The Adelaide Lunatic Asylum was located on North Terrace at Hackney, at the location where the National Wine Centre now sits. The Lunatic Asylum originally operated between 1852 and 1902 as an asylum, but in 1906 was used by the Adelaide Hospital as a centre for infectious diseases until 1932. It remained vacant until its demolition in 1938.
Architecture
The exterior of the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum was described as an Elizabethan building, defined by its ‘authentic triple-gabled E formation’. Upon the stone building sat a grey slate roof and diamond-paned windows.
Outer buildings
The outer buildings consisted of a morgue, the stables and Yarrabee House, all of which remain standing at present day.
Occupants
In the 1890s, the Asylum was described as containing around 200 patients, equally divided between men and women. The ‘inmates’ being classified into ‘paying’, ‘pauper’, or ‘criminal and dangerous’. One of the more well known occupants was Louisa Simmons, who was sent to the asylum whilst awaiting trial for the murder of her husband’s mistress. It was said that Simmons set Alice Georgina Wooding alight after pouring kerosene on her after she found out about her husband’s affair. The asylum was the final residence of an Aboriginal man known as ‘Yallum Jacky’, who had been left devastated by the death of his partner. It was reported at the time that his death marked the end of the ‘Penola tribe’.
