Asylums: All in the family

In 1904, my grandfather, Peter COGHLAN, was the informant on his father, John COGHLAN’s death certificate. Peter gave his address as ‘Kew Asylum’.

What was he doing in Kew Asylum?

My research reveals a perfectly good explanation for Peter’s address and, as it turns out, the Asylum addresses of other COGHLAN connections.

Here’s what I found…

---

Disclaimer and outdated language

Please be aware that I have included the language of the time in regards to the care of the mentally ill. This was necessary to give an accurate representation of the historical context. They do not reflect my current views or beliefs.

A little history of the naming of mental institutions, the staff and the language used:

Hospital for the Insane was the term used in the early 1900s. Prior to this, in the 1800s, the term was ‘Asylum’. Another name change came in the mid 1900s: ‘Mental Hospital’. And yet another in the late 1900s: ‘Psychiatric Hospital’. The changes occurred with the changing societal views on mental illness. The aim was to get away from the idea of ‘confinement’ and the stigma of terms, such as, ‘insanity’ and ‘lunacy’ and to focus more on rehabilitation. AI

‘Warder’ became ‘attendant’ as Warder was considered too close to the term ‘prison warder’ and attendant implied care of the patients.

---

Peter COGHLAN (1878 – 1954)

---

The COGHLAN siblings – Children of John COGHLAN and Ellen QUINLAN

Peter’s father, John COGHLAN Snr,^* was a storekeeper in Graytown. He continued this trade in Bullarto. Ownership of land, being every Irishman’s dream, was possible for John Snr after reaping the monetary rewards of supplying goods to the gold miners in Graytown. The couple settled in Bullarto raising their seven children as John Snr expanded into the hotel/postal/storekeeping business. Unfortunately, in 1892, their eldest son, William Luke, died at the early age of ’21 years and 8 months’. His death certificate states the cause of death as ‘Abcess of spine’ and ‘Exhaustion’.²

Below is a photo taken in about 1910 of the remaining 6 children. It was kindly passed on to me by a fellow Coghlan researcher from Shepparton, another John COGHLAN. He was a direct descendant of John Snr’s son, Martin COGHLAN.

They’re all very spiffily dressed up for some occasion which, unfortunately, was not recorded. I see Peter has a small cross at the site of his fob watch pocket, possibly attached to his watch. Catholicism was a very important aspect of all their lives. In fact, their father, John Snr, donated a small parcel of land in Bullarto to the Catholic church.

Some useful context for this photo which will be pertinent to the story later on:

• The parents, John Snr and Ellen, died a few years earlier in 1904 and 1905, respectively,
• Martin and Peter both married in 1908, Kate in 1909 and Jim in the next year, 1911. Martin joined the police force and was stationed elsewhere. Jim and his wife (Kate DWYER) stayed in Bullarto for a while, eventually moving to Eaglehawk, Victoria.
• John Jnr was unmarried and remained that way until his death.
• Nell, who managed the Bush Inn in Bullarto South, also remained unmarried. She lived in the Bush Inn for all of her life, except for the last few months.

* To distinguish between father and son, I’ve called the elder: John COGHLAN Snr and his son: John COGHLAN Jnr.

Below is a Family View Report for John COGHLAN Snr. It includes the vital stats of John and Ellen’s children:

---

Returning to Peter on his father’s death certificate…

The first piece of evidence I found of Peter’s association with ‘asylums’ is his name’s inclusion in a list of new appointments in the Victorian Government Gazette of 1902. The positions were for ‘attendants’ to work in the Hospitals for the Insane:

The persons named hereunder to be Attendants, 3rd Grade, Hospitals for the Insane for twelve months, on probation...

A Public Service job in fact.

So, Peter was an employee not an inpatient. This makes sense. He would not have been able to sign a document such as a death certificate if he was a patient in a mental institution. Still, an interesting job for a farmer/storekeeper to undertake.

---

Victorian Public Service Examination 1900

A search for Peter prior to 1902, revealed that he applied for the Public Service in 1900 along with his brother, John Jnr.

As was the case in my day, to join the Public Service you first had to sit an ‘entrance exam’.

Peter and John Jnr are listed amongst the ‘candidates entitled to be present… at the Examination for the Non-Clerical Division of the Public Service… on Saturday 15 December 1900′ to fill positions for ‘Attendants, Hospitals for the Insane’.³

John and Peter sat the entrance exam on 15 December 1900 with 186 others.

---

Results of Entrance Examination

The results were posted a couple of months later in the Victorian Government Gazette, February 8, 1901, page 571:

John and Peter were listed amongst the 88 candidates who passed: John was placed 22nd and Peter, 27th.⁴ Home and hosed.

So, now I was researching two COGHLAN brothers employed as Asylum workers.

---

Peter COGHLAN’s resignation as an Attendant

Peter resigned as an attendant after four years in the job. The resignation appeared in a Victorian Government Gazette dated 31 March 1906.

Peter’s total time as a Warder:

• 4 years 1902 to 1906
• Kew Asylum
• From the age of 24 yo to 28 yo

---

John COGHLAN Jnr, Peter COGHLAN’s brother

Like Peter, John Jnr also commenced work as an attendant in 1902⁵: He started on 1 May 1902.

John Jnr’s RESIGNATION

John Jnr resigned as an Attendant Grade II on 23 May 1916.⁶ He worked for 10 years more than his brother Peter.

John’s death notice in The Age in 1916, reveals that he worked in three Victorian ‘Hospitals for the Insane’: Yarra Bend, Mont Park and Ararat.

COGHLAN - On the 21st October, at his residence, Bullarto South, John, the dearly loved brother of Nellie, Martin, Peter, Mrs. D. Howe and James, late attendant Yarra Bend, Mont Park, and Ararat Hospitals for Insane, aged 40 years. R.I.P.

