Willsmere

The Kew Lunatic Asylum was a place where many Carrucans worked, either as nurses, farmers, gardeners, warders or as general hands. As you can see from the photo, it was a huge establishment and was found in Kew on the southern banks of the Yarra River.
Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. Later known as Willsmere, the complex of buildings were constructed between 1864 and 1872 to the design of architects G.W. Vivian and Frederick Kawerau of the Victorian Public Works Office to house the growing number of 'lunatics, inebriates and idiots' in the Colony of Victoria.
Kew continued to operate throughout the 20th century as a 'Hospital for the Insane', 'Mental Hospital' or 'Psychiatric Hospital', treating acute, long-term and geriatric patients until it closed in December 1988. The main building and surrounding grounds were sold by the State Government in the 1980s and were redeveloped as residential properties.