{"id":79543,"date":"2026-08-25T00:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79543\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T00:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:54:19","slug":"businesses-say-closure-of-ararat-asylum-economic-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/79543\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses say closure of Ararat asylum ‘economic catastrophe’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business owners in regional Victoria say the closure of their town’s abandoned asylum will be an “economic catastrophe”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aradale asylum was a psychiatric hospital that operated until 1993 in Ararat, about two and a half hours north-west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The state government owns the popular tourist attraction and leases it to Melbourne Polytechnic, which shut down the site on Friday due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Ararat, population 8,000, is the only Australian town that is home to two former mental asylums<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The town’s other asylum, J Ward jail, remains open.<\/p>\n

\"old<\/p>\n

Aradale opened in 1865 and housed the state’s mentally ill for 126 years. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

Dark history of gruelling treatments<\/p>\n

The Aradale asylum opened in 1865 and housed the state’s mentally ill for 126 years.<\/p>\n

The patients brought to Aradale were deemed either too sick or too dangerous to remain in society and were subjected to gruelling treatments including restraint and electroshock therapy.<\/p>\n

\"Paint<\/p>\n

Business owners say Aradale has fallen into disrepair. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

The abandoned asylum is made up of 64 buildings spread over more than 40 hectares.<\/p>\n

The hospital closed in 1993 following a decision from the state government to deinstitutionalise patients in the mental hospital system.<\/p>\n

Since then, Aradale has become a popular “dark tourism” site where visitors learn more about the death, trauma and suffering that existed in its walls.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Locals say the closure of Aradale will be catastrophic for the town. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

Repair requests ignored<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Buchanan, the owner of Aradale Ghost Tours, said the closure would cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic loss for the town.<\/p>\n

He said the asylum had been allowed to fall into disrepair despite continual requests for maintenance.<\/p>\n

“A small hole quickly becomes a big hole and then you get water coming in pretty quickly,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said multiple requests for maintenance through Melbourne Polytechnic had been ignored.<\/p>\n

“[About four years ago] they ceased communication, pretty much,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

The abandoned swimming pool at Aradale. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

Mr Buchanan said the town would be devastated by the decision and that Ararat “will suffer”. He has suspended bookings and begun processing refunds for tours he cannot honour.<\/p>\n

“This is an economic catastrophe,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The flow-on effect from that is enormous, because you’ve got cafes for breakfast, lunch and dinners, shopping and other attractions.<\/p>\n

“This building is a national treasure.”<\/p>\n

In a statement to the ABC, Melbourne Polytechnic said it had suspended access to affected areas of the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The inspection identified a number of safety concerns requiring further investigation and assessment,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“We recognise the disruption this decision may cause. However, the safety of our community must take precedence.”<\/p>\n

It said the closure applied only to the affected areas of the site and that other areas of the broader Aradale site remained open.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Visitors can see inside the asylum’s mortuary. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

Tourism economy anxiety<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson confirmed Melbourne Polytechnic had closed the site to ensure public safety.<\/p>\n

“While further assessments are underway, Melbourne Polytechnic is working directly with affected community groups and keeping them informed,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Labor MP and member for Ripon Martha Haylett said she was not warned about the impending closure and that many people were blindsided.<\/p>\n

She said she had been working with Mr Buchanan “for years” to improve communications with Melbourne Polytechnic.<\/p>\n

\"labor<\/p>\n

Martha Haylett says she has been working to get better transparency from Melbourne Polytechnic. (ABC Central Victoria: Sarah Lawrence)<\/p>\n

“They just point-blank ignored me for years. They’ve been operating in really bad faith for a long time,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’d gone out there and checked it out and raised it with Melbourne Polytechnic and they just ignored my letter.<\/p>\n

“It’s like they have just cut [Mr Buchanan] off at the knees.<\/p>\n

“As the caretakers \u2026 I just hope [Melbourne Polytechnic] will be able to get it up and running in the long term.”<\/p>\n

The ABC has received emails from other concerned businesses who said Friday’s immediate closure had already delivered a “noticeable effect” on business.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Parts of the site are closed due to safety concerns. (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)<\/p>\n

Tourism businesses said about 80 per cent of weekend bookings were from people wanting to visit the asylum.<\/p>\n

Ararat Rural City Council said it recognised the heavy toll the closure would have on local businesses.<\/p>\n

“While safety concerns surrounding the site make this a complex issue, the resulting strain on our tourism sector is very real, and we remain fully committed to supporting our local business community,” the council said.<\/p>\n

More news from regional Victoria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owners in regional Victoria say the closure of their town’s abandoned asylum will be an “economic catastrophe”.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120748,120718,120721,22,21,15099,120716,120704,122657,33908,4318],"class_list":["post-79543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aradale","tag-aradale-asylum","tag-ararat","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-closure","tag-eerie-tours","tag-j-ward","tag-mental-asylum","tag-regional-tourism","tag-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}