Fireplace at The Asylum, a wide formal room with pale green walls and coffered ceilings.

01 Kenmore AsylumNew South Wales2020

ISO 1001sf/8.014mm

Series · 75 prints

Kenmore Asylum

Photographed 2020
Frames 75
Camera NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Decommissioned; largely vacant
Opened 1895
Heritage NSW SHR 01728
Architect Walter Liberty Vernon, the first NSW Government Architect. The early "core" Vernon buildings are the largest example of his work; described in the SHR listing as the finest corporate architectural expression of the Edwardian (later Federation) Free style in Australia.
Specs 700 patients at opening · 19 wards · 340.5 acre estate
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Frederic Norton Manning, NSW Inspector-General of the Insane, acquired 340.5 acres on Taralga Road, Goulburn, for £1,252 in October 1879. Walter Liberty Vernon, the first NSW Government Architect, designed the asylum complex. Kenmore opened in 1895 with capacity for 700 patients across 19 wards.

The entertainment hall and the chapel shared the same room: stage at one end, altar at the other. Vernon's Kenmore core is the largest single body of his work; the State Heritage Register names it the finest corporate Federation Free architecture in Australia.

In March 1941 the NSW Government handed Kenmore over to the Australian Army. Civilian patients were transferred to other Sydney institutions, and the wards became a military hospital. The Army returned the site in 1946 and civilian psychiatric care resumed.

By the 1960s the hospital held over 1,400 patients against the original 700-bed plan. The Commonwealth sold the property in 2003, and the State Heritage Register listed the complex in April 2005. On 16 October 2021, a fire destroyed Ward 15, the former female section.

NSW State Heritage Register, Kenmore Hospital Precinct, SHR item 01728, Mental Health NSW (facilities guide) and Region Canberra (2021 Ward 15 fire)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1879
1895
1941
1946
1960
2003
2005
2021
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed and numbered, printed from the original RAW file. Open editions in the two smallest sizes; limited editions of 100, 50 and 25 in the three larger, never reissued once they sell through.

Country View at The Asylum, ornate plaster mouldings cover the ceiling, split open where sections have collapsed onto.
Country View
Confinement at The Asylum, a bare room.
Confinement
Cleaning Kitchen at The Asylum, dead leaves cover the tiled floor in thick drifts.
Cleaning Kitchen
Chapel at The Asylum, a large hall with worn timber floorboards stretching toward a raised stage.
Chapel
Bubbler at The Asylum, a stainless steel bubbler sits mounted against square ceramic tiles, its chrome pipework exposed.
Bubbler
A dividing wall between two areas of a large room at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW, possibly two separate dining spaces. The complex was designed for 700 patients across 19 wards at opening in 1895.
Bottleneck
Blue Descent at The Asylum, a narrow stairwell descends between teal-painted walls.
Blue Descent
Creepers growing in under a door at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW. The Commonwealth Department of Health sold the property in 2003. The complex is decommissioned and largely vacant. The State Heritage listing remains active.
Beyond the Pale
A dusty corridor through one of the residential quarters at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW.
Beyond the Closet
Balcony at The Asylum, a narrow enclosed verandah runs between white-painted brick walls.
Balcony
An interior staircase in the administration block at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW. Polished timber floors and turned wood handrails.
Administration Staircase
Looking down through the ladders that connect the levels of a clock tower at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW. Walter Liberty Vernon, the first NSW Government Architect, designed the Kenmore core, the largest example of his work.
Clocktower Ladders
A dark sluice room within one of the nursing quarters at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW. Kenmore opened as a psychiatric hospital in 1895. The Commonwealth Department of Health sold the property in 2003.
Sluice Room
A bright green room at Kenmore, Goulburn NSW, with murals of female nudes painted along the wall above the windows. The Commonwealth Department of Health sold the property in 2003.
The Green Room
The Back Kitchen at The Asylum, green paint peels from steel benchtop cabinets along the right wall.
The Back Kitchen
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.

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