Callan Park, Heritage site in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia.
Callan Park is a 60-hectare heritage-listed site in Lilyfield, bordered by Iron Cove to the north. It contains the Kirkbride Complex, a sandstone psychiatric hospital completed in 1885, the former Broughton Hall, and foreshore paths. The Bay Run passes through the park along Iron Cove.
John Ryan Brenan bought the land in 1839 and built Garry Owen house overlooking the Parramatta River; after his 1864 bankruptcy, John Gordon renamed it Callan Park. The Colonial Government then bought the whole area for a lunatic asylum, completed in 1885 and used for patients until 1994. Broughton Hall, built c. 1841, served as No. 13 Australian Army Hospital in World War I and was merged into Rozelle Hospital in 1976.
The name Callan Park comes from John Gordon, who bought the bankrupt Garry Owen Estate in 1864 and subdivided it for a waterfront suburb. The site later became a psychiatric hospital, and its sandstone buildings appeared as the fictional colony 'Port Victory' in the 2023 TV drama The Artful Dodger.
Visitors can reach the park through entrances at the Balmain Road intersection with Wharf Road or Gate A across from Cecily Street. Parking is available along nearby roads, and the grounds are easy to explore on foot.
The Kirkbride Complex, the sandstone asylum wards completed in 1885, housed patients until 1994 and then the Sydney College of the Arts from 1996; the college left for the University of Sydney's main campus in 2020. The site also stood in for the fictional colony of Port Victory in the 2023 TV drama The Artful Dodger.
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