# Thomas Embling

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{{Short description|Australian politician (1814–1893)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox medical person
|name = Thomas Embling 
|image             = EmblingThomas.jpg
|caption           = 
|birth_date  = {{birth date|df=yes|1814|8|26}}
|birth_place = Oxford, England
|death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1893|1|17|1814|8|26}}
|death_place = Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia
|profession        = Medical Officer, General Practitioner, politician
|specialism        = Treatment of mental illness
|research_field    = 
|known_for         = Pioneer in ethical treatment of the mentally ill
|years_active      = 1837–1893
|education         = 
|work_institutions = Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum
|prizes            = 
|relations         = 
}}

'''Thomas Embling''' (26 August 1814 – 17 January 1893) was a medical doctor from the United Kingdom who took an interest in the humane treatment of inmates in [asylum](/source/insane_asylums)s before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia where he set about reforming the [Yarra Bend Asylum](/source/Yarra_Bend_Asylum).  Later on Thomas Embling took up the cause of the gold miners in [Eureka](/source/Eureka_Stockade) and had a successful career in the early parliament of [Victoria](/source/Victoria_(Australia)).

== Early life ==

Thomas Embling was born 26 August 1814 in [Oxford](/source/Oxford), United Kingdom.<ref name=rememberdb>Parliament of Victoria, Re-Member Database {{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/re-member/bioregfull.cfm?mid=353 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823032609/http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/re-member/bioregfull.cfm?mid=353 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 August 2006 | title=Embling, Thomas | access-date=2009-03-17}}</ref> At 16 he was apprenticed to an [apothecary](/source/apothecary).<ref name=evans>{{Citation
 | first =Alicia
 | last =Evans
 | year =1998
 | title =The case for "The Embling Hospital"
 }}</ref>  He then studied medicine, becoming a Member of the [Royal College of Surgeons](/source/Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_England) in 1837 and a licentiate of the [Society of Apothecaries](/source/Worshipful_Society_of_Apothecaries) in 1838.<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography
|last=Kennedy 
|first=Richard
|year=1972
|id=A040143b
|title= Embling, Thomas (1814&ndash;1893) 
|accessdate=2009-03-17}}</ref>

After his graduation in 1829 he went into partnership in practice with his brother.  It was  during this time he held a position as a Visiting Medical Officer at [Hanwell Asylum](/source/St_Bernard's_Hospital%2C_Hanwell),<ref name="Bonwick">Bonwick, p.31</ref> where he became familiar with the latest treatment methods in lunatic asylums.<ref name="Brothers">Brothers, p.21</ref>  Embling married Jane Webb Chinnock on 1 August 1839<ref name=rememberdb/> and by 1841 they were living with their son, William on Brompton Row, South Kensington, London.<ref>1841 UK Census</ref> Both Embling and his wife suffered from 'pulmonary affections' which influenced their decision to emigrate to Australia.<ref name=adb />  In 1850 Embling, his wife and seven children<ref name=VIFMH>{{cite book
  | last = Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health
  | title = Forensicare Orientation Handbook
  | publisher = VIFMH
  | date = May 2009
  | pages = 31}}</ref> sailed from England to South Australia; they then travelled across to Melbourne.  The journey to Melbourne was not without incident and Embling was caught up in the bush fires of [Black Thursday](/source/Black_Thursday_(1851)) in February 1851.<ref name=dictaustbiog>{{Cite Australasia|wstitle= Embling, Thomas |volume= | page= 149 |short=}}</ref> 

== Yarra Bend Asylum ==
{{main|Yarra Bend Asylum}}
Embling's first appointment in Australia was to be as an assistant to the Colonial Surgeon of Victoria.  However parliament members [James Johnston](/source/James_Johnston_(Australian_businessman)) and [Charles Ebden](/source/Charles_Ebden) put forward the proposition that Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum required a Resident Medical Officer and Embling was highly suitable.<ref name="Brothers" /> Although not a psychiatrist, Embling had a pioneering interest in the 'moral treatment' of mental illness<ref name=VIFMH/><ref>"moral treatment" was supposed to be the foundation of treatment at Yarra Bend, as specified in the "Regulations for the Guidance of Officers, Attendants and Servants of the Lunatic Asylum at Port Phillip" (later known as Yarra Bend), published in the Government Gazette of 1849.(Brothers, p.19)</ref>
thumb|200px|Wood engraving published in ''The Illustrated Melbourne Post''
Embling's early days at Yarra Bend were not easy.  Superintendent George Watson was not pleased with the appointment of a Resident Medical Officer.  With the assistance of displaced Visiting Medical Officer Dr Cussen,<ref name="Bonwick" /> Watson attempted to thwart Embling's efforts to become involved in the care of inmates.  He was refused a pass key and denied access to many of the asylum buildings, including the accommodation that he was to have been provided on the asylum grounds.  Efforts to hinder Embling however, only served to strengthen his resolve to become actively involved in the clinical management of his patients.<ref name=VIFMH/>  What he saw at Yarra Bend shocked him, his first impressions ''"were those of great astonishment not unmixed with pain … I saw much that was incomprehensible, and much disreputable."''<ref name=adb />