John Jnr’s total time as a warder:

• 14 years 1902 to 1916
• Ararat, Yarra Bend and Mont Park Asylums
• From the age of 26 yo to 40 yo.

His death at the early age of 40, raised alarm bells for me, especially considering this demanding work. And an obituary raised even more alarm bells.

Obituary for John COGHLAN:

This was particularly disturbing:

Last Easter Monday he came home from Mont Park suffering from a nervous breakdown. His condition gradually grew worse....his case was hopeless. About twelve days ago he took to his bed. He was quite resigned, and his end was very calm and peaceful.

My research now took a different turn; what happened to my great uncle, John COGHLAN Jnr?

---

Firstly, John COGHLAN Jnr’s earlier years

Dad never talked about an ‘Uncle John’. Considering Dad was only 7 years old when John Jnr died it was not surprising I suppose. And now there’s no one left to ask.

An unmarried, childless person, such as John Jnr, is often lost in time. So what could I find out? Fortunately, at the time he was living, there were records that could pin him down to time and place: Electoral rolls, the Victorian Government Gazettes, occupation records, Wills and probate papers, and mentions in newspaper articles, accessed via the wonderful online resource, TROVE.

The finding of a detailed obituary, like John Jnr’s, is a godsend. Obituaries often contain snippets of the deceased’s life and character which paint a picture that is otherwise lost. This was the case with John Jnr. His obituary not only hinted at struggles with his own mental health it provided valuable clues for further research.

Working life:

• Prior to becoming an attendant at the asylums, John Jnr worked for a grocer named Mr P C Reid in Malmsbury and Daylesford. Mr Reid was to became the mayor of Malmsbury.
• John Jnr was ‘on the warders’ staff at Ararat, Yarra Bend and Mont Park hospitals for the insane’.
• He was ‘a member of the Loyal Hepburn Lodge MUIOOF’. MUIOOF stands for ‘Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows’. I did a little research on the IOOF to discern why someone like John would have joined. More on that later…

John Jnr’s character

• Well respected.
• ‘Of a frank, open-hearted, kindly and attractive disposition. Mr Coghlan was a great favourite with all who knew him, and his demise is deeply deplored on all sides’.

It begs the question did something happen at his last site of employment, Mont Park, that contributed to his early death? I endeavoured to find out…

---

History of Asylums in Victoria

First, a little history of the care of the mentally ill in Victoria:

In the 1830s, at the time of the establishment of the Port Phillip District, people with a mental illness were imprisoned as ‘lunacy’ was considered a crime. This belief was in keeping with the attitudes in England at the time.

Yarra Bend was the first public asylum established in Victoria. It was established in 1848 three years before gold was discovered and years before Victoria separated from New South Wales. The population exploded. The asylum became overwhelmed. With the growing demand, two asylums were built in the country- one in Ararat and the other in Beechworth opening in 1867 and another metropolitan asylum was built this time in Kew, Willsmere.

Kew Asylum opened in 1872. More asylums in the country followed: Ballarat in 1877 and Sunbury in 1879.

Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital in Macleod near Heidelberg opened in 1912. Patients were transferred from Yarra Bend Asylum to Mont Park in the 1920s. Yarra Bend asylum then closed in 1925.

All the asylums were self sufficient with their their own farms, gardens and workshops.

As the care of those with mental health conditions changed and advanced the asylums became obsolete and they closed at various times in the twentieth century. Psychiatric care became person-centred, providing appropriate treatment and support either in a purpose built psychiatric unit and/or in the community.

Duties of the Warders/Attendants:

According to Sands (2023),⁹ there’s a scarcity of ‘source material’ about the development of the asylum workers. They did not receive any formal education until 1887 and then it wasn’t mandatory. After doing 13 hour shifts and working 6 days a week, I’m sure the attendance was low at the lectures which were held in the evenings. Formal education commenced in 1898 with a compulsory exam at the end of one year following probation.

There were ‘entrenched routines for attendants centred on cleaning, mealtimes, and supervising the inmates in activities and employment’. The asylum workers also tended the farm and gardens.

Their pay was low and their job was demanding. One report gives a very bleak summation of life working at the Yarra Bend Asylum:

…overcrowding, low staffing numbers and poor management resulted in a very bleak working life.¹⁰

And yet, a more reassuring view..

The attendants at Yarra Bend were not unsympathetic to the plight of their charges, and in fact, established a rapport and understanding with the inmates that contributed to a ‘family-like’ atmosphere…¹¹

---

Asylum records

The Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) houses many of the records pertaining to the Asylums in Victoria.

Unlike most family historians, my reason for delving into these records was not to find out about a relative who was a patient but rather to find out as much as I could about family members who were on the staff.

Most of the patient records have been digitised and can be accessed online, but records related to staff can only be accessed by ordering the volumes and visiting the PROV Reading Room in North Melbourne.

The record books are large and heavy. It was a bit of hit and miss as to whether I’d find anything. If I was lucky there was a name index, and if not it was a matter of searching within a timeframe which I’d deduced from their movements as recorded in the Electoral Rolls etc.

I concentrated on any reference to John Jnr and Peter COGHLAN as Warders/Attendants: their duties, leave requests, sick leave, complaints etc.

Just as an aside, these are some of the ‘reasons’ for admission/diagnoses of patients to the asylum in 1913:

• Maniacal excitement,
• Senile Decay,
• TB,
• Alcoholic Neuritis,
• Stupor,
• Melancholia,
• Cardiac Disease. ¹²

Quite an array of medical conditions, some of which would never be considered as a suitable ‘diagnosis’ for admission to a psychiatric unit today.

---

Ararat Asylum now known as Aradale

John Jnr is listed as a Warder at Ararat Asylum in the 1903 Electoral Roll for Victoria. He was a Warder/attendant there from 1902 to 1909.

