Thesis (Ph.D.) in History--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-327).

Thesis (M. Med.)--University of Melbourne, 1996. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of History, 1999. / Author's name on cover: C. Day. Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 409-418).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-169). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29547

There have been many studies of Victorian asylums and their inmates, but the Edwardian asylum, and child inmates, have been largely unrepresented. This thesis attempts to redress these imbalances and contribute to the history of mental deficiency by describing the innovations, developments, and practices within the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum (WRPLA) and its annexe, Stanley Hall. As part of the Poor Law system Stanley Hall took in idiot and imbecile boys as young as three years, where, as part of the response of alienists towards mentally deficient children, an attempt was made to educate them to a degree of self- sufficiency. In this way Stanley Hall was an institution that went beyond its perception as a custodial establishment and practised new approaches to care, at a time when these boys were defined within the Poor Law under the universal category of 'lunatic'. This study focuses on the role of William Bevan Lewis, the Medical Superintendent of the WRPLA (1884-1910), and the 163 idiot and imbecile boys admitted to Stanley Hall between 1901 and 1910. Consideration is given to the early dissemination of knowledge from this asylum and its influence through the teaching and training of medical students and asylum medical officers. The function and operation of Stanley Hall and the 'experiences' of the inmates is explored through institutional records and the evidence of Bevan Lewis to the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded (1905-1908). Stanley Hall pre-dated other mental deficiency colonies and anticipated the conclusions of the Royal Commission which recommended specialised care for mentally deficient children. Issues of care for this group were intensely debated during the Edwardian period leading to the Mental Deficiency Act (1913) that defined this group and influenced their care for almost another fifty years. The records of Stanley Hall demonstrate the individuality of the boys, and allow the analysis of the involvement of their families in the committal of their children. The subsequent involvement (or lack thereof) in the care of their children is also examined. The ultimate fates of the boys are considered, and an attempt made to bring the regime at Stanley Hall 'back to life'.

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After sixteen intensive months, I quit my employed position as a security guard at a local hospital. By drawing on my autoethnographic experiences in the form of “ethnographic fiction writing”, as well as eight interviews with my former male colleagues, I explore how the guards’ constructions of masculinity intersect with their security assessment and subsequent application of force, chemical incarceration, and other coercive security tactics on involuntarily-committed mental health patients. The narratives are framed by the available literature on gender and masculinity within the security, police, prison and military institutions, as well as the theoretical notions of gendered institutions (Acker), hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt), doing gender (West & Zimmerman), and Dave Holmes’s application of Foucauldian biopolitical power to forensic healthcare settings. These concepts are used in tandem with a creative methodological tool to reveal the “messy”, “bloody” and “gendered” ways in which hospital life unfolds between the guard, the nurse, and the patient prisoner. By escaping more traditional forms of academic writing, I am able to weave raw, sensitive and reflexive thoughts and emotions into the research design and analysis. The analysis is divided into two narratives: “Us” and “Them”. “Us” emphasizes the gendered ways in which the hospital guard learns, reproduces, resists, lives up, or fails to live up to the masculine codes of the profession. Here, the guard must confront cultural demands to demonstrate physical prowess, authority and heroism during a patient battle. “Them” explores how hegemonic masculinity shapes the hierarchical and coercive relations between the guard, the nurse, and the patient, and reinforces psychiatrized discourses that promote punishment, pain, bureaucracy and control. Overall, these findings call for the abolition of physical restraint, chemical incarceration and other coercive security measures within our healthcare institutions, and encourage future research to give voice to the lived experiences of women guards and security management teams.

After sixteen intensive months, I quit my employed position as a security guard at a local hospital. By drawing on my autoethnographic experiences in the form of “ethnographic fiction writing”, as well as eight interviews with my former male colleagues, I explore how the guards’ constructions of masculinity intersect with their security assessment and subsequent application of force, chemical incarceration, and other coercive security tactics on involuntarily-committed mental health patients. The narratives are framed by the available literature on gender and masculinity within the security, police, prison and military institutions, as well as the theoretical notions of gendered institutions (Acker), hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt), doing gender (West & Zimmerman), and Dave Holmes’s application of Foucauldian biopolitical power to forensic healthcare settings. These concepts are used in tandem with a creative methodological tool to reveal the “messy”, “bloody” and “gendered” ways in which hospital life unfolds between the guard, the nurse, and the patient prisoner. By escaping more traditional forms of academic writing, I am able to weave raw, sensitive and reflexive thoughts and emotions into the research design and analysis. The analysis is divided into two narratives: “Us” and “Them”. “Us” emphasizes the gendered ways in which the hospital guard learns, reproduces, resists, lives up, or fails to live up to the masculine codes of the profession. Here, the guard must confront cultural demands to demonstrate physical prowess, authority and heroism during a patient battle. “Them” explores how hegemonic masculinity shapes the hierarchical and coercive relations between the guard, the nurse, and the patient, and reinforces psychiatrized discourses that promote punishment, pain, bureaucracy and control. Overall, these findings call for the abolition of physical restraint, chemical incarceration and other coercive security measures within our healthcare institutions, and encourage future research to give voice to the lived experiences of women guards and security management teams.

The thesis is in three major sections, plus a brief conclusion. The first section provides essentail background by describing the care of the mentally ill in England and New South Wales (including the Port Phillip district) in the period prior to the establishment of Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum in 1848. The second section is a chronological history of Yarra Bend, particularly focusing on the period from its inception in 1848 until the Royal Commission of 1884; with some extension to describe the other psychiatric services within Victoria during the same period.The third section discusses at length a number of key issues identified within the chronological history.