Despite the obstacles he encountered, Embling implemented significant reforms in a short space of time.  He ordered the removal of [manacles](/source/Handcuffs), [camisoles](/source/Straitjacket) and restraining gloves and rejected the then popular psychiatric practice of punitive "treatment".<ref name=VIFMH/>  These reforms were not popular with the Superintendent, nor with the colonial surgeon.<ref name=adb />  He was subsequently charged and brought before a disciplinary hearing, on the grounds that he was "too heroic to be a medical officer".<ref name=VIFMH/>

=== Parliamentary enquiry ===
Aware that his accusers were highly regarded by the government, Embling briefed supportive parliamentarian James Johnston on the activities and corruption he had witnessed at Yarra Bend.<ref name="Brothers_a">Brothers, p.22</ref> The story was picked up by the press, and in April 1852, only four months after Embling's appointment, ''[The Argus](/source/The_Argus_(Melbourne))'' newspaper called for a reorganisation of the asylum.  Public support for an enquiry grew,<ref name=VIFMH /> and following a motion put by Johnston in July 1852, a Select Committee was appointed "To Enquire into the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum and to take Evidence".<ref name="Brothers_a" />

The committee sat from August to December 1852,<ref name=VIFMH /> with the final report<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Johnston 
  | first = James 
  | title = Report from the Select committee of the Legislative Council on the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum: together with the proceedings of the committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix.
  | publisher = Government Printer
  | year = 1852
  | location = Melbourne
  |display-authors=etal}}</ref> citing evidence of mismanagement and human rights abuses including
* Evidence of physical and sexual abuse;
* Corruption;
* Poor treatment of inmates, including forcing 28 people to share the same bath water,
* Illegal use of asylum resources, including using resources supposedly earmarked for patients being funnelled into a private poultry farm run by the Superintendent;
* Patients being frequently drunk.<ref name=darebin>{{cite web
  | title = Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum (1848 - 1925)
  | publisher = Darebin Historical Encyclopaedia
  | url = http://dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia.asp?id=65
  | access-date = 2009-05-12}}</ref>
The Committee found that patients had been severely maltreated and that the Superintendent was "grossly negligent as well as highly culpable".  Praise was heaped upon Embling by the Committee, declaring "it is with extreme regret we observe the efforts of this gentleman to promote the efficiency of a valuable institution, and to check the abuses that so seriously affected its usefulness…"<ref>Bonwick, p.33</ref>

[Lieutenant-Governor](/source/Lieutenant-Governor) [Charles La Trobe](/source/Charles_La_Trobe) dismissed the entire staff of Yarra Bend, including Embling.  Superintendent Watson was given another post which led to ''[The Argus](/source/The_Argus_(Melbourne))'' launching a bitter attack on La Trobe, stating that Embling had been "turned adrift".<ref name="Brothers_b">Brothers, p.26</ref>  Embling wrote a comprehensive account of his experiences at Yarra Bend Asylum which The Argus published.<ref name=evans />  Despite the outcry against Embling's dismissal, Dr Robert Bowie was appointed as the first Medical Superintendent at Yarra Bend<ref>Brothers, p.27</ref> and Embling set up a private practice in Gore Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne.<ref name=adb /><ref>Australian Electoral Rolls 1856, Victoria</ref>

== Politician ==
thumb|200px|Eight-hour day banner, Melbourne, 1856
Embling publicly supported the popular movement at the [Eureka Stockade](/source/Eureka_Stockade) near [Ballarat](/source/Ballarat%2C_Victoria) in December 1854 and took over the chair at a public meeting which passed resolutions in favour of the gold miner's cause.<ref name=adb/>  In 1855, he supported the [eight-hours labour movement](/source/Australian_labour_movement) and is credited with coining the slogan, 'Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest'.<ref name=adb/> 
 
Embling was elected to the old unicameral [Victorian Legislative Council](/source/Victorian_Legislative_Council) for [North Bourke](/source/Electoral_district_of_North_Bourke) in September 1855, holding this seat until the Council ceased in March 1856.<ref name=rememberdb/>  It was during this time that Embling was able to use his experience in the workings of lunatic asylums as he sat on an Asylum Board of Enquiry.<ref name="Brothers_b" />  Embling later was elected as a member of the newly created [Victorian Legislative Assembly](/source/Victorian_Legislative_Assembly) for the seat of [Collingwood](/source/Electoral_district_of_Collingwood) in November 1856, becoming a founding member of the Assembly. He served in the seat until July 1861 and again from February 1866 to December 1867.<ref name=rememberdb /> Following disagreements with his fellow politicians<ref name=adb /> and poor health<ref name=VIFMH /> Embling withdrew from politics in 1869 and resumed his general medical practice.