Ararat is a town on the Western Highway, 198 km north-west of Melbourne. The town was formed following the discovery of gold in 1856.

A court house was built in 1859, a hospital was opened in 1860, and in 1860 the first of several major Government institutions in Ararat was opened – a gaol. A mental asylum was opened in 1865. Ararat’s role as a government railways centre emerged in the 1870s.¹³

In the Australian Handbook of 1903, the asylum at Ararat had 'accommodation for between six or seven hundred patients'.

John Jnr is still working at the Asylum in 1905 and 1906 according to the Electoral Rolls for Victoria. A few mentions of him in the local newspaper add some colour to his time in Ararat:

1905: ‘Coghlan’ was one of five members of staff supporting ‘the toast’ at the Valedictory to Dr W H Barker, Medical Superintendent of Ararat Asylum.¹⁵

1907: ‘Coghlan’ was a member of a ‘strong committee’ who organised the send off for Mr Roland Hill who was leaving the Ararat Asylum to take up the position of Head Attendant at Sunbury Asylum. Also, ‘Mr Coghlan performed the duties of MC in his customary efficient manner’.¹⁶

He’s also mentioned as a member of the Ararat Asylum football and cricket teams.

I checked entries for John COGHLAN in the Register of Complaints against Staff (Ararat Asylum) VPRS 18303/P1 from 1902 to at least 1909. There was no entry for him.

---

Kew Asylum

Peter was an attendant at Kew Asylum from 1903 to 1906.

The 1903 Electoral Roll for Kew shows Peter as ‘warder’ and his place of residence, ‘Kew Asylum’.¹⁷

I found his name amongst the 33 Attendants Grade III listed in the Victoria Government Gazette as working at Kew Asylum.

It states he commenced employment as ‘Grade III Male Attendant’ on 14 August 1902.

His duties were ‘Assisting in the ward’ and ‘working on the farm’. His annual salary was 66 pounds. ?Minimum wage.

Peter was also the informant on his mother’s death certificate, Ellen COGHLAN nee QUINLAN. She died in 1905 just short of a year after her husband. Peter, at this time, gives his address as ‘Bullarto’.

As mentioned earlier Peter resigned from the Public Service in 1906.

So, if the work was continuous he worked for a total of 4 years as an attendant, from the age of 24 to 28 years old.

---

Yarra Bend Asylum, Fairfield – the earliest Asylum

The Electoral rolls for Victoria, 1909 and 1912, place John Jnr as an ‘Attendant’ at ‘Yarra Bend Asylum, Fairfield’.

Yarra Bend Asylum was established in 1848 at the junction of the Merri Creek and the Yarra River at Fairfield.

Locals referred to those having been committed to the asylum as having ”gone ’round the bend” or “up the creek” and it is possible that these commonly used colloquialisms for mental illness had their origins in Yarra Bend and were passed on to the wider English speaking world and integrated into the vernacular via itinerant gold miners.¹⁸

The last of the inmates left Yarra Bend on 1 September 1925, and the property was handed over to the Yarra Bend Trust which established the recreation areas and golf course that are still in use. The buildings in the northern section of the parklands became the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. Other buildings previously used by male patients of the asylum were converted in 1927 to a hospital, known as Fairhaven, for the treatment of venereal diseases. The discovery of penicillin during World War II meant that lengthy hospitalisation was no longer necessary for venereal disease and Fairhaven closed in 1951. These buildings were reopened in 1956 as Fairlea Women’s Prison.¹⁹

Knowing the asylum no longer existed, I found it difficult to place its exact location. Google Maps indicated that there was an ‘Historic relic bluestone pillar’ just off Yarra Bend Road in Fairfield which had formed part of the gateway to the asylum.

I went and had a look.

The pillar (pictured below) is nestled in parkland just off Yarra Bend Road, just before the road continues south, crossing over the Eastern Freeway.

There is a commanding view of the city from the wire fence separating the area from the freeway.

The Yarra River is just a short walk from the pillar.

Still not able to really visualise the asylum’s grounds, I overlaid a portion of the Parish map of Jika Jika onto a satellite view of the present day area using Google Earth Pro.

As you can see below, the Eastern Freeway dissects the original land reserved for the asylum. The total land reserved was 620 acres.

Below is a picture from the State Library of Victoria Archives of the Yarra Bend Asylum with the Kew Asylum in the distance on the top of the hill.

The ‘New Lunatic Asylum’ visible on the horizon was known as Kew Asylum and later ‘Willsmere’. In the 1990s it was converted into residential apartments.

---

Mont Park Asylum, Heidelberg

John Jnr worked at Mont Park from 1913 to 1916. It was the last asylum he worked in before returning to Bullarto.

The State Library of Victoria’s website has a Collection of Photographs relating to Mont Park Hospital. They date from about 1917. Below are a couple of photos from the collection:

The photo of a group of attendants/Warders with a Doctor (below) was taken in 1917 the year after John Jnr left Mont Park. They’re possibly some of his workmates.

John Jnr’s records at Mont Park

I was on a mission to find out if there were any extenuating circumstances that prompted or contributed to John Jnr’s decline in health in 1916.

For several days in the Winter of 2023, I sat myself down in the Reading Room of the Public Records Office Victoria (PROV) in North Melbourne and tackled a couple of huge volumes of records for the Mont Park Asylum.

3 Aug 1913 Commenced duty at Mont Park²⁰

2 June 1914 Applied for a promotion to Attendant Grade II at Mont Park.²¹

And the following entry in the volume: VPRS 7518/P1 Register of Complaints Against Staff 1908 – 1936 Lunacy Department

28 Nov 1914 Patient Escapes

Nature of Complaint
Carelessness inasmuch as he being the Charge Attendant on the evening of the 24th inst., failed to take reasonable precautions in safeguarding specially handed over patient, Edmund Grant, as a consequence of which he effected escape from his charge during an entertainment at the Male division on the evening specified.
How Dealt With
Reprimanded and directed to pay any costs which may arise in connexion (sic) with patient's recapture.

