Entertainment Room at Callan Park, a curved wall of louvre and casement windows wraps around the room in a wide semicircle.

01 Callan ParkRozelle2015

ISO 1001/50f/8.014mm

Series · 93 prints

Callan Park

Photographed 2015
Frames 93
Camera NIKON D7000
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Public parkland; Kirkbride Complex vacant since 2019
Years 1878 to 2008
Heritage NSW SHR 00818
Architect James Barnet
Specs 61 hectares of waterfront parkland · Ten ward blocks (five male, five female) · 170 single rooms and 41 dormitories
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Dr Frederic Norton Manning rejected the asylum as 'a cemetery for deceased intellects'. In 1876 he toured asylums in England, France, Germany and the United States, returning with drawings of Chartham Down Hospital in Kent. Working with Colonial Architect James Barnet and Botanic Gardens director Charles Moore, he built Australia's first hospital purpose-built for moral therapy treatment on the Iron Cove foreshore.

The Kirkbride Complex took five years to build. Ten ward blocks of Victorian sandstone, five male and five female, linked by a continuous covered veranda and arranged around landscaped airing courts surrounded by walls and ha-has. Moore's grounds were part of the treatment itself, designed alongside the buildings for around 600 patients.

By 1930 the hospital held 1,500 patients against a designed capacity of about 600. Public inquiries into overcrowding ran in 1923, 1948, 1955 and 1961, the last as a Royal Commission. The pavilion design Manning had built around light, air and landscape was carrying more than twice its intended load.

The hospital closed entirely on 30 April 2008. Sydney College of the Arts occupied the Kirkbride Complex on a 99-year lease from 1996, then vacated at the end of 2019. The site sits on the NSW State Heritage Register, the Iron Cove foreshore was protected in perpetuity by an Act of Parliament in 2002, and most of the parkland is now managed by Greater Sydney Parklands Trust.

National Trust of Australia NSW (Callan Park), Dictionary of Sydney (Callan Park Mental Hospital) and Greater Sydney Parklands (Callan Park heritage)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1874
1878
1884
1923
1976
1991
1999
2002
2008
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not reissued once they sell through.

