Goodbye Larundel
Larundel, one of Melbourne’s most well-known psychiatric institutions, is in the process of being redeveloped into townhouses and retail spaces.
The sprawling buildings occupy a massive piece of land in Melbourne’s north. The buildings were constructed in 1938, with the asylym itself closing for good in 1999. People used to be institutionalised for things that you’d never dream of locking them up for these days (think depression, post-partum depression, etc). I hear a lot of bad things went on in the place and I’d be interested to hear any stories if anyone knows anyone who used to work or reside there.
Here are some Incident Report Forms that were apparently found after Larundel closed.
The buildings are extremely decrepit now, and at least one – possibly two – have been restored, with new windows and tiles and solar panels on the roof. The ward where patients were kept in their cells rooms still stands – just – but it is completely trashed.
It’s bizarre to imagine a place like this in operation as recently as 12 years ago.
x Kitten of Doom
Kitten of Doom 
bye bye larundel! i’m glad i got to visit it before it was completely restored.. although now i am sad i will never et the opportunity to again! 😦
there is still another nice abandoned assylum but its all the way in Traralgon (I think that’s the way it’s Spelled) really nice creepy place you guys should check it out (about 2 hours from melbourne), all u have to do is wait for security to leave then enter…. but yeah larundel was a very nice place while it lasted.
If you’re talking about Hobson’s Park Psychiatric Hospital, it’s been gone for a couple of years now.
hobsons park is not gone. yes it is not running, but the buildings are still there. i have been there a few times including once a few months ago
really, damn that sucks, i have a website now so ill have pictures of my urban explorations but my photos are no where near as good as yours lol.
http://www.blinkysweb.org/
http://www.blinkysweb.org/forum
I have a forum setup for urbx australia also.
I also have photos of the traralgon psych if thats the one your talking about will upload them soon.
Hobsons Park is still there, i was there last weekend, of Hazelwood road in traralgon on your way to churchill, turn left at the new elderly estate being built, dalkeith heights.
Do you have pics?
Nah I don’t but the next time I go I will take some
hi I live near the Traralgon site of the old Hobsons Park Hospital. I used to work in mental health until a year or so ago, incidentally the place I worked was in the street behind the hospital (HYde Park Rd). The hospital is definitely still there, I just drove past it and I know the owner of the property. Half of it was pulled down and turned into Dalkeith elderly nursing home and retirement village, the old vegetable gardens where patients worked have been turned into a conservation reserve, but the main buildings are all still there and nowhere near as trashed as the pictures of larundel show. Ok, heres what happened to me the first time I went there, at night: I took my camera with brand new batteries and too a photo of the exterior first, but when I looked at it in the viewfinder it was covered in stripes of lights, but I hadn’t used the flash and there were no lights on in the building. I tried to take another shot, but the camera just went dead-like it had flat batteries despite me trying to turn it back on etc. I freaked and left, there was a really creepy vibe and no sooner had I driven a few blocks away the camera turned itself back on. I decided to go back in the daytime next time. It was still very creepy in daylight but the photos worked at least, the way the patients were kept in cubicles was shocking, no privacy, and group shower/bathrooms. The walls separating the cubicles are only shoulder high and have a big gap under them, I assume so the nursing staff could see all the patients at once from one end of the ward. In another room I found old mouthguards used for electric shock therapy and even photo albums of the patients on outings. There was sheep shit everywhere inside and the smell was bad, but the strongest sensation I got was one of total desolation and despair, it made me feel so depressed I had to leave. The photos had a couple of orbs in them but nothing much. Then, the young clients at my work decided to go check it out. They took photos too and the strangest thing was in all their photos there were many, many orbs, but in particular there was one client, our most ‘unwell’ client, who had them literally all over him in the photos. Incidentally one of my co-workers used to work there too and she told me that one of the buildings which had ceased being used (but had been previously used for patients detoxing and those with forensic histories), used to creep her out on night shift because the lights would turn off and on in there, but the power had been turned off to that building. Apart from that though she had good memories of working there, but she worked there in its later years and I doubt she was there when the abuse of patients with cold water hoses etc etc went on. I went back one last time, and the feeling there was overwhelming. It stayed with me for a long time and I felt suicidal. I consulted a spiritualist who told me that the place must have bad spirits, evil spirits in fact, and that I should have realised that given that some of the patients were severely mentally ill and died there that way. He had a prayer group for me to get the spirits to leave, but I have to admit I have never been the same since. I am still fascinated by the place, but I won’t ever go back inside.
oh and I forgot to ask, have you been to Aredale asylum?
Hi Jacinta,
Thank you for your insight.. I’d heard Hobson’s had been completely demolished; I also haven’t heard much about it’s history. I’d be keen for more information on what it was like to work there (from anyone you know who worked there) and also on mental health treatment centres in Victoria in general if you’d be willing to share.
I was a patient at Hobson park in the early 90s, my best friend died there, awful place
Hi Lee-ann, would you be interested in sharing any of your stories with me? You can email me at iamthekittenofdoom@gmail.com if so 🙂
Sadly the buildings from hobson’s park are basically all demolished, there are a few that are still standing, such as the old power and switchboard exchange, which is a small building located near the dalkieth heights car park, and few buildings now just used for industrial storage with a rathe rlarge, but cute, gaurd dog. All the other buildings have been torn down over the course of a few years, i live just over the road and have watched it slowly come down.