It appears John Jnr was enjoying the entertainment in the asylum so much that the ‘specially handed over patient’ he was supposed to be ‘safeguarding’ escaped. He was reprimanded and directed to pay any costs.

I searched the records as to whether the patient was found or not and to whether John was up for any ‘costs’. There was no record of either.

---

Edmond GRANT – escapee

Who was the escapee, Edmund Grant? To quench my curiosity, I did a little digging.

From 1913 to 1920, there are 16 mentions of Edmund in the Victorian Police Gazettes.

It turns out Edmond was a serial absconder. He had made a successful escape from Mont Park earlier in 1914 and a year later he escaped from Kew Asylum.

After his escape from Mont Park in Nov 1914, the one under John Jnr’s watch, Edmond was ‘arrested’ a couple of months later by the ‘Mornington Police’ and admitted to Kew Asylum. A couple of months after that, he escaped from there on a bike. Another month on, he was ‘arrested’ by the ‘Lang Lang Police’ in May 1915. Hopefully, he didn’t travel all the way to Gippsland on a bike.

He’s soon back in Mont Park but released ‘on probation’. In Nov 1915 his father makes an inquiry as to the whereabouts of his son stating he is ‘missing’ from Mont Park following being released ‘on probation’.

The next time Edmund is mentioned in the Gazette is more than 2 years later in Feb 1918. This time he is being released from the ‘Reformatory Prison, Castlemaine’. Unfortunately, it’s not long before Edmund is in trouble again – in May 1918 there is a warrant for his arrest. His mistake, being seen wearing the clothes he’d stolen and for leaving the area the day after the robbery. Not a good look. Later in that year he was arrested by the ‘Geelong Police’. He was tried in Bendigo and ‘detained in the Reformatory Prison’ in Castlemaine. He was still a detainee there in 1920.

Descriptions of Edmund say he was of ‘weak intellect’. An equivalent term today might be a mild intellectual disability. He was a mid to late teenager during these episodes.

The only other reference I could find of him in the records is the census of 1934. At that time he’s working as a farm labourer in Loch.

Edmund died in 1938 at the age of 41, in ‘Royal Park’. This could have been in the Hospital section or the Hospital for the Insane.

In summary, Edmund was a serial absconder, he was a street wise kid, a marvel at taking every opportunity to make his escape. Hopefully, John Jnr did not dwell too long on his lapse in supervision and continued on with his job without any severe repercussions.

---

The only other mentions of John Jnr in the Mont Park records

19 Oct 1915 John Jnr requests 3 months leave of absence “Nov Dec Jan” “to assist in harvesting operation”. The leave was granted.

Attendant J Coghlan 11/10/15 Application for three months (Nov Dec Jan) leave of absence to assist in harvesting operation
12/10/15. Granted.

So, I gather John went home to Bullarto to help the family with harvesting.

It wasn’t long after his return to Mont Park that he was requesting leave again this time for illness followed quickly by his final resignation:

26 Apr 1916 John COGHLAN Attendant Grade II applied for leave. ‘Nervous breakdown, insomnia and debility’ ’25 Apr 1916-22 May 1916. 28 days. 21 days Full pay, 7 days half pay.’²²

24 May 1916 ‘Resigns – owing to ill health’²³

31 May 1916 Date of resignation.²⁴

---

My own experience of Mont Park

Mont Park was still a functioning psychiatric unit when I did my nursing training in the early 1990s. It was a requirement of our training that we spend some time in a psychiatric unit. I undertook a 2 week placement at Mont Park. There, I spent time in three different sections: acute, rehabilitation and what was then called, ‘psychogeriatric’.

In the entrance foyer of the main building, the admissions area, I witnessed a girl in her 20s experiencing an episode of psychosis. She was standing, pointing, talking to herself. Not distressed, just experiencing a different reality to mine. It is a scene that will always stay with me.

In the rehab section, I joined a cooking class for young adult patients. The aim was to teach them some life skills, such as cooking and managing money in order to promote their independence on discharge. It was a difficult task for all. Many of the patients were dealing with lethargy as a side effect of the medications which led to lack of motivation and enthusiasm,. But the staff persisted, hoping some skills were learned and retained.

I found the Psychogeriatric section the most confronting. Most of these patients had lived part – if not all – of their lives at Mont Park. They were used to very strict routines. In the small day room, the patients walked endlessly in one large circle, requesting ‘smokes’ every time they passed. Cigarettes were allowed, but they were kept and rationed out by the staff every couple of hours. I felt like I was witnessing a glimpse into the past; the results of long term institutional care.

It was an eye opening and valuable experience; a glimpse into the new and the old approaches to care.

---

John Jnr’s land in Bullarto (South)

The COGHLAN name is scattered throughout the Parish maps of Bullarto and Bullarto South, including allotments assigned ‘J COGHLAN’. The assignee being the name of the original grantee of Crown Land. The problem is J COGHLAN could be John Coghlan Snr or Jnr or James ‘Jim’ Coghlan, John Jnr’s brother.

Other resources such as, Wills and Probate papers, are needed to discern which J COGHLAN is which.

Below, John Jnr’s probate papers of 1916 reveal the parcels of land he owned or leased and who they were bequeathed to as per the directives of his Will.

He bequeathed all his land to his siblings; one parcel to his brother, Jim, and the remaining allotments to be shared between his siblings, Martin, Peter and Catherine. The distribution of land becomes confusing by the fact that John Snr, bequeathed his land parcels to his wife in 1904 who in turn bequeathed the land as shares to their children at her death in 1905. Tracing the trail of these pieces of land takes some patience and I don’t think I’m fully on top of it yet!

