• Charles Sturt academic part of exhibition that unlocks the past for Social Sciences Week

A Charles Sturt University researcher is part of a team delving into the unique history at one of regional Victoria’s lunatic asylums for Social Sciences Week.

Three short presentations will be delivered by Associate Professor in the School of Education in Albury-Wodonga Dr Jennifer Munday, genealogist and researcher Ms Eileen Clark and Dr Alison Watts from Southern Cross University on different aspects of the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum and how connections from the past have relevance now.

Dr Munday will take a tour around the exhibition and put the various collections of the exhibition in context for the viewer.

Dr Watts will discuss ‘The Open Door’ magazine which was produced by staff and patients at Mayday Hills psychiatric hospital in Beechworth. Reading magazines was intended to distract patients, provide entertainment and a form of occupational therapy through the production of the magazine.

Ms Clark will outline the economic benefits of the asylum to the Beechworth community, including provision of goods and services and tourism, from the early days of the institute until now.

The presentation, entitled ‘Collections from the lunatic asylum: Past lives, present tense’, will be available to view via a Zoom event on Sunday 13 September from 5pm.

Charles Sturt University is a proud partner of Social Sciences Week, which runs from Monday 7 to Sunday 13 September.

Information about the other events Charles Sturt is hosting during the week will be made available on the University’s news site.