Cumberland Hospital

{{About|the psychiatric hospital|the heritage-listed former uses of this site|Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct|the defunct hospital in Brooklyn, New York|Cumberland Hospital (Brooklyn)}}

{{Infobox hospital

| name = Cumberland Hospital

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| coordinates = {{coord|33.80187|S|150.99502|E|source:placeopedia|display=inline, title}}

| location = Westmead, New South Wales, Sydney

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| country = Australia

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| type = Specialist

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| speciality = Psychiatric hospital

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| former-names = Lunatic Asylum, Female Factory

| constructed = 1817

| opened = 1849

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Cumberland Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital located in Westmead, in Sydney's west. Along with Bungarribee House, Blacktown Hospital it serves the mental health needs of Western Sydney. As a public hospital it is part of the Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD).{{Cite web|url=https://www.wslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/Multicultural-Health-/Mental-Health-Services|title=Mental Health Services – WSLHD|website=www.wslhd.health.nsw.gov.au|access-date=2020-04-18|archive-date=20 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220100713/https://www.wslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/Multicultural-Health-/Mental-Health-Services|url-status=dead}}

History

The site was formally the residence of female convicts. Female convicts were housed separately from the male population. In 1817, Governor Macquarie commissioned the building of more permanent structures.{{cn|date=January 2025}} Female convicts housed on this site were made to work and the site became known as The Female Factory. The Factory housed unassigned, unmarried female convicts, and their children.

Although transportation of convicts to New South Wales ceased in 1840 the site was maintained as a place for female convicts until 1847.{{cite web|url=http://www.parragirls.org.au/female-factory.php/|title=History of the Female Factory|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823004643/http://www.parragirls.org.au/female-factory.php |archive-date=2011-08-23 |date=2011-08-23}}

In 1849, the buildings were redesignated a Lunatic Asylum.{{cite web|url=http://www.parragirls.org.au/asylum.php/|title=Lunatic Asylum|website=Parra Girls|access-date=25 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811225932/http://www.parragirls.org.au/asylum.php|archive-date=11 August 2011|url-status=dead}} The site has remained as a mental health institution to the present day, only taking on its current name in 1983.

In the late 19th century, it was the home of inmate William Cresswell, proposed as a candidate in the Tichborne case, who died there in 1904.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89212344 |title=DEATH OF A TICHBORNE CLAIMANT. |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895–1950) |location=WA |date=13 December 1904 |accessdate=17 August 2013 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

References

Category:Hospitals in Sydney

Category:Walter Liberty Vernon buildings in Sydney