Below is a simplified version of John Jnr’s real estate holdings and as to how they were bequeathed to his siblings:

Township or Parish of Bullarto	Allotment	Section	AREA	Transferred to…
Township	2	5	1 acre 1 rood	Martin, Peter and Catherine
Parish	7	7	3 acres	James
Township	2	3	1 acre 32 perches	Martin, Peter and Catherine
Township	3	3	2 roods and 16 perches	Martin, Peter and Catherine
Township	1	4	1 acre total with Allot 1 Sec 5	Martin, Peter and Catherine
Township	1	5		Ditto
Township	Registered in the Mining Registrar of Daylesford	‘Residence area’	1 acre	Martin, Peter and Catherine

Below, the 5 lots of land owned by John Jnr in the Township of Bullarto, are outlined in purple. NB I may not have got the Section 4 allotment quite right as this map was made prior to the allotments being numbered.

From maps of the Parish of Bullarto, the largest parcel of land owned by John Jnr, Allotment 7 Section 7, and bequeathed to his brother, Jim, looks to be that parcel of land opposite and a bit south of the cemetery. (not outlined or marked)

The Bush Inn property, outlined in red, is opposite John Jnr’s Allotment 2 Section 3. At the time of John’s death, John’s sister, Ellen COGHLAN, was the storekeeper at the Bush Inn. She also took on the roles of Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the area and the postal officer. I presume this is the original site of the store/hotel John Snr ran when he first moved into the area in the early 1870s.

It seems John Jnr never lost ties with his Bullarto roots.

When it comes to maps, the whole naming of North Bullarto, South Bullarto and just plain Bullarto is very confusing. For instance, the ‘Township of Bullarto’ as shown in the map above became known as Bullarto South. And before that, I suspect it was known as ‘Wheeler’s Mill’ as per some of the birth certificates of the children of John and Ellen COGHLAN. Wheeler’s Mill was one of the sawmills belonging to a Mr Henry J Wheeler. It was situated in the area of Bullarto South²⁵ where John COGHLAN Snr first bought his land.

As an example of a document awarded to someone for a Crown Land Grant in Victoria, pictured below is one awarded to John COGHLAN Jnr for Allotment 3 Section 2 in the Township of Bullarto in 1904. It confirms his employment as a Warder in Ararat in 1904.

---

The Spread of Attendants in the Extended Family

A couple of dives down a couple of rabbit holes revealed that John Jnr and Peter were not the only ones in the COGHLAN clan to live near and/or work in asylums.

Rabbit Hole No. 1

In the 1903 and 1905 Electoral Rolls for Ararat, I noted a James Patrick COGHLAN was living in Ararat at the same time as John Jnr. He was a railway employee, working as an ‘engine cleaner’.

James Patrick COGHLAN was a first cousin of John Jnr and Peter. He was the son of William COGHLAN and Maria HOWE, William being the older brother of their father, John Snr. William was a farmer in Bullarto.

If James Patrick was living in Ararat could there be other siblings of his?

James WALSH

Yes. Mary Ann WALSH. Mary Ann was James Patrick COGHLAN’s sister.

Her husband James WALSH, also listed in the 1903 Electoral Roll, was working as a Warder at the Ararat Asylum at the same time as John Jnr COGHLAN.

There’s also a Margaret WALSH on the Electoral Roll, but I haven’t found any connection to James..

Rabbit Hole No. 2

I continued down the line of the children and relatives of John Jnr’s uncle, William COGHLAN and his wife Maria HOWE:

I found Patrick HOWE. He was working as a Warder at the Yarra Bend Asylum way back in 1865!

Patrick HOWE:

• brother of Maria HOWE,
• uncle of James Patrick and Mary Ann COGHLAN and
• father in law of Catherine ‘Kate’ COGHLAN (Peter and John Jnr’s sister)

A tangled web they weave.

Despite all these interrelationships, I don’t believe the genetic pool was compromised!

---

James WALSH (1862 – 1927)

The Victoria Government Gazette of 1896 states that James WALSH commenced work as a Grade III Attendant on 23 Feb 1888. More than twelve years before Peter and John Jnr commenced employment as Attendants.

It also states that James was employed at Ararat Asylum at the time of the publication (1896). His duty: ‘in charge of a ward’. He was a seasoned Attendant by the time John Jnr commenced there in 1902.

Salary 100 pounds per year.

James was a native of Scartaglen, near Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. He married Mary Ann COGHLAN, the cousin of John and Peter, in St Peter’s RC Church, Daylesford in 1893.

Their first born child, William Patrick was born in Ararat the next year in 1894.²⁶ In fact, all five children were born in Ararat, between the years, 1894 and 1906.

The Electoral Rolls of 1903 and 1905 confirm James WALSH is still a Attendant in the Ararat Asylum.²⁷

By 1912, James has left Ararat and is an Attendant at Wendouree Asylum in Ballarat.²⁸

James died in Ballarat in 1927 at the age of 65 and is buried in Boroondara Cemetery, Kew with his wife Mary Ann. Mary Ann died 15 years earlier in 1912, also in Ballarat. She was just 47 years old.

I don’t know exactly how many years James worked as a Warder in the Asylums, but I do know he started as a 25 year old on 23 Feb 1888 at Ararat Asylum and worked there until 1905 or possibly later. By the age of 49 in 1912 he was a Warder at the Wendouree Asylum in Ballarat.

At the time of his death in 1927 at the age of 65 he was an ‘Ex Public Servant’ according to his Probate papers. An obituary for James (below), states he had retired ‘within the past three months’ of his death. So, it seems James was employed for most of his working life in Australia, if not all, as an Attendant in the Asylums.

