Editing HM Prison Fairlea (section)

==Site==
In the 1950s, the Victorian Government committed to building the state's first all-female prison.<ref name=Albany>{{cite encyclopedia| last =Darebin Libraries| title =Fairlea Women's Prison – Yarra Bend (1856–1996)| encyclopedia =Darebin Historical Encyclopaedia| url =http://dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia.asp?id=436| access-date =2009-05-16| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090621155326/http://dhe.darebin-libraries.vic.gov.au/encyclopedia.asp?id=436| archive-date =2009-06-21}}</ref>  The site chosen on National Park Road (now Yarra Bend Road), Fairfield included the grounds and structures of the former Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum and Fairhaven Venereal Disease Clinic, many of which were converted for prison use.<ref name=walk>{{Cite journal
 |last        = City of Yarra
 |author-link  = City of Yarra
 |title       = Fairfield Heritage Walk
 |url         = http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/Planning/Heritage/pdf/Fairfield%20Heritage%20Walk.pdf
 |access-date  = 2009-05-17
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20091021205034/http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au//Planning/Heritage/pdf/Fairfield%20Heritage%20Walk.pdf
 |archive-date = 2009-10-21
}}</ref>  Prior to the opening of Fairlea, female prisoners had been held in a small section [[HM Prison Pentridge|Pentridge Prison]].  Fairlea's grounds and buildings were more spacious than those of the female unit at Pentridge; however many of the buildings were unsatisfactory, dating from the site's time as an asylum in the 1860s.<ref name="Albany" />