1961 saw a decline in the need for a facility to treat tuberculosis, with the hospital turning to geriatric care instead, “special cases of patients” who didn’t require the continual nursing and medical care that a general hospital offered.

The facility was repurposed as the Hillview Child and Adolescent Clinic in 1982 until sometime around 1995. This was established as a government-run psychiatric service for voluntary patients aged between 8-18 years of age, although children often didn’t have a choice when their parents made the decision for them.

 

Three components of the hospital consisted of an outpatient clinic, a six-bed residential unit called the WE Robinson Unit and a 12-bed residential unit known as the Hillview Hospital. Upon closing in 1995, patients were transferred to the WE Robinson Unit located at Bentley Hospital.

 

Children aged 13-18 who formed the Hillview Hospital unit, tended to experience emotional disturbances as a result of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, grief, trauma, educational difficulties, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies with the average stay being around four months. Patients attended the local primary and secondary schools to continue their education.

 

The Hillview Hospital and surrounding buildings became closed in 1998 and has remained unoccupied ever since.

 

The buildings were given to the Town of Victoria Park in 2006.

Blackoak Capital Ventures signed a 20 year lease with the Town of Victoria Park in 2023 to restore and redevelop the Edward Millen heritage-listed buildings, as well as to upgrade the surrounding park area. They plan to transform the site into a “hospitality and entertainment district with a cafe, bistro dining, gastro pub, event and function space, bakery, farmers market and childcare facilities”.