==Zoological Society and the acclimatisation of animals==
Embling was a strong advocate of the introduction of exotic animals into [Victoria](/source/Victoria%2C_Australia). In 1856 he lobbied [parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Victoria) for the introduction of [alpacas](/source/alpacas). In 1858 he proposed importing [camel](/source/camel)s for use in desert exploration and he spoke at length in Parliament and in the Melbourne press on the subject. He supported the establishment of the Zoological Society and proposed that [George James Landells](/source/George_James_Landells) be sent to India to purchase camels.<ref name="Bonyhady">{{Cite book |last=Bonyhady |first=Tim |title=Burke and Wills: From Melbourne to Myth|publisher=David Ell Press|year=1991 |isbn=0-908197-91-8}}</ref> The camels Landells returned with were used on the [Burke and Wills expedition](/source/Burke_and_Wills_expedition) in 1860.<ref>{{cite web
  | last = Phoenix
  | first = Dave
  | title = Burke & Wills Web; Camels & Sepoys for the Expedition
  | url = http://www.burkeandwills.net.au/Camels/Camels_for_the_Expedition.htm
  | access-date = 2009-07-17}}</ref>

==Death and commemoration==

Thomas Embling died of "Senile Debility" on 17 January 1893 survived by his wife and four children.<ref name=adb />

In April 2000 '[Thomas Embling Hospital](/source/Thomas_Embling_Hospital)' was opened.  Built adjacent to the site of the original Yarra Bend Asylum, Thomas Embling Hospital is operated by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health and is a secure hospital for patients from the criminal justice system who are in need of psychiatric assessment, care and treatment.<ref>{{cite web|last=VIFMH |title=Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health – general brochure |url=http://www.forensicare.vic.gov.au/CA2570BA0082F416/Lookup/VIFMH/$file/GeneralBrochure.pdf |access-date=2009-05-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023212355/http://www.forensicare.vic.gov.au/CA2570BA0082F416/Lookup/VIFMH/$file/GeneralBrochure.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2009 }}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book
  | first = Richard
  | last = Bonwick
  | title = The History of Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum, Melbourne
  | year = 1995
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Brothers
  | first = C.R.D
  | title = Early Victorian Psychiatry: 1835 - 1905
  | publisher = A.C. Brooks
  | date = c. 1959}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par | au-vic-lc}}
{{s-bef | before= [George Annand](/source/George_Annand)}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = Member for [North Bourke](/source/Electoral_district_of_North_Bourke)
 | years = September 1855 – March 1856
 | with = [William Burnley](/source/William_Burnley)<br>[William Nicholson](/source/William_Nicholson_(Australian_politician)) }}
{{s-non | reason = Council abolished}}
{{s-par | au-vic-la}}
{{s-new | district}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = Member for [Collingwood](/source/Electoral_district_of_Collingwood)
 | years = November 1856 – July 1856
 | with = [George Harker](/source/George_Harker_(Australian_politician)) (1856–59)<br>[George Stephen](/source/George_Milner_Stephen) (1859–61)<br>[Charles Don](/source/Charles_Jardine_Don) (1859–61)}}
{{s-aft | after = [Graham Berry](/source/Graham_Berry) }}
{{s-bef | before = [Graham Berry](/source/Graham_Berry)<br>[George Harker](/source/George_Harker_(Australian_politician)) }}
{{s-ttl
 | title = Member for [Collingwood](/source/Electoral_district_of_Collingwood)
 | years = February 1866 – December 1867
 | with = [John Edwards](/source/John_Edwards_(Australian_politician))<br>[Isaac Reeves](/source/Isaac_Reeves)}}
{{s-aft | after = [John Everard](/source/John_Everard_(Australian_politician))<br>[William Bates](/source/William_Bates_(Australian_politician)) }}
{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Embling, Thomas}}
Category:Medical doctors from Melbourne
Category:Politicians from Melbourne
Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia
Category:1814 births
Category:1893 deaths
Category:19th-century Australian politicians

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Embling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Embling) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Embling?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.