What happened at Seacliff Mental Hospital?
8 December 1942 The fire that swept through a locked ward of the Seacliff Mental Hospital, north of Dunedin, killed 37 female patients. The huge, isolated hospital, opened in 1884, was built mainly of stone, but Ward 5, which housed ‘difficult’ women patients, was a two-storey wooden addition.
When did cherry farm close down?
Hawksbury Village Cherry Farm Hospital epitomised the village-asylum atmosphere in name and design, contrasting with the harsh conditions in the fortress-like Seacliff Hospital. When the hospital closed in 1992, it was the consequence of new arrangements for the three groups of patients that remained.
When did Seacliff hospital close?
1973
| Seacliff Lunatic Asylum | |
|---|---|
| Opened | 1884 |
| Closed | 1973 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in New Zealand |
What is the history of asylums?
The word asylum came from the earliest (religious) institutions which provided asylum in the sense of refuge to the mentally ill. One of the oldest such institutions was Bethlem, which began in 1247 as part of the Priory of the New Order of our Lady of Bethlehem in the City of London.
Why did Kingseat Hospital close?
In 1996, South Auckland Health sold Kingseat Hospital after government decisions to replace ongoing hospitalisation of mentally ill patients with community care and rehabilitation units.
When was Janet Frame in Seacliff?
November 1945
The author Janet Frame was first admitted to Seacliff in November 1945 and was wrongly diagnosed with “incipient schizophrenia”. She spent much of the next eight years at Seacliff and Avondale Hospital in Auckland, sometimes as a voluntary patient and sometimes against her will.
What did Spookers used to be?
Spookers is reportedly New Zealand’s largest operator in haunted horror entertainment. In 2005, the haunted attraction Spookers opened in the area of the former hospital in the former nurse hostel.
What happened to Lake Alice?
Like many New Zealand psychiatric hospitals, Lake Alice was largely self-sufficient, with its own farm, workshop, bakery, laundry, and fire station. It also had swimming pools, glasshouses, and vegetable gardens. The facility slowly shut down during the mid-1990s, finally closing its doors in October 1999.
Is Seacliff haunted?
This is Seacliff, and for many it is a nightmare-inducing place that is haunted by the spirits of patients past. The story of Seacliff begins in the mid 1800s, an era when Otago’s population soared as people flocked to the area in the hope of striking it rich in the gold fields.
When was Kingseat Hospital built?
Kingseat Psychiatric Hospital in Auckland opened in 1932 and was operational until 1999, when it was shut down during a sweeping reform of New Zealand’s public mental health system.