Parkside Hospital (Glenside) Carnival 1940-1959 (segment 9)

In the early days of the Parkside Hospital an Annual Garden Party was held in the grounds during late December each year. In the late 1920′s this was replaced by a Sports Carnival and Gala Day, the programme for this included various types of games and races and a procession of decorated vehicles and patients in fancy costume. The preparation for this day occupied the patients for many months of the year but with the advent of Occupational therapy and Industry Therapy in the 1960′s it was found that the interest of the patients was attracted to these therapies more so than the Carnival, and so in the mid 1960′s the Carnival which had run for approximately 40 years was abandoned.

With the use of new drugs to manage the patient’s mental health issues in the 1960′s the long stay patients at Parkside Hospital also diminished, meaning that people were not staying as long or living long term on site as they had in the past and that the amount of people needing to be around to produce the Carnival diminished.

We have rare footage of the Carnivals that has been broken down into 10 parts for you to view.