Total time working in Asylums:

• 1888 to 1927
• 26 yo to 65 yo
• 39 years as a Warder
• 2 Asylums: Ararat and Ballarat

---

Patrick HOWE (1836 – 1891)

Patrick, the father in law of Kate HOWE nee COGHLAN, the sister of John Jnr and Peter COGHLAN, emigrated to Australia from Ireland with his brother Daniel in 1862. He was the son of Daniel HOWE and Mary COGHLAN from County Offaly. Another COGHLAN! I don’t know how or if Mary is related to our tree.

Patrick married Ann PURCELL in Victoria in 1871.

A Victorian Government Gazette of 1887 documents Patrick is a Warder (no Grades at this stage) at Yarra Bend Asylum and ‘in charge of ward’. It dates his initial appointment as a Warder was on 2 Oct 1865. ²⁹

Patrick was listed as Warder Grade I (the highest grade), Yarra Bend Asylum, in a Victorian Government Gazette of 1891, the year of his death. His duty: ‘In charge of ward’.

Total time at Yarra Bend Asylum:

• 1865 to 1891.
• 29 yo to 54 yo.
• 25 years as a Warder.
• 1 Asylum: Yarra Bend Asylum

Evidence suggests that Patrick’s position as a Warder at Yarra Bend Asylum was held in high esteem by the family:

1. it’s mentioned in his wife’s death notice, five years after Patrick’s death, and…

1896 Death notice for Ann HOWE nee PURCELL

• 2. …it’s inscribed on his headstone as per a directive detailed in the Will of his brother in law, Phillip PURCELL.

1893 Will of Philip PURCELL and Headstone for Patrick HOWE in Melbourne General Cemetery

The executor of Philip PURCELL’s Will certainly did deliver a ‘good substantial’ headstone for Phillip’s brother-in-law. See below.

The headstone is a sizeable chunk of grey granite. It’s elaborately decorated with carved swirls and items of Catholic symbolism: the inscription, Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the cross inscribed with IHS. The headstone is a little wonky these days, but it’s still standing proud and tall.

Other inscriptions include memorials to Patrick’s wife, Ann, their son, Patrick, and the deliverer himself, Sergeant Philip PURCELL.

2026 Headstone of Patrick HOWE, Melbourne General Cemetery. Note: Patrick HOWE ‘late Warder in Yarra Bend Asylum’. Author’s collection.

The full inscription reads: 
Erected by PHILIP PURCELL late Sergeant of Police to the memory of PATRICK HOWE late Warder in Yarra Bend Asylum the beloved husband of ANN HOWE native of Co Tipperary Ireland who died at Abbotsford 22nd September 1891 aged 54 years

In memory of PATRICK HOWE Junior beloved eldest son of Patrick and Ann Howe who departed this life at Abbotsford 8th September 1881 aged 4 years 9 months 

Also PHILIP PURCELL late Sergeant of Police beloved brother of Ann Howe native of Co Tipperary who died at Seymour 18th July 1893 Aged 59 years RIP 

Also the above ANN HOWE Who died 20th November 1896 Aged 53 years RIP

After studying John Jr’s demise, I was curious to know the cause of Patrick’s death.

Patrick’s death certificate states that he died of ‘Morbus Brightii and Morbus Cordis Valvular’ which boils down to Kidney and Heart Failure. Not conditions you could directly relate to his work, although you can’t dismiss the fact that the stress of a demanding job may have contributed to his demise.

From what I can gather, there was a lot of inter marrying between the COGHLANS, QUINLANs, DWYERs, HOWEs all haling from hamlets around the borders of Counties Galway, Offaly and Tipperary, Ireland and all settling in Bullarto and Malmsbury in Victoria. This is not surprising I suppose as I’m sure there were notions of safety, familiarity and commonality within and between the clans. And as the saying goes, ‘the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t’.

---

John COGHLAN Jnr’s Death Certificate

Finally, to John Jnr’s death certifcate.

John Jnr died in his birthplace, Bullarto South, on the 21st October 1916, a few months after his resignation, at the age of 40.

The medical cause of death: ‘Tubercular of Lungs’ and ‘Exhaustion’.

So, he had Tuberculosis.

No wonder he came home exhausted. The claim of ‘nervous breakdown’ could in today’s terms be equivalent to the term ‘nervous exhaustion’ due to disease progression.

The Tuberculosis infection (TB) which had been diagnosed four years earlier must have remained latent for some time before becoming active, leading to John Jnr’s resignation and death. He would not have been infective during that period of latency.

TB was a major cause of death in Australia in the early 1900s and there was no known cure. All that could be done was to treat the symptoms, which could be, a persistent cough – coughing up phlegm or blood; chest pain; extreme fatigue; loss of appetite; fever and chills; night sweats and provide comfort. It’s not surprising that he came home and ‘took to his bed’.

The informant on his death certificate is his brother Peter who is also back in Bullarto South. The local Registrar for Births Deaths and Marriages is his sister, ‘Nellie Coghlan’ living and working in the Bush Inn. I suspect Nellie cared for John at the Bush Inn in the last few months of his life and possibly by his sister, Kate too. Kate became another victim of TB. She died in 1922, six years after John Jnr. She was 41 years old.

Below, is the Bush Inn, Bullarto in the early 1920s, a few years after John Jnr’s death. Nell, John’s sister, is standing outside with a neighbour, Forrest ORR.

The photo below is Nell 30 years later, still living in the Bush Inn. Beside her is my dad, Jack and, next to him is his father and Nell’s brother, Peter. The Bush Inn was delicensed in 1915. ³⁰

John Jnr’s early and quick demise at the age of 40 years must have been distressing for the family. It could be suggested that the demands of his job may have contributed to his so called ‘nervous breakdown’ as his body tried to cope with the activation of the infection. His chances of being infected with TB in the first place were high considering the overcrowded wards of the asylums.

