The Mayday Hills Arts Society is situated in the central wing administration offices, which include an airing court featuring a central water fountain. This area once provided access to the female patients’ wards on one side and the Bijou Theatre on the other. Originally, patients’ outdoor access was strictly supervised and limited to the enclosed airing courts. However, with the adoption of the ‘open door’ policy in the 1950s, patients were granted greater freedom of movement.
In the 1970s, the building was renovated to accommodate a modern occupational therapy unit on the ground floor and the new nursing education unit on the first floor.
In 2017, the Mayday Hills Arts Society was established and includes 14 studios, two galleries, a classroom, a library, sitting areas, the Mayday Hills archive, a printmaking room, the Upstairs Playhouse theatre and a cinema.
Visit the MaydayHills Arts Society website
The launch of this virtual tours website was held at the Mayday Hills Arts Society in 2022
The images below are a small collection of archival materials held by Mayday Hills Art Society and visitors are welcome to look through their holdings
Images from Palace of Broken Dreams, Cohesion Press 2017. https://www.amazon.com.au/Palace-Broken-Dreams-History-Beechworth/dp/1925623238
Visit the Mayday Hills Art Society.
Some of these images are included in the Collections Exhibition
* Explore the Beechworth Cemetery Virtual Tour
* Explore the Mayday Hills (formerly the Beechworth Asylum) Virtual Tour
Can you please tell me why it was called Mayday Hills. Was it from the French Help me ? Or the English public holiday.
Hi Jack, my understanding is that May Day Hills was an earlier name for Beechworth