Navigating awkward family history: the colonies, first settlers and lunatic asylums
*** this article discusses mental health treatment in the 1800s, colonial Australia, indigenous Australians and deceased persons ***
Fun fact about my great, great, great, great grandfather George Suttor: he was appointed superintendent of the (awkward) colony's first "Lunatic Asylum" in 1814. I think it’s 4 greats, I will have to double check the family tree. (And oh lord: yes we are one of “those” families, we have a family tree. I've only seen it once.)
George was an imperfect man, living in an imperfect world, striving to make a positive difference to it with the tools and the knowledge he had to hand.
The third son of a Scottish market gardener, by all accounts he was very ambitious and driven:
His first ambition was to be an actor, but after reading accounts of the voyages of Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks, he became interested in settling in New South Wales. Possessed of a wild and romantic imagination, Suttor dreamed of converting the wilderness into a fruitful garden and building a new life with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Maria Dobinson. He also seems to have felt that there was little opportunity in England for a younger son. (8)
Full disclaimer that I didn’t grow up connected to my Australian family history.
My grandparents and their children (my future dad and aunts) emigrated from New South Wales where most of it happened, in late 50s/early 60s. They relocated from Australia to the UK to seek career opportunities, and the UK is where my Dad met my mum, and got married. And then in the late 60s through to the early 70s my grandparents, and my parents and aunts returned to Australia, but to the absolute other side of the country, Western Australia.
So I came late to this history, I visited NSW for the first time in my 30s, and from very detached perspective. So I navigate and unpack it with a large dash of irreverence, curiosity and interrogation, a sense of humour and hopefully a bit of grace about some of the moments that when viewed from the present are a little “awkward” to say the least...but I do it from a distance that is probably different to the NSW-based members of my extended, extended, extended, extended family…
Mental Health Treatment in the colonies in the 1800s: awkwardness upon awkwardness
For context: this asylum was set up in the colonies, 4 years before the parliamentary enquiry into the conditions at Bedlam in the UK, so I can only imagine how ordinary the accommodations and treatment were...
...having said that the approach to mental health in the colonies was also being shaped in this era by the British reforms to treatment originating from:
… a philanthropic Quaker, who believed people with insanity may have lost their minds to madness, but not their hearts. This Quaker set up his own asylum, speaking to patients’ hearts by treating them with dignity in an uplifting environment with something meaningful to do. Unsurprisingly, his innovative treatment got impressive results and added to other impetus for reform. The progressive among Britain’s medical men adopted the Quaker’s enlightened treatment with zeal, spearheading a wave of reformed asylums that eventually spread to the British colonies."(1)
If you want to read more about Bedlam, or Bethlem Hospital, the oldest mental institution in the world with an 800 year history of treatment, check out Paul Chambers' book Bedlam: London's Hospital for the Mad and thank your lucky stars we have evolved our approaches to mental health issues, illness and treatment a bit...
But let's also consider context around convicts, free settlers and indigenous Australians who were suffering mental health issues in the awkward colonial era of Australia at a time when the identification and treatment of mental health was also still in a highly awkward and uncomfortable phase itself:
Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum
The Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum, located 10km to the north of Parramatta, opened in 1811 in a disused convict barracks
The first doctors were themselves convicts, who were in conflict with a sternly moral lay superintendent. Disturbances, including a murder, occurred among the patients. The Governor restored peace by dismissing the superintendent and abolishing the post of resident doctor but deprivation and dirt prevailed until the asylum was transferred to further makeshift quarters. Primitive colonial times demanded improvisation and flexibility, i.e. eclectic pragmatism. Moreover, Government control of psychiatry over many years tended to curb the growth of any one ideology and so fostered the eclecticism which seems characteristic of Australian psychiatry. A colonial resourcefulness is an asset in work where patients' individual differences can defy any one theoretical framework and remedies must be pragmatic. (6)
It operated until 1826, and the building was eventually demolished.
Problems with looking at the past with a present day lens
Compare 2024 to 1814, we live in evolved times. And while they may not have evolved as much as we want them to or as fast: 210 years on from George being appointed as superintendent, we have to “read” this history in the context of what was known at the time.
We have to be careful of our attitudes toward the past being dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences. George was an imperfect man, living in an imperfect world, striving to make a positive difference to it.
…presentism is a term for the introduction of present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Some modern historians seek to avoid presentism in their work because they consider it a form of cultural bias, and believe it creates a distorted understanding of their subject matter (5)
He was a bureaucrat in an asylum, operating in the context of the knowledge available to him about mental health treatment, best-practices and the other social-political-cultural-historic contexts of being a settler in Australia.
And while on many fronts, each of those things under the lens of present-day are “not great”; in the context of where he was, what was known at the time and the world he operated in, George was probably a very progressive man.
Fun fact for another post: he was definitely an “early adopter” of the idea of being an ally to indigenous Australians. The following quote is from a letter George wrote in 1826 to the Editors of The Australian:
It will be wise in the Settlers, to avoid disputes with the Natives, and to treat them with kindness, by which their own welfare will be promoted – it is wise to be humane, and I speak from experience. I have always been friendly to them, and have directed my people to avoid giving them offence. We have never suffered the smallest injury from them …” – George Suttor (4)
In case you missed it previously: my great, great, great, great grandfather appears to have been an early adopter of the concept of being “an ally” in the context and knowledge of his time. Can you tell I am not so quietly proud of this?
Both George and at least 2 of his children: George Banks Suttor and William Henry Suttor; appear to have been very progressive in their views given the the time (1800s) and location (the New South Wales colonies) and their “status” as free settlers.
George [senior] had a reputation for being a humanist with a reputation of personal integrity and dedication to the cause of the under-privileged (2).
