Hi Everyone,
Locals who walk around the hospital will be familiar with the graves and the cemetery site just off Victoria Road, and may have noticed works recently tending to the site.
Please see below for details received from the NSW Mental Health Commissioner of a memorial ceremony to be held at Gladesville Psychiatric Hospital on 10 December 2019.
Forwarded to you by the team at Gladesville Community Group (inc)
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Gladesville Hospital Cemetery Memorial: in memory of former residents
The NSW Mental Health Commissioner, Catherine Lourey, cordially invites you to the Gladesville Hospital Cemetery Memorial ceremony to acknowledge and remember the lives of former residents of the Gladesville Psychiatric Hospital on Victoria Road, Gladesville.
This area is the final resting place of more than 1,200 former patients and several staff of the old hospital at Gladesville. The memorial ceremony will be the first time these people have been formally acknowledged.
Initially known as the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum (1838-1868), the hospital was renamed Gladesville Hospital for the Insane (1868-1914) and finally known as Gladesville Hospital (1915-1993).
Almost all the graves are unmarked — an indication of the high level of ignorance and shame that pervaded attitudes towards those who experienced mental health issues in the past.
The cemetery is a poignant reminder that we must never again allow vulnerable people to be abandoned, devalued, and hidden away. Instead we must focus on hope, recovery, support, and inclusion.
In holding this historic memorial ceremony, we offer respect to those whose remains are here in unmarked graves, as well as former residents buried elsewhere. We also pay respects to people buried at other hospitals and institutions. Our community acknowledges their journeys of suffering, distress and abandonment. This memorial is part of a journey to honour their memory.
The ceremony will include Aboriginal cultural elements, lived experience acknowledgements, speeches and shared stories.
Light refreshments will be available. Parking: on Crown Street or on the Hospital campus (access via Punt Road).
For any more information, please email events@mhc.nsw.gov.au or call (02) 9859 5200.
Date And Time: Tuesday 10 December 2019, 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Location: Gladesville Hospital, Carpark C (adjacent to cemetery), Victoria Road
Gladesville, NSW 2111
For any more information, please email events@mhc.nsw.gov.au or call 9859 5200.