Built in 1866, Yarrabee House was the residence for Resident Medical Officers at the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum and Adelaide Hospital. Robert Waters Moore was the first medical superintendent to reside at Yarrabee House. He implemented a ‘moral treatment’ approach to the care of insane patients. This approach aimed to foster a relationship between patients and medical staff where patients developed a sense of self-respect and self-discipline through sympathy, religious education and individualised treatment hence reducing the need for mechanical restraints such as strait jackets. Alexander Stewart Paterson took over as medical superintendent in 1866 and took more of a medical approach to the care of patients and the expense of their emotional and psychological health. Activity programs were suspended and staff relied more heavily on mechanical restraints. Recovery rates for insane patients declined from 60% to 40% under Paterson’s appointment.
Once patients of the asylum had been transferred to Parkside, the house was leased to the South Australian branch of the Royal British Nurses’ Association between 1905 – 1915. It then served as a boarding house until 1948 when it became the residence of the Director of the Botanic Gardens. The Education Department used the building until the early 1980s after which it was used as an exhibition gallery for the friends of the Botanic Gardens. In 2001, it underwent restoration and is now the administrative headquarters of the National Wine Centre. Yarrabee house is listed on the State Heritage Register.
This concludes the tour. I hope that this has provided you with an insight into a bygone era in the provision of healthcare in Adelaide.
Image courtesy of the Health Museum of SA