylum environments 27
The medical superintendents 31
Patient populations 36
2 Families and the Colonial Hospital System, 1860–1910 43
Insanity and colonial society 44
Families ‘scattered about the colonies’ 51
Heredity and degeneration 54
Families and hospitals for the insane 59
3 Families and the Language of Insanity 65
Popular and expert understandings of madness 69
Marginal notes: family observations in patient case notes 74
Lay descriptions of insanity 76
Expert knowledge 82
First-hand accounts of mental breakdown 84
4 Writing to and from the Asylum 88
Traces of emotion in patient case records 94
Family and patient correspondence 99
The asylum as a ‘theatre of emotions’ for families 102
5 Tracing Families for Maintenance Payments 107
Asylum patient maintenance costs in the colonies,
1860s–1900s 109
Poverty, families and institutions 113
‘Tricks and subterfuges’: deceiving authorities? 116
Family economies: money and emotions 119
vii
viii Contents
6 Porous Boundaries: Families, Patients and Practices
of Extra-Institutional Care 122
Trial leave and leave of absence: institutional practices
across the colonies 124
Boarding-out 137
The After Care Association, New South Wales, 1907 139
7 Conclusion: Families, Insanity and the Archive 143
Exploring the archives 145
Locating families 150
Grappling with archival records: some conclusions 151
Appendix: Indications of Insanity Noted by Family and Friends
of Inmate Prior to Committal 154
Notes 156
Bibliography 196
Index 215
Figures
1.1 The garden, Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville,
W. H. Broadhurst Postcard, c. 1900. Reproduced
with the permission of the Mitchell Library,
State Library of New South Wales, Australia. 28
1.2 The Yarra Bend Asylum for the Insane, Illustrated
Australian News, 23 May 1868, p. 12. Reproduced
with the permission of the Pictures Collection,
State Library of Victoria, Australia. 29
1.3 Avondale Asylum, Auckland, erected 1878, circa
early twentieth century. Reproduced with the permission
of the Alexander Turnbull Library,
Wellington, New Zealand. 30
1.4 Interior of women’s ward, Goodna 1913. Reproduced
courtesy of the State Library of Queensland, Australia,
image no APE-045–0001-0029. 31
3.1 ‘Sacking’ a Wife at Cape Schanck, Police News,
23 June 1877, Reproduced with the
permission of the Rare Books Collection,
State Library of Victoria, Australia. 66
3.2 Proof of His Sanity, cartoon by William Blomfield,
published in the New Zealand Observer and Free Lance,
8 October 1898, p. 3. Reproduced courtesy of the
Alexander Turnbull Library Wellington, New Zealand. 81
4.1 Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville, W. H. Broadhurst
Postcard, c. 1900. Reproduced with the permission
of the Mitchell Library, State Library of
New South Wales, Australia. 93
4.2 S uperintendent’s residence, Goodna. Reproduced
courtesy of the State Library of Queensland,
Australia, image no 177592. 104
ix