Located at Jacksons Hill in Sunbury, Victoria,
the historic Sunbury Asylum precinct holds nearly 170 years of complex history. Established in the 1860s as an Industrial School for neglected children, it later operated in 1879 as the Sunbury Lunatic Asylum, served as the Caloola Training Centre for people with intellectual disabilities until 1992, and was briefly used as a university campus before sitting vacant for 15 years.

Now, Nine Network’s The Block (Season 23 - 2027) plans to subdivide and redevelop three vacant, heritage-listed institutional buildings into five luxury competition homes equipped with modern glass rear extensions and swimming pools, alongside a sixth property.

Turning a site shaped by institutional trauma into commercial reality TV for entertainment profit is deeply insensitive to former patients, students, staff, and their families. To make matters worse, this decision follows a controversial move by the Victorian State Government to sell the 2.6-hectare precinct to Channel Nine for just $1 million—a low valuation heavily criticized by local MPs, sunburys local community and residents , and real estate professionals. 

• Hume councillor, Kate Hamley, speaking independently of council, said as a resident she shared concerns about the project. “The community has told the Victorian government time and time again that this place is sacred to us, and we want it protected, restored, and made available for community use,” she said.

Additionally, an estimated colony of 80+ unowned and semi-social cats and kittens currently resides on the demolition and development site. Without active, compassionate intervention, heavy machinery and site clearance put these vulnerable animals at immediate risk.

Why This Matters
Insensitivity to Historical Trauma & Privatization of Public Land: The Jacksons Hill precinct is a place of solemn memory. Over nearly two centuries, generations of vulnerable individuals endured forced detention, over-medication, invasive psychiatric procedures, and severe isolation within these walls. Converting a site of human suffering into luxury real estate for television entertainment trivializes historical trauma and permanently privatizes public heritage land.
Neglect of Community Voice & Civic Future: For over a decade, the Sunbury community lobbied for this precinct to be preserved for educational, civic, cultural, or memorial purposes. Offloading public heritage land for a fraction of its potential market value to a commercial television network ignores years of community advocacy.
Risk to Resident Animals: The resident cat colony on Jacksons Hill cannot be displaced or ignored during demolition and construction. Channel Nine and project developers have a corporate responsibility to handle these animals humanely.
What the community wants:
To call on Nine Network, Channel Nine Producers, Heritage Victoria, and the Victorian Government to commit to the following three actions before major development proceeds:

Responsibly Rescue & Rehome the Jacksons Hill Cat Colony: Partner directly with and financially support local animal rescue organizations to execute a humane Trap-Neuter-Return/Rehome initiative. Ensure every cat and kitten on the site is safely trapped, medically treated, desexed, and placed into foster care or suitable homes.
Abandon Invasive Modern Additions & Respect Authentic Heritage: Scrap plans for invasive modern glass rear extensions, luxury pools, and incompatible structural additions on heritage-listed buildings. Any works permitted on the site must strictly focus on sensitive, authentic historical restoration.
Dedicating Space for Public Memorialization: Ensure key portions of the precinct remain accessible to the public as a permanent, solemn memorial honoring the former patients, neglected children, and residents of Jacksons Hill.

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HISTORY OF THE SITE 
Over its 170-year history, it has accumulated a grim legacy of institutional suffering beginning in the 1860s as a disease ridden Industrial School for neglected children, operating through the mid-20th century as the Sunbury Lunatic Asylum, where vulnerable patients endured forced detention, severe isolation, over-medication, and invasive psychiatric procedures like lobotomies and ECT, and finally serving as the underfunded Caloola Training Centre for intellectual disabilities until 1992. Transforming a historic precinct shaped by traumatic institutional care, social displacement, and human misery into lighthearted reality television for Season 23 of The Block is widely considered a bad idea because it trivializes deep historical trauma for commercial profit, permanently privatizes public heritage land following a controversial $1 million government sale, and creates a jarring, insensitive contrast between high-end luxury real estate and a site that ought to be preserved for solemn public memorialization

The Block has run into an unexpected problem ahead of its new season
Hands of the hill.
The Block 2027 is heading to a former asylum. Locals say the plan is 'really insensitive'.