Parramatta Mental Hospital officially opened in 1849 under the name Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, on the site of the former Parramatta Female Factory. It was was run by the office of the Colonial Secretary before the Office of the Inspector General of the Insane was established in 1876 and took over it’s management. It had several different names throughout it’s operation, changing to Parramatta Hospital for the Insane in 1869, then Parramatta Mental Hospital in 1915, then Parramatta Psychiatric Centre from around 1958, and finally changing to Cumberland Hospital in 1983. Cumberland Hospital is still operating as an in-patient mental health service in 2026.
Parramatta Mental Hospital is known to have provided ‘care’ to young people under the age of 18 from at least 1871. The Correspondence Files of the Colonial Secretary includes letters relating to the admission of children as young as eight years old to Parramatta Hospital. These records, as well as other patient files from Parramatta Hospital, are held by Museums of History NSW (State Archives NSW). The first children admitted to the Newcastle Asylum were transferred there from Parramatta Asylum in 1871.
From
1849
To
Current
Alternative Names
Parramatta Lunatic Asylum
Parramatta Hospital for the Insane
Parramatta Psychiatric Centre
Cumberland Hospital