Fairfield Yarra NMIT campus

Fairfield campus today

Everybody will agree with me that mothers & fathers are usually the members of your family that are the most concerned about your well being (no matter your age!). I'm not saying that other members of the family aren't concerned, but these particular 2 actually say it aloud.

And so dear mum & dear daddy, before I start giving slightly more detailed info about my accommodation - I just wanted to let you know... I arrived safely, I have a roof upon my head, I have a bed to sleep in, there are several bathrooms, there is a kitchen where I can prepare my meals, there are game rooms where I can spend time with other students, there are security guards who keep an eye our campus 24/7. If I forgot something, it's probably because there is nothing to report.

When I started looking into schools & where I should be accommodated, I did not look for the information whether the school or the accommodation party had a good reputation like many other people would. I looked at the distances between one & the other & I looked at the weekly rate. Yes, that's all I needed to know. It isn't because I am not concerned about my safety. I just automatically assume that since this is a campus for students of all ages (but mostly half my age!), the safety must be there. Yep, I'm trusting that way.

When I moved in, I found out that this building used to be a hospital. Infectious diseases hospital, to be more precise. It was operated from 1904 & it closed in 1996. If you google it, you will find out that it is perched on the banks of the Yarra river at Yarra Bend in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fairfield. It had an international reputation for the research & treatment of infectious diseases. It was the last specific infectious diseases hospital in Australia.

Some of the students confided in me saying that it felt little spooky to them to be living in a building where people with typhoid, diphtheria, cholera, smallpox, poliomyelitis, scarlet fever, HIV AIDS used to live in. (There is a part of this complex of buildings where the dead bodies were burned.) I myself feel rather intrigued by such fact & I'm curious to find out more! For I find it fascinating how things were, how they changed, evolved.

Since closure in 1996, most of the hospital site has been redeveloped. The northern portion of it (including the majority of the hospital buildings) were sold to NMIT. You don't know who or what NMIT is? Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE. They offer a wide selection of study options in vocational education. They have different campuses. Mine is in Preston. So Fairfield is where I get to live & relax, Preston where I get to learn & grow happier.

Do you think you know it all by now? Well, lemme tell you one more thing (or 2 - naaah well, you know me, I cannot keep it short!!!). From 1956 till 1986, there was HM Prison Fairlea (first all female prison in Victoria) who operated at this location. Prior to that, it was Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum. Crazy, right?! I mean, literally!!! Then, in 1986 it was rebuilt, expanded, reopened, just to be closed 10 years later. In 2000 a hospital with a very high security forensic mental health opened. It functions as both a prison & a hospital, providing advanced clinical treatments & programs for the patients who are usually admitted from the criminal justice system. Either via prison transfer or from a court order for psychiatric treatment.

And now I ask - do you still remember what I wrote at the beginning of this post?

I love this campus. It has a history, a past & a very interesting present. It is surrounded by nature from & towards all 4 earthly directions. Wherever you look, there is grass, trees, flowers, birds... There are adventure playgrounds (for both kids & adults), a skatepark, public BBQ areas, Westfield reserve, Fairfield park, Fairfield boathouse & tea gardens, Merri Creek waterway runs through here & so does Yarra river, there are bridges. Both Merri creek & Yarra river have a bicycle trail named after them. On the Yarra river you can go for a romantic boat ride (romantic for her, sporty for him) or you can take your bicycle + kayak & get a whole body work out. For the richer there is also a golf park. There are always people walking, riding a bike, running, playing, eating. What is there not to love, right? Oh yeah, I do know of one thing - the flies. But let's leave that for another day.