A visit to the site of the old Gresswell Sanatorium is mostly an opportunity to go for a walk in the delightful neighbouring Gresswell Forest, where the sanatorium inmates were once allowed to exercise and where today you can enjoy the company of macropods and the shade of river red gums. The hospital buildings are gone – completely gone, having been replaced by a new upmarket neighbourhood of the old suburb of Macleod. Prior to the opening of the sanatorium in 1933, consumptive patients (many of whom were returned Great War servicemen) were housed in tents on the slopes of nearby Gresswell Hill – also worth a stroll up to its (now brightly graffitied) water tank that once serviced the hospital community. As with other sanatoria, the development of effective medication treatment for tuberculosis in the 1940s and 50s eventually resulted in Gresswell taking on a new role – that of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. It was finally closed in 1995.

Date visited: 17 March 2021

Images source: author

Walking tour: https://walkingmaps.com.au/walk/4502