Why George?
I’ve grabbed a potted history of the timeline for his superintendency and his dismissal from the NSW Health, history site:
[George] was appointed in August 1814 as superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum at Castle Hill, at a salary of ￡50, with quarters and rations for his family and the use of the government land there.
However George quarrelled with Thomas Parmeter, the surgeon in charge of the asylum, about the extent of their respective authorities, and in December 1818 charged him with neglect of the patients.
Both men's depositions were heard before Hannibal Macarthur, who concluded that both men had neglected their duty.
One of the main charges against Suttor was that he had used the lunatics to labour on his farm at Baulkham Hills, and as a result of this inquiry in February 1819 he was dismissed.
Fun fact, there are original letters about this disagreement in the State Records Office of NSW. He was a bit of a letter writer (State Records NSW have 30 letters on file from him). You can find a list of correspondence in the Colonial Secretary Index, 1788-1825:
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While George apparently did a bit to campaign for better conditions and was a social justice warrior in the context and knowledge of his time (he was definitely a squeaky wheel, bless his heart, and not shy about asking for things); in present day there is definitely a seriously large conflict of interest in him getting the patients to work in his orchards and on his farm while they were institutionalised...
Having said that, let’s re-consider the reforms to mental health treatment that were emerging at the time from the UK:
?This Quaker set up his own asylum, speaking to patients’ hearts by treating them with dignity in an uplifting environment with something meaningful to do (1).
In that context, George’s approach to helping treat the inmates was a pragmatic and meaningful way of getting patients involved with meaningful work that would benefit food supplies in the colonies (6).
It wasn’t painting, or leatherwork or other creative pursuit because the colonies were likely still very much focused on subsistence and survival. And realistically: a craft or art supplies order might take a 8 months (252 days) to get to England (7), to then be sent by return ship from England for about the same amount of time: we’re talking a year and a quarter to get supplies from the “mother country” as it was.
And let us not forget, George was an imperfect man, living in an imperfect world, striving to make a positive difference to it with the tools and the knowledge he had to hand.
So, while what he did was definitely a conflict of interest in the present day, and he was dismissed from his post at the time as was the resident doctor who he was in conflict with, there’s definitely some unpacking of what he was trying to do at the time.
A p.s.: something for another post
In fairness to George and at least 2 of his children George Banks Suttor and William Henry Suttor, appear to have been very progressive for the time, their friendship with the Wiradjuri through the warrior Windradyne (who is buried on the family farm in Brucedale), and their advocacy for his cause was amazing in the context of when it was happening. ?
I am sure it was not all sunshine and roses, and we are still talking about a family of colonial settlers who were themselves also part of the displacement of the Wiradjuri and other aboriginal nations. And while it’s easy to find sources from the settler side of this friendship given the ways our cultural institutions have prioritised, collected and curated documents, I am also aware talking about it in terms of George and William’s published writings, also obscures the viewpoint of this friendship from the Wiradjuri side
In saying that, the efforts they went to in writing to the press and campaigning and defending Windradyne's behalf is - for its time - quite interesting and in spite of the awkwardness of the colony itself, I am quietly proud of them for their “early adopter” approach to being an ally given the time (1800s) and location (the New South Wales colonies) and their “status” as free settlers.
This friendship is one of 3 covered in Emma Dortins’ book The Lives of Stories: Three Aboriginal-Settler Friendships. ?Other sources for this:
Why did I write this?
I did the 密西根大学 's unit on Storytelling for Social Change through their MichiganX program on edX in 2020. Unpacking aspects of my somewhat awkward Australian family history, and always meant to come back to it to unpack it and document it a bit more, and I love to write so what better way to explore and unpack, than through writing with a purpose?
But I was also renovating my house, studying my Masters of Marketing at 澳大利亚科廷科技大学 , working full-time and doing freelance work; so it's taken me a while to come back to this and start writing about my family history in a way that reflects my own reading and connection with it, while also trying to write in a way that's educational, engaging, thought-provoking and might pique somebody's interest and get them thinking...
Sources
Some of the sources for this information:
(1) The historical heart of Australia's mental health system https://psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2018/december-issue-6/the-historical-heart-of-our-mental-health-system
(2) History of the Lunatic Asylum at Castle Hill, history of NSW Health https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/about/history/Publications/h-asylums.pdf
(3) The Castle Hill lunatic asylum (1811-1826) and the origins of eclectic pragmatism in Australian psychiatry https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7041878/
(4) Against Presentism https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/against-presentism-may-2002/
(5) Presentism (historical analysis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(historical_analysis)
(6) The Castle Hill lunatic asylum (1811-1826) and the origins of eclectic pragmatism in Australian psychiatry https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7041878/
(8) Australian Dictionary of Biography - George Suttor (1774–1859) ?https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/suttor-george-1270
(9) Demolition of the old Lunatic Asylum, at Parramatta, C1866 John Rider Roberts (1820 - 1868). https://antiqueprintmaproom.com/product/demolition-of-the-old-lunatic-asylum-at-parramatt/
Natural History Museum (BM) - Suttor, George (1774-1859)https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000154196
Bedlam and treatment of the mentally ill in the UK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital#1791%E2%80%931900??
From the margins: madness and history in Australia https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14490854.2022.2028572#abstract
Authority and the Treatment of the Insane at Castle Hill Asylum, 1811–25 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5401/healthhist.19.2.0017
State of indigenous mental health in Australia – a colonial legacy?https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6734892/
The History of Hysteria: Sexism in Diagnosis https://www.talkspace.com/blog/history-hysteria-sexism-diagnosis/
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Partnerships Executive
3 个月Sarah Murphy