I’m investigating the origins of Australia’s grand colonial-era psychiatric institutions—places like Callan Park, Aradale, and Beechworth—and questioning whether the official timelines, construction records, and stated purposes hold up under scrutiny. How were such vast, ornate buildings erected so quickly, often in remote areas with tiny populations, limited transport infrastructure, and no apparent economic justification? Who funded them, and why would so much effort go into housing the mentally ill in palatial structures? Were these institutions really built at the time and for the reasons we’re told—or might they have been appropriated structures with a different original purpose altogether?