Article ID: CBB001421868

The First Psychiatric Royal Commission: Reg Ellery and the Attendants at Kew Hospital (2014)

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The first Royal Commission into the activities of a psychiatrist took place in Melbourne in 1924, inquiring into misconduct by Dr Reg Ellery at Kew Hospital. Ellery, appalled by the conditions at the Idiot Cottages, had attempted to make improvements for the children. This led to a confrontation with the Attendant's Union---who had been challenging the power of doctors to run the asylums---which met with an unexpected change in Victorian state politics to lead to the establishment of the Royal Commission. Though Ellery was in the end exonerated, his subsequent treatment by the Lunacy Department was slightly insulting, featuring a transfer to another hospital. Despite all this, however, Ellery went on to become the most prominent psychiatrist in Australia between the wars.

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Authors & Contributors
Coleborne, Catharine
Maieron, Mario Augusto
Musci, Leonardo
Silvano, Giovanni
Molaro, Aurelio
Francesco Bianchi
Journals
Health and History
History of Psychiatry
Mefisto: Rivista di medicina, filosofia, storia
Journal of Medical Biography
Medicina Historica
The Lancet
Publishers
University of Minnesota Press
Routledge
Presses de l'Université du Québec
Franco Angeli
Concepts
Psychiatry
Mental disorders and diseases
Psychiatric hospitals
Medicine and politics
Medicine
Hospitals and clinics
People
Basaglia, Franco
Basaglia Ongaro, Franca
Schey, Engla
Felix Post
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
20th century, early
Early modern
Renaissance
Medieval
Places
Australia
Italy
New Zealand
Canada
Great Britain
Latvia
Institutions
Anoka State Hospital
Wilhelm-Institut für Hirnforschung
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