Abstract
Objective: To review the way in which psychiatric patients were managed around the turn of the last century, in the context of the institutions, legislation and knowledge and understanding of the nature of psychiatric illness that existed at the time.
Conclusions: In 1900 not a great deal was known about the nature of psychiatric illness, treatments were limited, non-specific and, at times, potentially quite dangerous, and most of the care of the psychiatrically ill was provided in overcrowded and underfunded institutions by poorly trained staff, not all of whom were up to the task. In spite of this, there is evidence that in NSW, mainly under the thirty-year influence of Frederick Norton Manning, the care of the psychiatrically ill was passing through a humanitarian phase, characterised by a recognition of the value of the therapeutic milieu, a policy of normalisation, protective legislation and an administrative attitude that reflected a positive concern for the welfare of patients.