Kew Lunatic Asylum, later called Willsmere, opened in 1871 as one of Victoria’s grand asylums with Ararat and Beechworth. Designed around ideals of light, space, and gardens, it soon became overcrowded and under-resourced, housing over 1,000 inmates at its peak. Conditions drew frequent criticism, with disease, mismanagement, and later outdated facilities and institutionalisation. Several inquiries, including a Royal Commission, exposed its troubled history. Closed in 1988, the heritage-listed s

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