Entertainment Room at Callan Park, a curved wall of louvre and casement windows wraps around the room in a wide semicircle.
Entertainment Room
Rehabilitation Rooms at Callan Park, you can see the old wire mesh windows and a beautiful brightly lit Jacaranda out.
Rehabilitation Rooms
Backlit Blind at Callan Park, a tall window fills the centre of the frame, venetian blinds drawn closed but glowing.
Backlit Blind
Clinic at Callan Park, an old clinic in one of the wards that has long since seen any patients.
Clinic
Crosslight at Callan Park, a corridor cuts through the centre of the building, narrow and dim.
Crosslight
Side Lit Hallway at Callan Park, an old hallway with mould starting to take over the paintwork on the walls.
Side Lit Hallway
Chaplain's Office at Callan Park, there was an active bee swarm in the curtain to the right.
Chaplain's Office
The Greatest View at Callan Park, a curved wall of steel-framed windows wraps nearly 180 degrees around a bare concrete.
The Greatest View
Shadows In Reverse at Callan Park, a narrow corridor recedes into near-darkness.
Shadows In Reverse
Toilets at Callan Park, hexagonal floor tiles in black and white spread wall to wall.
Toilets
Dining Room at Callan Park, if ever you needed an example that nature always finds a way.
Dining Room
Wheelchair at Callan Park, a single wheelchair that has sat in one place for years if not decades.
Wheelchair
Boarded Sunroom at Callan Park, a long enclosed corridor runs between weatherboard walls painted white.
Boarded Sunroom
Long Hallway at Callan Park, one of the long corridors of the main ward.
Long Hallway
Rehabilitation Hall at Callan Park, beautiful high ceilings with glass panes all the way up.
Rehabilitation Hall
Broken Up at Callan Park, you can see patches on the floor where it is starting to rot away.
Broken Up
Nurses Office at Callan Park, an office used by the nursing staff with bright blue carpet and a view out over the park.
Nurses Office
Ward Hallway at Callan Park, a pale green steel door sits at the end of a short corridor.
Ward Hallway
Ward at Callan Park, something very unsettling about this shot.
Ward
Bathtub at Callan Park, a white-tiled hydrotherapy room.
Bathtub
Empty at Callan Park, a ward room inside Callan Park.
Empty
Open Door at Callan Park, a narrow corridor ends at a heavy white door, closed.
Open Door
Clean at Callan Park, cream ceramic tiles line the walls and floor of a communal bathroom.
Clean
Recovery Ward at Callan Park, an old recovery ward.
Recovery Ward
Shower at Callan Park, white ceramic tiles line the walls of a communal shower block.
Shower
Kitchen at Callan Park, a commercial kitchen stripped to its bones.
Kitchen
Reflections at Callan Park, a corridor lined with glazed ceramic tiles curves gently to the right.
Reflections
Patio at Callan Park, a long corridor stretches toward a green exit sign at the far end.
Patio
Utility at Callan Park, a narrow utility room, barely wider than the door that opens into it.
Utility
Prep Kitchen at Callan Park, stainless steel benchtops line three walls of an institutional kitchen.
Prep Kitchen
Heaters at Callan Park, cast-iron column radiators line the wall of a tiled room inside Callan Park.
Heaters
Bathroom at Callan Park, a green swing door stands open against white-tiled walls.
Bathroom
Bath Area at Callan Park, a white porcelain bathtub sits on a tiled plinth at the centre of the room.
Bath Area
Waterview at Callan Park, a long corridor stretches toward a set of double doors at the far end.
Waterview
Room 7 at Callan Park, a heavy white door stands open.
Room 7
Rehabilitation Ward at Callan Park, light falls through a pair of green double doors and spreads across a dark polished.
Rehabilitation Ward
Hand Basin at Callan Park, a white ceramic hand basin runs along the left wall, mounted low against grey square tiles.
Hand Basin
Balcony at Callan Park, another indoor balcony where patients could sit and have a cup of tea while looking.
Balcony
Shower Area at Callan Park, three louvre windows line the tiled wall, frosted glass diffusing a flat grey light.
Shower Area
Ruined Bathroom at Callan Park, white tiles line the walls, many still intact, others missing to expose brown adhesive.
Ruined Bathroom
Ward Entrance at Callan Park, timber wall bars stand bolted to the corner of a dim room.
Ward Entrance
Rehabilitation Room at Callan Park, diffused light presses through frosted glass panels, flooding the polished concrete.
Rehabilitation Room
Storage Room at Callan Park, part of the ceiling has fallen in and the floor tiles are beginning to peel up from water.
Storage Room
Entertainment Area at Callan Park, a long, low-ceilinged room with polished concrete floors scarred by decades of foot.
Entertainment Area
Tea Room at Callan Park, a staff tea room inside one of Callan Park's institutional buildings.
Tea Room
Boiler Room at Callan Park, heavy gauge pipework runs overhead and along the walls of a utility room inside Callan Park.
Boiler Room
The Green Room at Callan Park, deep green paint covers the walls in uneven, overlapping strokes.
The Green Room
Ward Hallway 2 at Callan Park, a narrow corridor runs between pale green walls, their paint darkened by years of grime.
Ward Hallway 2
Chapel Hall at Callan Park, a narrow corridor runs between dark timber-panelled walls.
Chapel Hall
Fallen Down at Callan Park, a ward room inside Callan Park.
Fallen Down
Basins at Callan Park, two porcelain basins sit against a wall of square cream tiles.
Basins
Washrooms at Callan Park, glazed tile walls line a communal washroom inside Callan Park.
Washrooms
Heater at Callan Park, glazed ceramic tiles line the walls from floor to ceiling, their surface catching pale light.
Heater
Office at Callan Park, a timber bench wraps the corner of a narrow room.
Office
Storage Corner at Callan Park, white ceramic tiles line the walls from floor to ceiling.
Storage Corner
Parkview at Callan Park, pale blue walls and teal double doors frame a view out to green lawn and flowering shrubs.
Parkview
Room 1 at Callan Park, a white door marked "ROOM 1" stands open against a steel-framed partition wall.
Room 1
Red Room at Callan Park, a bay window curves outward from an empty room.
Red Room
Blackout at Callan Park, heavy curtains hang across double doors and flanking windows, blocking most of the daylight.
Blackout
Pink Room at Callan Park, a cast-iron radiator sits beneath a tall sash window in an empty room.
Pink Room
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes
06 PRESS

In the press

Often I'd find myself looking at the machines and architecture and challenging myself to find one single object designed purely for aesthetics. Craftsmanship made way for efficiency in engineering long before I'd even left school.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

People talk about what it was like to work or stay in these places, who they knew, what they did, how great the Christmas parties were, that store man nobody liked, what all the different machines were, how they worked and what became of them.

Broadsheet

Brett Patman·2016

lostcollective.com

On the LC archive.

There's this sense of wonder you get when looking at abandoned buildings. You try to imagine what these spaces were like when they were filled with busy workers trying to meet production targets. And why did they close?

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

See press coverage →
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

Read the full story

Articles when they're published. The history behind a place. The day of a shoot. The work between prints. No marketing, no schedule.

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