New transfer of Parramatta and Rydalmere hospital records

The State Archives Collection has just received an important set of mental health records from Western Sydney Local Health District. The transfer is particularly exciting as we thought that these records were lost! We had some material in the collection but there were obvious gaps in the records we had for Parramatta Hospital and Rydalmere Hospital.

Parramatta Hospital (now known as Cumberland Hospital) has been in operation since 1849. Its first name was Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, before being renamed Parramatta Psychiatric Centre in 1915. The name of the hospital was changed again in 1983 to Cumberland Hospital.

Rydalmere Hospital began operations in 1888. It was initially a branch of Parramatta Hospital, before being proclaimed a separate institution on 1 September 1891. Rydalmere was dedicated to caring for individuals with chronic mental health conditions. By 1988, Rydalmere had ceased operating as a psychiatric hospital and it was later closed.

The new transfer of records from Western Sydney Local Health District contains a range of material from Parramatta Hospital and Rydalmere Hospital, including patient admission registers, administrative records and staff files.

We are most excited about these series:

NRS-23957 Register of patients and admission books [Rydalmere Hospital]
Admission registers are vital records – they record the details of patients admitted to the hospital, such as their name, age and occupation. The State Archives Collection previously had no admission registers for Rydalmere, so we are happy to now have a run of admission registers from 1873 all the way up to the 1960s.

NRS-23968 Medical case books [Rydalmere Hospital]
Case books provide information on patients admitted to the hospital for long-term care. These volumes were kept as a record of each patient’s clinical history and provide a chronological record of the patient’s progress and treatment in the hospital from the time of admission until discharge, transfer to another hospital, or death.

NRS-5135 Copies of letters sent [Parramatta Psychiatric Centre]
The letters are copies of outbound correspondence written by hospital staff in the 1870s. The letters provide a more complete picture of life at the hospital, from the perspective of staff. A range of matters are discussed, including routine hospital business and the physical and mental health of patients.

Letter books, especially those from the 1870s, are usually in terrible condition as the copies were made on very flimsy tissue paper. But this one is in great shape.

We are delighted that these records have been added to the State Archives Collection.

For more information on accessing mental health records in the State Archives Collection, please see our Mental health facilities Guide.