Aradale Mental Hospital was an Australian psychiatric hospital, located in Ararat, a rural city in Victoria, Australia. Originally known as Ararat Lunatic Asylum, Aradale and its two sister asylums at Kew and Beechworth were commissioned to accommodate the growing number of 'lunatics' in the colony of Victoria. Construction began in 1864, and the guardhouses are listed as being built in 1866 though the list of patients extends as far back as the year before (1865). It was closed as an asylum in 1998 and in 2001 became a campus of the Melbourne Polytechnic (Previously known as NMIT) administered Melbourne Polytechnic's Ararat Training Centre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aradale_Mental_Hospital
If you have time boo a tour (at the Tourist Centre at the Train Station). either during th day, or at night.
Cache:
- The cache contains a log-book, please make sure you bring a pen
- This is a magnetic mint-tin, with a bison tube
- Please, be polite to volunteers and tourists.
Parking:
Please use the designated carpark for Tours and the Bowls Club
Muggles:
This is an historical tourist attraction. watch out for the following.
- Volunteers
- Tourists
- Security Staff. I met one, nice guy, gave me the 'thumbs up' for the cache.
- Council workers performing maintenance
Other Hazards:
- Mosquittos in wet weather
-Helicopter, the helipadn is accross the road from GZ.