I did a bit of research on Lodges too. As I mentioned earlier, John Jnr was a member of the Loyal Hepburn Lodge MUIOOF:

(Lodges)...were a major private precursor of today's welfare state...'

The Lodge provided 20 pounds – a ‘funeral allowance’ – for John’s funeral. According to his Probate papers, the funeral expenses were 12 pound 17 shillings and 6 pence.³² The funeral costs were well and truly covered by the Lodge.

In today’s money, according to the RBA Pre decimal Inflation Calculator, 20 pounds in 1916 is equivalent to approx. $1,775. Therefore, the cost of the funeral is equivalent to $1,140. An industry that has certainly increased its costs over the ensuing years!

In John Jnr’s Will, he bequeathed 200 pounds to his sister Ellen, the equivalent of $17,745 in today’s money. This was a portion of a Life Insurance Policy John held. I believe taking out a Life Insurance Policy was mandatory for permanent Public Service Officers. Below is a reference to John’s Policy in the form of a request to pay the premium. This was while he was employed at Ararat Asylum. I did not find any other requests for payment in the records so maybe he just forgot this time:

"25.9.7

Notice has been sent to this Department to the effect that the premium on your Life Insurance Policy due on 3.8.1907 has not been paid and I am directed to request you to pay it at once.

Charles I Egan
???

Mr John Coghlan
Bush Inn
Bullarto"

---

Marriage of Peter COGHLAN to Mary Grace Jane LEE, Daylesford.

In 1908, my grandfather, Peter, now back in Bullarto, married Mary Grace Jane LEE, known as Grace or Doll at St Peter’s RC Church in Daylesford. As far as I know he returned to shopkeeping and farming and never worked in the Asylums again.

Grace’s family moved to Bullarto from Melbourne in the late 1800s after her father, Edward LEE, a wood engraver employed by the Melbourne newspapers, suffered financial difficulties. I’ve outlined his career in the blog post How good a Wood Engraver was Edward Lee ?

Peter and Grace stayed for a time in Bullarto South, raising their two children: my Dad, Jack and my Auntie, Nance. Jack and Nance attended the local Bullarto State School which is still in operation today. After finishing school at Grade 8, Dad studied woodwork at the Daylesford Tech and continued his love of all things related to telecommunications.

Peter, Grace and family left Bullarto South in 1925 and moved to Cora Lynn in West Gippsland where Peter managed the General Store. A fortuitous move as it turned out as that’s where Dad met Mum. The family left Gippsland after a major flood in 1934 and moved to St Kilda where they managed a boarding house. The story goes Doll preferred the city having grown up in Prahran and Peter preferred the country. I’m not sure, but I believe Peter returned to Bullarto to live with his sister Nell in the Bush Inn and Doll, preferring the city, moved backwards and forwards between her daughter, Nance and her husband Addison’s home in Heidelberg, and Bullarto.

Peter died in Bullarto South in 1954. At the time of his death he did not own any real estate in Bullarto South or elsewhere.³³ Doll died in hospital in Caulfield in 1958.

---

The resting places of John Jnr and Peter COGHLAN

John Jnr is buried in the COGHLAN family plot in Daylesford Cemetery, Victoria. He’s buried with his parents, John COGHLAN and Ellen QUINLAN and 5 of his 6 siblings: William Luke, Martin, Jim and Nell along with Jim’s wife, Kate DWYER, who was a first cousin.

COGHLAN Family plot – Catholic Section 1 1/2 Row G Allotment 13-14

• 1892 William Luke COGHLAN
• 1904 John COGHLAN
• 1905 Ellen COGHLAN nee QUINLAN (in 12)
• 1916 John COGHLAN (in 13)
• 1923 Martin COGHLAN
• 1955 Ellen ‘Nell’ COGHLAN
• 1956 Catherine ‘Kate’ COGHLAN nee DWYER
• 1956 James ‘Jim’ Patrick COGHLAN

At the time of John Jnr’s death in 1916, an obituary for John in an Ararat newspaper recognised his time as a ‘popular attendant at the Ararat Hospital for the Insane’:

My grandparents, Peter and Grace ‘Doll’, are also buried in the Daylesford Cemetery: Catholic Section 1, Row A. Grave 2. I’ve yet to identify the exact location of this grave.

An obituary for Peter was printed in a Daylesford newspaper in 1954, describing him as ‘one of the oldest residents of Bullarto’:

The 1950s were a sad time for the COGHLAN family: 3 of the 5 siblings died – Peter, Nell and Jim. As well as Peter’s wife Grace, and Jim’s wife, Kate.

---

Possible reasons for John Jnr and Peter to join the Public Service

What could be the possible reasons for Peter and John Jnr to leave their farms and join the Public Service as Asylum attendants?

To my mind, the obvious reason is financial. The Public Service offered them secure employment and a regular wage.

Farming and/or storekeeping, being their chosen way of life, could be a precarious way to make a living: there were the vagaries of farming: climate extremes, fire, drought, crop failures, rabbit infestations, and the eventual drop off in trade and demand for hotel accommodation as the sawmillers left town when the mills closed. A few bad years could mean financial ruin.

There seems to have been a close connection between the Bullarto cousins, the children of two brothers, William and John Snr COGHLAN. This is understandable as they would have attended the same school and church and they would have socialised together. And maybe there were a few fireside chats at the Bush Inn when the experienced Asylum Attendants, James WALSH and Patrick HOWE, came back to Bullarto to visit extended family.

All the sons and sons in law of William COGHLAN and Maria HOWE joined the railways. They spread themselves far and wide in Victoria. I found COGHLAN/HOWE family members in close proximity to Peter and John Jnr at the time of their employment: in Ararat and in Abbotsford, which wasn’t far from the Kew and Yarra Bend Asylums. Perhaps a visit to nearby relatives gave John Jnr and Peter a sense of home, perhaps indulging in a Sunday roast on their days off.

John Jnr and Peter must have been satisfied that working as Attendants in the Public Service was a viable option for them. It was already tried and tested by relatives. Their farming experience would’ve been a great asset to the Asylums. And even if it didn’t work out, they still had their land in Bullarto to come back to and the Bush Inn.

As for their resignations, the death of both their parents in 1904 and 1905 may have necessitated the return of Peter to Bullarto. There was the Bush Inn to run and land bequests to be sorted. And John’s resignation was due to his illness and a possible a ‘nervous breakdown’ related to illness or maybe other reasons unknown.

By 1905, their mother’s probate papers state where the children were living:

• Martin had joined the Police Force and was stationed at Walhalla
• John was a Warder at Ararat
• Peter was a Warder at Kew Asylum
• Jim, Nell and Catherine were the only ones still living in Bullarto

The death of both his parents during these years may have hastened his resignation. Someone had to help Nell with the store in Bullarto.

---

In conclusion

I’ll never really know why my grandfather, Peter and his brother, John Jnr sought work as Attendants in the Victorian Asylums. Nor will I ever know why their relatives did also. I suspect job security was the most likely reason. Fortunately, by the time John Jnr and Peter joined the service, the care of those with mental illnesses had improved compared to the mid to late 1800s when their relatives worked. I admire their commitment to such a demanding job with poor remuneration. Of course, it’s possible that they all stayed as long as they did because they genuinely found the work rewarding.

It was reassuring to find out that there was no documented evidence of a particular incident at John Jnr’s workplace that may have contributed to a so called ‘nervous breakdown’, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility that there were other factors in his life that played a part. The escape of the patient under his watch which happened two years before his demise may have affected him. Then the TB infection becoming active would have made his job untenable.

The common denominator for all of them was the family connections to Bullarto. A place this Irish clan could return to and feel at home.

---

Footnotes

1. Bullarto Victorian Places. Accessed 15 April 2026. ↩︎
2. William Luke Coghlan Death Certificate, Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, Reg. No. 5448/1892. ↩︎
3. Victorian Government Gazette, November 23, 1900, p4400. ↩︎
4. Victorian Government Gazette February 8,1901, p571. ↩︎
5. John Coghlan. Attendant, Hospitals for the Insane. Vic Gov Gaz, 58, June 4, 1902, p1962. ↩︎
6. John Coghlan. Resignation Attendant, Grad II, Lunacy Department-Hospitals for the Insane. Vic Gov Gaz, 142, July 12, p2667. ↩︎
7. Mr John Coghlan passes. Daylesford Advocate, Yandoit, Glenlyon and Eganstown Chronicle, 24 Oct 1916, p3. ↩︎
8. Borsay, Anne & Dale, Pamela, Mental Health Nursing : The Working Lives of Paid Carers in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Nursing History and Humanities, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2015. Accessed online 10 December 2023, ebscohost SLV ↩︎
9. Sands, Natisha Marina, ‘Round the Bend: a Brief History of Mental Health Nursing in Victoria, Australia 1848 to 1950s, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30:6, 2009, p ↩︎
10. Ibid. p365. ↩︎
11. Ibid. p366. ↩︎
12. Medical Journal PROV VPRS 7689/P1 4. Accessed at PROV, 27 July 2023. ↩︎
13. Ararat. Victorian Places. Accessed 7 May 2026. ↩︎
14. Ibid. ↩︎
15. Valedictory to Dr W H Barker, Ararat Asylum for Insane, Ararat Advertiser and Chronicle for the Stawell and Wimmera Districts, 1 Sep 1905, p2. ↩︎
16. A Farewell Social. Ararat Advertiser and Chronicle for the Stawell and Wimmera Districts, 1 Nov 1907, p2. ↩︎
17. Peter Coghlan. Kew, Electoral Roll 1903 Ancestry.com ↩︎
18. Sands, Natisha Marina, ‘Round the Bend: a Brief History of Mental Health Nursing in Victoria, Australia 1848 to 1950s, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30:6, 2009, p365. ↩︎
19. Yarra Bend Asylum, eMelbourne: the city past and present. https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01654b.htm ↩︎
20. Inward Correspondence Registers, Mont Park, 24/8/1912-12/03/1925. PROV, VPRS 7554/P1. Acc 20/7/2023. ↩︎
21. Ibid. ↩︎
22. Ibid. ↩︎
23. Ibid. ↩︎
24. Ibid. ↩︎
25. Houghton, Norm & Light Railway Research Society of Australia. (contributor.) Timber and gold : a history of the sawmills and tramways of the Wombat Forest, 1855-1940. Light Railway Research Society of Australia, Melbourne, 1980. ↩︎
26. Death and burial details of William Patrick WALSH. Accessed on website Find a grave ↩︎
27. Victoria Electoral Rolls, 1903 and 1905. ↩︎
28. Victoria Electoral Roll, 1912 ↩︎
29. Patrick HOWE, Vic Gov Gaz, 31 Jan 1887, p264. Ancestry.com ↩︎
30. Bush Inn, Bullarto, Licenses Reduction Board, Daylesford Advocate, Yandoit, Glenlyon and Eganstown Chronicle, Tuesday 16 March 1915, p3. ↩︎
31. Blainey, Geoffrey, Odd Fellows: a history of IOOF Australia. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991, pvii. ↩︎
32. John Coghlan, Probate Papers, PROV VPRS 28/P3, 147/571. ↩︎
33. Peter Coghlan, Probate papers, PROV VPRS 28/P4, 484/349. ↩︎